Background
The North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles recently released their 2019 Traffic Crash Facts, which is their annual fiscal report regarding reported traffic crashes. See https://connect.ncdot.gov/business/DMV/CrashFactsDocuments/2019%20Crash%20Facts.pdf This report deals with motor vehicle crashes that were reported to and investigated by local authorities and from which the North Carolina DMV was able to gather data. It is important to note that when the report sets out the number of traffic crashes or injuries or fatalities, it does not differentiate between whether the vehicle or driver was considered at fault nor do they differentiate between whether the crashes involved 2 or more vehicles or involved a single vehicle.. In this blog I discuss the statistics regarding motorcycle crashes but here are some other notable statistics:
- 285,074 total traffic crashes were reported, involving 519,785 vehicles
- Of the 519,785 vehicles involved in reported crashes, 481,500 were passenger vehicles (e.g. cars, pickup trucks, SUV’s and vans), which is about 93% of all types of vehicles. About 22% of these crashes involved injuries and approximately .35% (less than 1%) resulted in fatalities.
Motorcycle Crash Statistics
- 3,516 motorcycles were involved in the 285,074 reported traffic crashes (1.23%)
- Of the 3,516 motorcycles involved in reportable crashes, 2,728 involved injuries (77.5%)
- The percentage of injury crashes involving motorcycles (77.5%) is obviously much higher than the 22% of injury crashes involved in passenger vehicles, but not surprising.
- Of the 3,516 reportable motorcycle crashes, there were 183 fatalities (5.2%). This is an 8.9% increase from 2018. The number of fatalities involved with motorcycle crashes is 5.2%, which is significantly higher than the number of fatalities reported in connection with passenger vehicle crashes (only .35%), but again, this is would not be surprising.
- The highest number of motorcycle crashes were reported in the month of May, and the lowest in January.
- The highest number of fatalities were reported in June and the lowest in January and December.
Here is a percentage breakdown of the age brackets of motorcyclists involved in motorcycle crashes:
- 26% between age 20-29
- 19% between age 30-39
- 19% between age 50-59
- 18% between age 40-49
- 10% between age 60-69
- 3% between age 15-19 and also 3% between age 70-79
Comparing Motorcycle Crashes In Wake Count vs. Caswell County
The report contains detailed statistics regarding reportable crashes for each North Carolina county. I took a look at Wake County motorcycle accidents from 2015 – 2019 The number of reportable Wake County motorcycle accidents have been between a low of 235 (2018) to a high of 294 (2016), and there is a 5-year average of Wake County motorcycle accidents of 272. I also looked at the Caswell County motorcycle accident statistics for 2019, as a comparison. Chatham County has about 2% of the population as compared to Wake County. There were 7 reportable Caswell County motorcycle accidents for 2019, and 5-year average for Caswell County motorcycle accidents is 6. Interestingly, the number of per capita Wake Count motorcycle crashes is .024%, which is very similar to the per capita percentage for Caswell County is .026%.
Moped Accidents and Scooter Accidents
There were a reported 867 North Carolina moped accidents in 2019, which is about 25% of the number of motorcycles involved in crashes. There were 731 reported injuries in moped accidents, which is about 84%, a little bit higher than the number of motorcyclists and their passengers injured in motorcycle crashes. About 28 moped riders and their passengers were killed in moped crashes, which is about 3% of the total reported moped accidents.
There were a reported 59 scooter or motor bike accidents reported in 2019, and of those accidents 51 riders/passengers reported injuries and there were 4 fatalities.
I hope that you will not be included in the statistics for 2020 or beyond, but if you are ever involved in a motorcycle accident, give me a call at 919-942-1181 for a free consultation and we can discuss any claims you may have arising out of your motorcycle accident.
Gary Poole, North Carolina Motorcycle Accident Attorney, “On the Side of Those Who Ride”