2020 MOST Report On Motorcycle Crashes Now Out
MOST Program annual report
The 2020 annual report of Colorado’s Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (MOST) program is out and more than anything it looks like last year’s report. In fact, the number of fatalities has remained steady at 103 for three years in a row now. This is down from an all-time high in 2016 of 125 fatalities. The 2020 report addresses crashes in 2019.
As would be expected, the counties with the highest number of fatalities are the counties with the highest populations. These include Adams County (10 in 2019, 53 in the last five years), Denver (15 and 63), El Paso (19 and 59), and Jefferson (13 and 63). The 10 fatalities in Adams County matches the previous year and the 13 in Jefferson County is one higher than 2018, but there were considerable increases in Denver (7 up to 15) and El Paso (12 up to 19).
The age groups of those who died were largely stable with the exception of the 40-49 age group, which has risen from 15 to 21 in the last three years, and the 50-59 age group, which has declined from 20 to 16.
Looking at overall statistics, in 2019 there were approximately 120,000 vehicle crashes statewide, of which 1,965 (1.6%) involved motorcycles. Those 1,965 included 115 riders who took MOST training in either 2018 or 2019.
OK, here’s a statistic I didn’t understand at first but think I do now: Of the 1,965 crashes involving a motorcycle, 1,361 crashes resulted in injury, and 96 crashes resulted in a fatality. I wondered how could it be 96 if there were 103 fatalities but then I realized that several of those crashes must have resulted in two or more motorcyclists killed.
Here’s another interesting statistic that does not reflect well on MOST: Of the 1,965 motorcycle crashes, 1,269 of the motorcycle operators were at fault in the crash (64.6%). Among the 115 motorcycle operators who were MOST students and had a crash in 2019, 76 were at fault in the crash (66.1%). So how effective is training, really? Despite that I still have to believe getting training is better than not getting training.
This next stat speaks better of MOST: In 2019, there were 154 crashes where alcohol or drugs were suspected among motorcycle operators at fault in a crash. 127 of the motorcycle operators were suspected of alcohol use only, 18 operators were suspected of drug use only, and 9 motorcycle operators were suspected of both alcohol and drug use. Only eight MOST students were suspected to be impaired by drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash.
Perhaps that implies that people who are responsible enough to get training are also more responsible about impaired driving in general.
There is more information to be mined from this report and I’ll continue with that in my next post.
Biker Quote for Today
We know you’re a poser if you never ride to work.
Tags: Colorado MOST program
