WHEN AND WHERE DO MOST MOTORCYCLE CRASHES OCCUR?

Motorcycle crashes can happen at any time and on any road, but certain conditions may increase the chances of an accident. Analyzing data from the 2013 Arizona Crash Facts Summary put out by the Arizona Department of Transportation can bring awareness to these trends and help victims better understand what may have been factors in their accidents.

In the many cases, the incident that caused the accident is not known. Out of 2,461 total accidents that resulted in a rider injury, 554 of them had an unknown first harmful event. However, 966 of injury causing motorcycle crashes involved a collision with another motor vehicle. This number increases even more when only fatal motorcycle crashes are looked at. Out of 146 fatal motorcycle accidents in 2013, 85 of them involved a collision with a motor vehicle. The two other main causes of fatal crashes were collision with a fixed object and overturning.

While many people might think that motorcycle accidents are more common in the dark hours, when visibility isn't as good, the statistics show that the majority of Arizona motorcycle crashes occur in the daylight hours. Out of 3,081 crashes, 2,151 occurred in the daylight hours. Weather also did not seem to have as much as an effect on the data as some would think, with 2,980 accidents out of 3,153 occurring in dry road conditions.

There are many different factors that can go into why a motorcycle accident occurred, ranging from whether the other driver was under the influence of any substances to whether the other driver was following too closely to the motorcycle. Getting a better understanding of how the different factors come together in your particular situation can help you decide what to do next.

Source: Arizona Department of Transportation, "Arizona Motor Vehicle Crash Facts 2013," accessed April. 22, 2015