FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 10 , 2007 SB-07-50

NTSB BOARD MEMBER CALLS FOR BETTER MOTORCYCLE SAFETY DATA

Washington, DC -National Transportation Safety Board Member, Deborah A. P. Hersman today encouraged the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the states to work together to improve the ways they collect and estimate motorcycle activity data such as motorcycle registrations and vehicle miles traveled.

"Improving the quality of this data will have a major impact on improving both our understanding of motorcycle safety, and on our efforts to reduce the number of accidents and fatalities on our highways," Hersman said.

Hersman's remarks were made at the Motorcycle Travel Symposium, cosponsored by the FHWA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The stated goals of the Symposium are to "continue the discussion on motorcycle activity data initiated by NTSB at their Motorcycle Forum held September 2006, share state best practices in the collection of this data, explore ways to merge the data from the various groups represented at the Symposium, and propose future research in the area that would ultimately lead to better State and National estimates of motorcycle travel."

The Motorcycle Travel Symposium is being hosted at the NTSB Conference Center in Washington, D.C., and will continue through October 12.

NTSB Media Contact: Terry N. Williams
(202) 314-6100
williat@ntsb.gov

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