Does Nighttime Riding Increase Your Risk of a Motorcycle Accident?
Nighttime riding is its own special experience. With the thrill of piercing the darkness, you can feel truly apart from the world. Plus, the reduced traffic gives you more opportunity to enjoy your ride. There’s space to accelerate and maneuver so you can really enjoy your bike’s nimble power.
However, nighttime riding also comes with challenges. It’s much harder to see the road and its hazards. More importantly, it’s harder for other drivers to see you. Does this mean that nighttime riding will increase your risk of a motorcycle accident? Not necessarily. It depends on the night.
When Do Most Motorcycle Accidents Occur?
If motorcycle accident risk is more serious at night than during the day, you would expect there to be more motorcycle accidents during that time, or, at least, to be the same despite a decrease in traffic volume.
The statistics indicate that this might be the case. According to the Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS), only 39% of fatal motorcycle accidents occurred at night. Doing its own analysis of fatality data, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) comes up with an even smaller proportion, concluding that just 27% of motorcycle accident fatalities occurred at night.
Looking at this data, it doesn’t seem on the face of it that nighttime riding is inherently more dangerous than riding during the day. While there are dangers associated with riding at night, the main danger for motorcyclists is other vehicles, and these are much more plentiful during the day than at night.
However, there are some nights that are very dangerous for riding, and for a very predictable and preventable reason.
(Note: We often favor CDOT statistics, but their portal doesn’t let us segment accident data by time, so we are using NHTSA data for Colorado.)
Some Nights Are Very Dangerous
Although riding at night isn’t inherently more dangerous, there are some nights that account for more than their expected share of deadly motorcycle accidents. The interval between 6pm on Friday night and 3am on Saturday morning accounts for nearly 10% of all accident deaths, and the comparable period on Saturday night accounts for nearly 9%. For comparison, Sunday night into Monday morning only accounts for less than 5% of all deadly accidents.
In part, people are more likely to be out riding their motorcycles on Friday and Saturday night when they don’t have work in the morning. However, IIHS research shows that this is more than just a matter of volume. They found that 49% of motorcyclists killed in accidents after dark had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.08% or higher, the legal definition of driving under the influence (DUI). At other times, only 21% of motorcyclists killed in crashes had a high BAC. (Note: these are nationwide statistics. In Colorado, alcohol is only a factor in 18% of motorcycle crashes.)
In addition to intoxicated motorcyclists, the prevalence of other drunk drivers on these nights likely accounts for the majority of fatal motorcycle accidents at this time.
Nighttime Driving Safety Tips
If you are considering riding your motorcycle at night, remember to only ride sober. You may also want to avoid riding on nights where there are likely to be many drunk drivers on the roads.
In addition, remember these safety tips for nighttime motorcycle riding:
- Make sure you’re ready to ride at night
- Check your lights and use high beams
- Have night riding glasses or visor
- Don’t look at oncoming headlights
- Slow down and drive defensively
- Use the headlights of other vehicles
- Wear visibility gear
Following these tips can help you avoid accidents with other vehicles.
Get Help After a Nighttime Motorcycle Accident
If you were hurt or lost a loved one in a nighttime motorcycle accident, you deserve compensation if the other driver was at fault. At Pushchak Law, we specialize in motorcycle accidents, and we’ve gotten very good at helping people get the compensation they need and deserve.
In addition, you will benefit from our exclusive Informed Decisions™ Approach. We start by taking the time to listen to you and your needs to determine the best approach to handling your case. We’ll take the time to explain all your options and which ones we recommend.
However, it’s important to remember that your case is always yours. We are here to serve you with our expertise, not take your case away from you. You will always have the final say about how things proceed. We’ll give you our personal contact information and always be available if you have questions, comments, or decisions to communicate to us. We are fully determined to hold drivers accountable for the injuries and losses they cause, but our most important concern is making sure you and your family are taken care of.
To learn how you can benefit from working with Denver motorcycle accident lawyer Brian Pushchak, please contact Pushchak Law today for a free initial consultation.
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