Alcohol and motorcycles don’t mix in Georgia or anywhere else. If you are riding a high-powered machine, the last thing you need is alcohol or drugs in your bloodstream that will slow your reactions.
However, the number of motorcycle wrecks linked to alcohol has steadily increased in Georgia, alarming public safety agencies.
The Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety notes that every year from 2008 to 2015, alcohol-related motorcyclist deaths rose.
In 2015, a quarter of all motorcyclists who lost their lives on the highways of Georgia recorded a blood/alcohol content of 0.08 or higher. This equated to 36 riders. The report noted the 25 percent figure remains slightly below the national average of alcohol being a factor in 27 percent of motorcyclist deaths.
Alcohol is a cause of motorcycle accidents in Georgia
Increasing numbers of people are riding motorcycles in Georgia and elsewhere. In 2016, there were 196,227 registered motorcyclists in the state.
In 2015, 10.6 percent of all people who lost their lives on the roads of Georgia were motorcyclists. The figure was a 10.9 percent increase on the previous year.
Figures for 2013 from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found motorcycle riders involved in fatal crashes had higher percentages of alcohol impairment than in any other type of motor vehicle driver,
The figure found nationally 27 percent of motorcyclists were impaired, 23 percent of passenger car drivers, 21 percent of for light truck drivers, and 2 percent of large truck drivers.
According to the Hurt Report, the typical motorcycle accident involving a rider who has not consumed alcohol occurs in the daytime at low speeds when a car impairs or violates the rider’s right of way. The typical alcohol-related crash is an entirely different. It’s much more likely to occur at night, and it’s typically a single-vehicle accident. Riders may be speeding and not wearing helmets.
The highest percentages of fatally injured, alcohol-impaired riders were in the 40-to-44 and 45-to-49 age groups (40 percent), followed by the 35-to-39 age group (33 percent).
We have noted previously, how motorcyclists are considerably more likely to be killed in wrecks than car or truck drivers. Riders are 29 times more likely than the occupants of passenger cars to die in a wreck per vehicle mile traveled.
If you have been injured in a car, truck or a motorcycle accident, please call the Law Office of Michael West at (404) 913-1529.