If you love the feeling of riding with the open air around you on a motorcycle, you may also realize that the actions of other drivers may at times put you in harm’s way.
Learning how to ride safely is important for every biker. Unfortunately, even when you operate your bike appropriately and follow all traffic rules, other drivers may not. Some drivers open car doors into the path of oncoming motorcyclists, others make left turns in front of bikers.
Motorcyclist fatalities across Georgia
Records from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that over one out of every ten vehicular fatalities in Georgia in 2018 was a motorcyclist. That year, 154 bikers died statewide, up from 139 the prior year. The 2017 rider deaths represented a decline from the 172 in 2016, but that year represented a big jump from 152 in 2015 and from 137 in 2014.
Motorcyclist fatalities in Western Georgia
In the five years spanning from 2014 through 2018, Carroll County and Haralson County together recorded a total of 15 motorcyclist fatalities, more than in most of their adjacent counties. Only Douglas County experienced more biker deaths during that time with 16 riders losing their lives in vehicle crashes.
In Coweta County, 10 motorcycle riders died and another nine were killed in Paulding County. Polk County was the location of seven deaths among motorcyclists between 2014 and 2018.
This information is not intended to provide legal advice but is instead meant to give residents in Georgia an overview of how many motorcyclists die on Georgia roads and highways every year.