Our state is on track to surpass the deadliest year on record when it comes to motorcycles.
More than 36 riders have died since January according to an expert from UConn’s Transportation Safety Research Center.
Eric Jackson, who studies traffic accident statistics with the Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center at UConn, told NBC Connecticut Investigates that several factors are contributing to the significant increase, including speeding and driving under the influence by both motorcyclists and drivers of cars.
“The impairment issue is becoming significant. Connecticut has always been in the top three states for driver impaired fatalities,” Jackson said. “And we're not seeing a reduction in that. It's been 20 years that Connecticut has had around 35 to 40% of our fatalities due to an impaired driver.”
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Distracted driving has also contributed to 1,909 motorcycle crashes this year, according to the UConn Crash Data Repository.
Valerie Machnics, of Naugatuck, lost her son, Travis Machnics-Larowe, when an elderly woman crossed over the yellow line and struck him and two of his friends in June 2023.
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Machnics said she wants other people to respect motorcyclists on the road and understand how much more vulnerable they are than other drivers.
“He was just a good kid who got his whole life taken away from him in one minute by somebody not paying attention on the road,” she said.
Connecticut falls in the top five deadliest states for riders, according to National Highway Travel Safety Administration (NHTSA). The data shows that 19% of all fatalities in the state were motorcyclists in 2022, the most recent year of available statistics.
Jackson said that the size of motorcycles makes it difficult for drivers to see them and that part of the increase in accidents this year can be attributed a mild winter that brought riders out earlier when drivers didn’t expect to see them.
“Loud pipes save lives. That’s what they say, but they do,” Machnics said. “Because if you hear a bike coming, I know I’m more aware of it, you know? I mean, people just need to be more aware of their surroundings. I mean, isn’t that part of driving anyways?”
Brenda Toto, of Milford, runs a motorcycle group on Facebook of nearly 19,000 members. She said safety is a common topic of conversation that there is no better feeling than being on her motorcycle.
“You can’t take away that feeling of getting on the bike and just being with your own thoughts, listening to your music, the wind in your hair,” she said.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people found that same freedom through riding, Jackson said, which lead to an increase in motorcycles on the roads and therefore, an increase in accidents.
Eric Teoh, of the director of statistical services for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), said that the rate of motorcycle accidents across the country has been trending upward in recent years.
“Nationwide, motorcyclist fatalities have hit record highs for the past three years in a row of available data,” Teoh said. “And I think you know, the issues that underlie that are not that different from other road users.”
Teoh said the IIHS is working on safety features for motorcycles, like automatic braking systems and collision prevention avoidance technology, like what newer model cars have.
“The reality is, humans operate motorcycles, humans operate other vehicles, and humans make mistakes, you know? So, I mean, there's, if we wanted to assign blame, there's plenty to go around on both sides,” he said.
