Study Finds That Laws on Distracted Driving Critical for Motorcyclists
Distracted driving is dangerous for everyone, and all it takes is looking down for a couple of seconds to realize that you’ve lost your focus on
the road entirely. Some groups, however, are more likely to be seriously hurt in a critical accident. One study points out that anyone riding a motorcycle faces a much higher risk of being hurt in a crash when distracted driving is involved.
Motorcyclists are one of the categories most likely to suffer devastating or fatal injuries in a vehicle accident. And a new study finds that
laws over distracted driving play an important role in curbing motorcyclist fatalities. States that have what are classified as moderate to strong bans
over distracted driving, have motorcycle fatality rates much lower than comparable locations.
This study which was recently completed by the University of Miami and Florida Atlantic University, identified that motorcycle fatality rates could differ by as much as 11% when compared with states that had no bans on distracted driving.
In the case of motorcycles, according to the study’s researchers, these laws appear to be effective. The study identified that it was not specifically clear that these laws had an impact on reducing the total number of traffic fatalities, but when accounting for motorcycle deaths that they had a significant impact.
This is important because motorcyclists represent a much higher proportion of traffic fatalities among all motor vehicles and miles driven across the United States.
In order to arrive at these research results, the study’s authors looked at data from the fatality analysis reporting system on motorcycle specific traffic fatalities and total motorcycle fatalities for all 50 states between 2005 and 2015. Those data points were then merged with state specific characteristics, traffic policies and texting and hand-held device laws. If you have recently been hurt in a serious vehicle accident caused by a person who is texting and driving or engaged in other distracted driving behavior, you deserve to have your claim evaluated by an experienced lawyer.
