According to data from the federal administration, traffic accident fatalities in 2011 dropped to their lowest levels since 1949, touching an all-time low of 32,367 deaths last year. However, there was an increase in the number of people being killed in bicycle, truck and motorcycle accident fatalities, indicating that more work is needed to keep these groups safer.
Missouri saw a drop in traffic accidents deaths, with the number of people being killed in traffic accidents falling from 821 in 2010 to 784 in 2011. That was a respectable decline of 4.5%.
The overall drop in national traffic accident deaths was close to 2%, but there was a spike of 8.7% in bicycle accident fatalities, and a staggering 20% increase in large truck occupant fatalities last year. There was also an increase of more than 2% in motorcycle deaths in 2011.
The federal administration is yet to begin investigating the reasons for this increase in bicycle and truck occupant fatalities. Those numbers are fairly surprising, because they come after a couple of years of declining bicycle and truck fatality numbers.
One of the theories out there is that the increase in bicycle accident fatality numbers has to do with the increasing number of bicyclists compared to just a few years earlier. In several states including Missouri, there has been a spike in the number of people who prefer to ride not just for work, but also for recreational purposes.
The increase in motorcycle accident fatalities was not surprising to any Kansas City motorcycle accident lawyers. Those numbers have been on the rise over the past 14 years, and have been a great source of worry to the federal administration as well as to motorcycling safety groups.
