Florida Law Requires Motorcycle Riders to Take Course

Florida law used to require motorcycle riders under the age of 21 to take a 15 hour safety course. Recently, however, the law was changed. Now the saftey course must be taken by all new motorcycle riders regardless of age. According to www.tbo.com, the course is offered by many motorcycle dealerships in the area.

Hopefully the law will help reduce the alarming trend of ever increasing motorcycle fatalities in the United States. The www.tbo.com article observed this trend by citing the following National Highway Trafic Safety Administration statistics:

Motorcycle rider deaths as a percentage of all auto accident fatalities:
1998: 5.5 percent
1999: 6 percent
2000: 6.9 percent
2001: 7.6 percent
2002: 7.6 percent
2003: 8.7 percent
2004: 9.4 percent
2005: 10.5 percent
2006: 11.3 percent
2007: 12.6 percent

As you can see, the death rate for motorcylce crashes has consistently increased from 5.5% in 1998 to 12.6% in 2007.

Scott Distasio
Tampa auto accident attorney

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