Much work has been done recently to examine the trends, contributing factors and characteristics of the increasing number of fatal motorcycle crashes occurring in the United States. This paper explores two new resources, geocoded FARS data and roadway orthoimagery, to examine the geo-spatial characteristics of U.S. fatal motorcycle crashes.

Using 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 FARS crash data (that were previously geocoded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis), we have characterized the locations in the United States that have had fatal motorcycle crashes. Locations where crashes occurred were identified by using spatial and attribute queries of the NHTSA FARS database after the database was imported into a Geographic Information System. During the period from 2001 through 2004, FARS identifies 14,653 fatal motorcycle crashes. Approximately 91 percent of these crashes (13,329) were successfully geocoded and entered into the analyses. A majority (about 70%) of motorcycle fatalities occur on undivided roadways.

A valuable new approach to the analysis of fatal motorcycle crashes will be described. This approach involves use of high resolution orthoimagery which is now available for some, although not all, roadways. In addition, care must be taken to insure that available imagery displays roadway features at the time of the crash.

This paper provides the first geospatial analysis of fatal U.S. motorcycle crashes using national geocoded FARS data coupled with available roadway orthoimagery. Precise crash location, roadway imagery and FARS crash attributes provide unique opportunities to investigate crash trends, causation factors and potential crash mitigation techniques.