Motorcycle accident characteristics of Western Europe, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, and the USA are analyzed to determine some of the problem areas in traffic safety of motorcycle use. The specific objectives of the study were to: (1) Show quantitatively the changes in motorcycle fatalities in Western Europe and the United States between 1970 and 1987; (2) Show quantitatively the changes in fatality rates (fatalities per100000 inhabitants, fatalities per 10000 registered motorcycles) between 1970 and 1987; (3) Identify those age groups that were most frequently involved in fatal motorcycle accidents; (4) Determine whether there were statistically significant changes during the 1970-1987 time period in the motorcycle accident characteristics studied. To achieve this important objective of the study, the statistical analysis t-test concerning the difference between means was conducted for testing the significance of the difference between means of fatalities for selected time periods within the period 1970-1987 in each of the subject countries. The results show that for all countries except the United States motorcycle accidents have decreased. (The United States showed an increase of 48% accidents and 76.8% fatalities). In 1987, 57.9% of motorcycle accident deaths in Western Europe occurred amongst persons aged between 15-24 years. In the United States, 52.4% of deaths occurred amongst people in the 25-64 years old age group.
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