Motorcycle Injuries In Rhode Island

摘要

Deaths of motorcyclists due to traffic crashes increased in theUnited States in each of the ten years 1998-2007. The annualnumber of deaths more than doubled, from 2,116 in 1997 to5,154 in 2007.1 This period of increased motorcycle mortalityfollowed a period from 1980 to 1997 during which such deathshad declined steadily.Overall, the number of motor vehicle traffic fatalities hasheld steady at just over 40,000 deaths per year nationally, since1990.2 Because the number of motor vehicle traffic deaths variedlittle in these years, motorcyclists’ deaths increased steadilyand dramatically as a proportion of the total traffic deaths; from5% in 1997 to 12.6% in 2007. The age-adjusted populationrate of mortality for motorcyclists as a part of motor-vehicle trafficmortality increased 62% in the 5 years from 1999 to 2004.