National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month continues in the month of May, and the Missouri Department of Transportation and the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety continue to remind motorists to keep a “watch for motorcycles,” and help prevent motorcycle crashes, deaths, and injuries on roadways.

 According to MoDOT, preliminary data from 2022 finds there were 151 motorcycle fatalities on Missouri roadways, accounting for 14% of roadway fatalities for the year. Fatalities resulting from motorcycle crashes is on the rise in Arkansas as well. Arkansas saw a 21% increase in motorcycles fatalities from 2019 to 2020, putting the state third regarding motorcycles deaths nationwide. The state of Missouri ranked ninth for the number of deadly motorcycle crashes nationwide.

 MoDOT says motorists can help improve the safety of motorcyclists by always paying attention and looking twice, always signal when changing lanes or merging with traffic, checking all mirrors and blind spots for motorcycles before changing lanes or merging with traffic, especially at intersections, and never driving distracted or impaired.