Monday was a tragic day in Fort Worth, with three dead in two separate motorcycle accidents. In the first accident, a firefighter for the City of Fort Worth was riding his motorcycle when a sport utility vehicle turned in front of the motorcycle, which hit the back of the SUV. The firefighter was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The wreck occurred at the intersection of Sycamore School Road and Colfax Lane, near I-35W, in south Fort Worth.

Two people died in a separate motorcycle wreck in northwest Fort Worth at the intersection of White Settlement Road and West Loop 820. In this accident, a motorcyclist collided with the passenger side of a car, killing the motorcyclist and the front-seat passenger of the car. The driver of the car and another passenger of the car, a two-year-old child, were not injured in the accident. For more information on these accidents, click here.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”), motorcyclist deaths account for approximately eleven percent of all traffic-related fatalities each year, yet motorcycles represent only three percent of all registered vehicles in the United States. More than eight-percent of motorcycle crashes result in injury or death, while only twenty percent of car crashes result in injury or death. According to the Centers for Disease Control, between 2001 and 2008, more than 34,000 motorcyclists were killed and an estimated 1,222,000 people were treated for a non-fatal motorcycle-related injury. Perhaps most disturbing, according to a study published by NHTSA, the number of motorcyclist crash-related fatalities has more than doubled since 2000. While the cause of this trend are disputed, some experts attribute the rise in fatalities to the fact that in recent years more states have relaxed or repealed their helmet laws.

Author: Josh Borsellino