Statewide Iowa (RI) – Motorcycles make up just four-percent of all registered vehicles in Iowa, but the Iowa DOT says motorcycle fatalities last year accounted for nearly 15 percent of the state’s total traffic deaths. Registered nurse Kelly Hilsabeck, a central Iowa trauma injury prevention coordinator, says the springtime weather brings out droves of motorcycles, and she implores motorists to “look twice.”
For drivers who find themselves following a motorcycle in traffic, Hilsabeck urges you to back off and give them plenty of room.
According to DOT data from the past several years, 74-percent of the motorcyclists killed in Iowa were not wearing helmets, while the national average is 38-percent. Iowa is one of three states in the country with no helmet laws, along with Illinois and New Hampshire.
Other things motorcyclists can do to protect themselves include: keeping your headlight on all the time to increase visibility, wearing some form of eye protection, and wearing bright-colored clothing.
The DOT says 38 motorcyclists were killed on Iowa’s roads last year, with 11 motorcycle deaths reported statewide so far this year.
