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2007: Better for Drivers, Awful for Motorcyclists

A recent story in the Potomac News gave some interesting statistics. For the first time in seventeen years, the number of traffic fatalities went over 1,000 in 2007.

While a rise in traffic deaths can hardly be considered a good thing, it should be known that Virginia has been hovering under the 1,000 deaths mark for seventeen years. In 2006, Virginia 961 traffic fatalities, while in 2007 there were 1,014. That’s an increase of 53 deaths. While that is certainly a tragedy, it is hardly a huge statistical leap. Or so the Virginia State Police would have you believe.

While this article gives the impression that the rise in deaths is nothing to fret about, there is an aspect of the story that gave us some pause. According to the story, a spokeswoman for the state police claimed that the number of motorcycle fatalities in Virginia went up 87 percent. A separate story in the Virginia Free Lance-Star gave the number of motorcycle deaths in 2006 as 62 between the months of January and November. 2007 saw 116 motorcycle deaths.

Considering that most Virginians drive cars, the idea that there was such an increase in motorcycle fatalities might not be of much concern to them. But as attorneys that also help injured motorcyclists, these numbers are of great concern to us.

These numbers simply reinforce our argument that while advances in automotive safety features might do wonders for improving the chances of survival of car drivers in an accident, a motorcycle driver doesn’t have a seat belt, airbag, anti-lock brakes, or a GPS emergency notification system.

If you also factor in that cars these days come with ports for ipods and dvd players for drivers to fiddle with while they text message people on their cell phones, then it comes as no surprise that there are so many motorcycle fatalities.

Almost all of the injured motorcyclists that we have represented over the years made safe driving a priority. But in the end, the care in operating their bikes didn’t matter as much as the negligence of car drivers that share the roads.

If you or a loved one has been injured while riding a motorcycle, and you feel the accident occurred due to the carelessness of another driver, contact our offices for a free legal consultation today.

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Lewis & Tompkins
927 15th Street N.W., 9th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Phone: 202-296-0666

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2007: Better for Drivers, Awful for Motorcyclists

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