Is New York One Of The Deadliest US States For Two-Wheeled Vehicles?

A new study is revealing which state is the most dangerous for cyclists and motorcyclists. Where did New York rank?

Florida personal injury law firm Anidjar and Levine studied the latest NHTSA data on the volume of fatal collisions between 2017 and 2021. They compared the volume of total fatal crashes to the volume of deadly crashes involving pedal-cyclists and motorcyclists, to find the state with the highest percentage of fatal crashes involving two-wheeled vehicles.

Where Did New York Rank?

Hawaii topped the list, despite being in the bottom five states for road fatalities, with only 483 deaths over the five-year parameters. Of those deaths, 151 involved some version of bike, meaning that such collisions accounted for almost one in three (31.26%) fatal crashes in the state, the highest ratio in all 50 states.

New York State came in at 8th place on this list. New York State reported 205 fatal crashes involving a pedalcyclist, with 842 fatal crashes reported, and 4,785 total fatal crashes overall. Of that number, 1,047 crashes were Fatal Crashes Involving a Pedalcyclist or a motorcycle.

Coming in at second place is Florida, with around 1 in 4 (24.75%) fatal accidents found to involve a two-wheeled vehicle. The state placed in the top three for total road incidents resulting in at least one casualty and topped the chart for both fatal motorcycle and bicycle accidents.

Rhode Island rounds off the podium places as the third most dangerous state for two-wheelers. Following a similar trend to Hawaii, Rhode Island has a relatively low volume (313) of fatal road accidents. However, motorcycles account for 67 of these, and the inclusion of 7 fatal bicycle incidents brings the state’s likelihood of a fatal crash involving a two-wheeler to a terrifying 23.64%.

You can read the full data online here.