Now that 2016 is over, we can take a look back and see if Colorado has made any progress in motorcycle safety. State authorities have invested a lot of money in recent years to spearhead motorcycle safety campaigns like Drive Smart and Look Twice, but their efforts haven’t paid off like they had hoped. Traffic fatalities for Colorado are up along with motorcyclist fatalities.
What Caused the Rise in Motorcyclist Fatalities?
The number of motorcyclists who have died on Colorado’s roads rose 24 percent in 2016. That means that the number of fatalities increased to 125 motorcyclists last year—which is the highest number of motorcyclist deaths Colorado has ever recorded. This was heartbreaking news for officials at the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and at the Colorado State Patrol.
Both agencies are heavily invested in efforts to improve motorcycle safety, but this latest revelation has made the task more daunting. Officials blame a combination of several safety issues for last year’s rise in traffic fatalities, but distracted driving has become one of their main focuses.
CDOT is asking more Coloradoans to buckle up and to put their cellphones down while they are driving. The agency has also allocated an extra $390,000 to its motorcycle safety campaigns, but will the increased budget have the desired effect?
What else can CDOT and Colorado State Patrol do to bring down the number of fatal motorcycle crashes? Log on to Facebook and Twitter to tell your motorcycling attorneys what you would do to help solve this problem.