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[Study] The Deadliest Roads for Motorcyclists

The unfortunate reality is that motorcyclists are extremely vulnerable in collisions with passenger and commercial vehicles.  When they are struck, they almost always suffer serious injuries – especially on highways when high rates of speed are involved.  Even non-contact incidents can be fatal when other vehicles cause motorcycles to swerve and lose control of their bike.

From 2016 – 2020, nearly 15 percent of fatal crashes involved a motorcycle – 25,642 crashes total.  While they make up 15 percent of fatal crashes, they only make up 3 percent of registered vehicles and less than 1 percent of vehicle miles traveled.

It is clear that motorcyclists are overrepresented in fatal crashes. Where, then, do motorcycle crashes occur most often?  Where are motorcyclists at the highest risk of a collision?

We examined over 171,000 fatal collision records from the NHTSA to find the deadliest roads in America for motorcyclists.

The 20 Deadliest Highways for Motorcyclists

Rank Road State Fatal Motorcycle Crashes (FMC) Deaths in FMC All Fatal Crashes *Rate
1 US-1 Florida 136 141 549 25%
2 US-41 Florida 91 99 421 22%
3 US-19 Florida 76 80 302 25%
4 I-95 Florida 63 64 464 14%
5 I-5 California 52 54 535 10%
6 US-441 Florida 47 49 272 17%
7 US-27 Florida 45 47 305 15%
8 US-101 California 44 45 394 11%
9 US-17 Florida 42 42 248 17%
10 I-10 Texas 41 41 448 9%
11 US-17 South Carolina 41 43 210 20%
12 US-98 Florida 39 40 242 16%
13 SR-A1A Florida 38 40 140 27%
14 I-15 California 36 36 280 13%
15 US-92 Florida 36 38 134 27%
16 I-75 Florida 35 38 350 10%
17 I-35 Texas 33 33 392 8%
18 US-90 Florida 33 37 205 16%
19 US-301 Florida 31 32 185 17%
20 SR-60 Florida 29 29 160 18%

*Rate is the percentage of all fatal crashes that involved a motorcycle.

The Top 10 Overall Most Deadly Roads

1) Florida: US -1

136 Fatal Motorcycle Crashes
141 Deaths
25 percent of all fatal crashes involve motorcycles

The deadliest road for motorcyclists in the entire United States is, of course, also the deadliest in all of Florida.

2) Florida: US -41

91 Fatal Motorcycle Crashes
99 Deaths
22 percent of all fatal crashes involve motorcycles

 

3) Florida: US -19

76 Fatal Motorcycle Crashes
80 Deaths
25 percent of all fatal crashes involve motorcycles

4) Florida: I-95

63 Fatal Motorcycle Crashes
64 Deaths
14 percent of all fatal crashes involve motorcycles

Rank 5: California I-5

5) California: I-5

52 Fatal Motorcycle Crashes
54 Deaths
10 percent of all fatal crashes involve motorcycles

6) Florida: US -441

47 Fatal Motorcycle Crashes
49 Deaths
17 percent of all fatal crashes involve motorcycles

7) Florida: US -27

45 Fatal Motorcycle Crashes
47 Deaths
15 percent of all fatal crashes involve motorcycles

8) California: US -101

44 Fatal Motorcycle Crashes
45 Deaths
11 percent of all fatal crashes involve motorcycles

9) Florida: US -17

42 Fatal Motorcycle Crashes
42 Deaths
17 percent of all fatal crashes involve motorcycles

10) Texas: I-10

41 Fatal Motorcycle Crashes
41 Deaths
9 percent of all fatal crashes involve motorcycles

Sources and Fair Use

Our study covers the years 2016 through 2020, examining a total of 171,350 fatal collisions – 25,642 of those involving motorcycles – from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  Road data was sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line program.

If you would like to report on or republish the findings of this study, please link to the page to provide attribution.