The Oregon Department of Transportation has released the 2008 Oregon Traffic Crash Summary. You can download the entire report and read it yourself, but here’s a brief summary of findings relevant to motorcyclists.
Note that Oregon state law only requires crashes to be reported in cases where damage to a vehicle or property exceeds $1500, a vehicle is towed from the scene, or an injury or fatality resulted from the accident. I’m certain that incidents involving motorcycles are under-reported, especially single-vehicle motorcycle crashes. To what degree, I do not know.
Crashes and Injuries Are Up, Deaths Down (But Only Slightly)
In 2008, there were 873 crashes involving motorcycles, up over 746 crashes in 2007 and 741 in 2006.
Click for the full table.
48 motorcyclists were killed in 2008. The table above shows 49, but that includes all vehicles involved in the crash. Thus, in crashes involving motorcycles, only once did someone die in a vehicle other than the motorcycle.
Speeding and Right of Way Violations Kill
In 38.6% of all fatal motorcycle crashes, driving to fast for conditions was cited as the primary driver error. Unfortunately, the report does not split out the data by who the “driver” was — car driver or motorcycle rider. The second most common error was a failure to maintain lane (13.6%) followed by left turn into oncoming traffic (9.1%).
The at-fault driver had been drinking in more than one third (35.6%) of fatal motorcycle accidents! This is a shocking statistic, and it reinforces my belief that DUII needs to be punished by more than a slap on the wrist or a suspended license.
Surprisingly, a wild animal — let me guess: a deer — was the cause of only 1 of the fatal motorcycle accidents in 2008.
Age Means Very Little
When driver error is divided by age group, the breakdown roughly matches Oregon’s age demographics:
Note the large spike in the 45-54 age group.
Cell Phone Surprise
Only 0.2% of motorcycle crashes involved a driver using a cell phone.
Of Local Interest
There were 9 motorcycle crashes in Corvallis in 2008, and only one fatality.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
How do motorcycle permits in your state work? Here in SC the permits are good for 1 year. There are no restrictions on how many times you can renew the permit. About 80% of riders don’t have a license. They go back to the DMV and renew the permit every year to avoid taking the test. I have heard this is going to change. Only one renewal will be allowed. Of course SC also has the god given right to not wear helmets.
I’m in NC and I went straight to MSF and got my motorcycle endorsement. I hear the law in my state is 1 year permit where you cannot have a passenger. I think you can only renew 1 time, but I think it used to be unlimited.
Mike- I’m not sure how long it’s good for, but in Oregon a m/c permit only allows you to ride with a licensed rider, so probably wouldn’t be useful as a method to operate a motorcycle “legally” the way it is in some states (guessing SC is one of those?) After a permit expires, the operator has to take the test again, so it’s not a simple “renewal”.
One thing to keep in mind is 2008 was the year of $4/gallon gasoline. I don’t know how many Oregonians started riding in 2008, but TEAM OREGON saw a 23% increase in riders trained that year (~7700 in 2007; just shy of 10,000 in 2008) . Seeing total [reported] crashes jump doesn’t surprise me- seeing the fatality rate remain flat is encouraging.
Of course, for motorcycles, “reported” crashes is always a suspect number. The ones that get reported are when an officer shows up, or someone crashes hard enough that they can’t afford to fix the bike (FSVO “fix” meaning “make it ridable”) out of pocket.
Thanks so much for posting this. I need to go through the numbers carefully but a quick look shows that a lot of the accidents fall in the category that can be affected by better decision making by riders whether speed, position or drinking to name a few.
Steve Williams
Scooter in the Sticks
The one thing always missing from these reports are the total number of registered vehicles in the state. Although accidents may have increased, the ratio of accidents to registered motorcycles may have actually fallen…or risen for all we know. I looked through the 300+ page report and didnt see anything but I could have easily missed it. That’s the one thing I’m always bothered about when I see news reports, etc…they just give the raw numbers without any comparison.