With spring in full swing, you might be excited to get outside and enjoy some activities that you may not otherwise participate in during the winter months. For many people in Delaware, riding a motorcycle is one of these activities. Unfortunately, while you look to take advantage of the open road, you must also be on the lookout for the many risks posed to you by other drivers.
Records from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that 2018, the last full year for which data is currently available, was a particularly deadly one for bikers on Delaware roads and highways. That year, motorcyclist fatalities jumped from 10 in 2017 to 17. This increase came at a time when overall traffic fatalities across the state actually declined. In 2017, bikers represented 8.4% of all people killed in vehicular accidents in Delaware. In 2018, they represented 15% of all accident deaths.
Over the five years spanning 2014 to 2018, it was 2015 that saw the greatest number of riders killed with 19. Those deaths, however, still represented a lower percentage of the total vehicular fatalities in the state than the 17 deaths in 2018. Between 2014 and 2018, 17 riders in their 20s died. Among bikers in their 30s or aged 60 and older, 15 died in each group in that same time period.
If you would like to learn more about how to get the right help after you or a member of your family has been involved in a motorcycle accident, please feel free to visit the biker’s compensation and assistance page of our Delaware personal injury website.