Motorcycle and Trucking Accident Fatalities on the Rise

This month, federal agencies released data on accident fatality numbers for 2010. The good news for Texas car accident lawyers was that overall traffic accident fatalities across the country, and especially in Texas, are down. The bad news, however, is that pedestrian, trucking, and motorcycle accident fatalities have increased.

In Texas, 2,998 people were killed in traffic accidents in 2010, a drop from 3,104 fatalities in the previous year. That is a drop of 3.4%, and Texas was one of just four other states that recorded a drop of more than 100 fatalities over the previous year. Nationwide, there were 32,885 traffic accident fatalities last year, a drop from 33,803 deaths in 2009. That was a drop of 2.9%, and understandably, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which released the data, is pleased with the statistics.

However, there has been a surprising increase in the number of pedestrian, motorcycle, and truck accidents. The most surprising of these has been the increase in pedestrian fatalities, because these numbers have been dropping for a while now. It is not so surprising to Houston trucking accident lawyers that trucking fatality rates are up again. The rate had dropped for a couple of years while the economy nosedived, and seem to be picking up again. The trucking industry has been boasting about the declining trucking accident death rates in the country, and has used that data to oppose trucking safety measures like a proposed reduction in truck hour rules.

Motorcycle accident fatality numbers are also on the increase. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration needs to analyze the data to find out what is going on here, and why it is getting so difficult to keep motorcyclists and pedestrians safe on streets.

Update 12/18: To view more statistical updates about trucking fatalities, view: https://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/large-trucks/fatalityfacts/large-trucks. To view more statistical updates about motorcycle fatalities, view: https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-motorcycle-crashes.