2021 Minnesota And Wisconsin Motorcycle Fatalities Update
I bring up the subject because I ride a bike, and there have been a few close to home this year. Also, we were on a fundraising/memorial ride last weekend and there was a motorcycle accident, thankfully not a fatality.
It seemed like every couple of weeks this summer, that someone was in some form of a motorcycle accident in the Twin Ports area. A few just suffered injuries but a few were fatalities which hits hard in the biking community. While riding season is winding down in our area, there is still some road time left for motorcyclists, so please remember to keep looking for bikes.
At the time of writing this, the State of Minnesota only has preliminary numbers from January-August of 2021. Forty seven is the number of motorcyclists who died in crashes, and the number is for sure a bit higher as I know of a few within the last month. On the other side of the border in Wisconsin, as of September, 19th there have been eighty six motorcycle driver fatalities and 8 passenger fatalities. That's far too many in both states, but as anyone who rides knows, it's not exactly the safest way to travel.
I don't have the statistics on how many were alcohol related, or how many were deemed the fault of the rider, as I'm sure some were. I do know of some that I heard about, it was distracted driving on the end of the car or truck driver that hit the motorcyclist. If you do ride, remember that the colder mornings and evenings have an impact on your tires, and were not far away from there being some ice on the wet spots on our up north roads. As you know too, distracted driving is only getting worse, so do your nest to pay attention so you can arrive home safely. You can see the current fatality statistics for motorists in Minnesota HERE.