Safety First

[Fudd]

I was reading in the Oct. issue of Thunder Roads Magazine about what states are safest for motorcycles.

The News Byte data was compiled by a financial website:  TheStreet.com

It claims that North Dakota is the safest with a fatality rate 1/3 of the nat'l average.

The article went on to say, motorcycle riding is way up. Between  1996 and 2005 motorcycle registrations increased 61% while motorcycle miles traveled increased only 8.6%, according to the Dept. of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration.  That means a lot of new riders not riding very far or very often.

Here's the top ten safest states:

10th         Vermont
8th(tie)     Virginia
8th(tie)     Kentucky
7th           Missouri
6th           Wyoming
5th           Alabama
4th           West Virginia
3rd           Mississippi
2nd          Nebraska
1st           North Dakota

[Cruzen]

I have no idea where they get their info but I think they are a bit off on the percent of increase in registrations.  Here in Arizona per ADOT statistics which you can verify online, in 1998 we had 59,700 motorcycles registered.  In 2008 we had 149,794 motorcycles registered.  That is better than a 200 percent increase. 

According to our Automobile Hobbyist Council, the number of motorcycle dealers in Arizona increased by a bit more than 25 percent during that same time period.  No numbers on increased sales.  If this is indicative of other states they are off base.