In 2005, 4,553 motorcyclists were killed and an additional 87,000 were injured in traffic crashes in the United States — 13 percent more than the 4,028 motorcyclist fatalities and 14 percent more than the 76,000 motorcyclist injuries reported in 2004. An estimated 132,000 motorcyclists have died in traffic crashes since the enactment of the Highway Safety and National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966. Motorcycles made up more than 2 percent of all registered vehicles in the United States in 2004 and accounted for only 0.3 percent of all vehicle miles traveled. Per vehicle mile traveled in 2004, motorcyclists were about 34 times more likely than passenger car occupants to die in a motor vehicle traffic crash and 8 times more likely to be injured. Per registered vehicle, the fatality rate for motorcyclists in 2004 was 4.8 times the fatality rate for passenger car occupants. The injury rate for passenger car occupants per registered vehicle was 0.9 times the injury rate for motorcyclists. In 2005, motorcyclists accounted for 10 percent of total traffic fatalities, 12 percent of all occupant fatalities, and 3 percent of all occupants injured. (Author/publisher) All HTML Files of 2005 Traffic Safty Fact Sheets: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/TSF2005/2005TSF/index.htm
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