[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

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.