On average, about a dozen people die in the United States every day in motorcycle accidents. And according to new research, an increasing number of those people belong to the Baby Boomer generation.
Although the overall motorcycle crash death toll has declined in recent years, deaths among older riders have increased. In 2013, 55- to 64-year-olds accounted for approximately 16.3 percent of all motorcycle accident deaths, down from 16.3 percent in 2012, but up from just 9.3 percent in 2002 and less than 3 percent in the early 1990s.
Part of the reason for this increase in deaths among older riders may be explained by there simply being a lot more people that fall into that age range. The total percentage of Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 increased to 12.3 percent in 2012 from 10.8 percent in 2007.
Another reason for the higher numbers of deaths in this age bracket is that older people are more susceptible to injuries when a crash occurs. Although older riders tend to be less reckless in the way they operate their motorcycles, they also do not have the same reflexes and vision as younger riders, and their bodies may not be able to handle the impact of a collision to the same degree.
Another factor is that many of these older riders only recently got back on the bike after having given up riding when they had young children. Now that their children are out of the house, they have hopped back on the bike, assuming that their skill level was exactly the same as it was 25 years earlier. However, motorcycling experts say that people who have gone a long time without riding would greatly benefit from taking a safety course as a refresher.
After a serious motorcycle accident in North Carolina, work with the knowledgeable personal injury lawyers at Lanier Law Group to learn about your legal options.