Motorcycle fatalities on upswing despite record lows for car crash fatalities

Motorcycles with anti-lock brakes are 37% less likely to be in fatal crashes per 10,000 registered vehicle years, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
Bike models with anti-locks also have 22% fewer claims for damage per insured vehicle year than the same models without antilock brakes, reports the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI). [A vehicle year is one vehicle insured for one year, two insured for six months, and so on.]
Crash avoidance technology like motorcycle anti-locks is especially important because more people are taking up riding and more are dying in crashes, says IIHS.
Rider deaths topped 5,000 in 2008 — more than in any other year since the U.S. federal government began collecting fatal crash data in 1975.
Motorcycle registrations also rose to 7.7 million in 2008, up from 4.3 in 2000.
The data is especially disturbing since the upswing has come amid record lows for fatalities in car crashes.
“Stopping a motorcycle is trickier than stopping a car,” the IIHS said. “In an emergency, a [motorcycle] rider faces a split-second choice to either brake hard, which can lock the wheels and cause an overturn, or hold back on braking and risk running into the emergency.”
Anti-locks can help reduce brake pressure when they detect impending lockup and increase pressure when traction is restored, “so riders may brake fully without fear of locking up.”
More than half of motorcycle owners surveyed by IIHS said they would get anti-locks on their next bikes.