Kansas Motorcycle Fatality Statistics
In 2015, Kansas reported 44 motorcycle fatalities. This number was close to the totals of the past few. In 2013 the number dropped to 35. The highest number came in 2006 when there were 64 recorded.
Of those deaths in 2015, 15 were helmeted while another 28 did not wear helmets. Kansas does have a helmet law, but it only requires those 17 years old and younger to wear helmets when riding. In 2015, the state had a 35 percent rate of people wearing helmets, which saved nine lives. Another 11 could have been saved with 100 percent of helmet wear.
Kansas reported 96,817 motorcycle registrations for 2014 with a fatality rate per 100,000 of 49.58. The number of registrations was down slightly from the previous year.
In the majority of motorcycle-related fatalities, the victims were older than 59 years old with 15 deaths. Most of the other age ranges had six or seven deaths with the lowest number going to those 20 years old and younger.
Only 24 counties in Kansas reported motorcycle fatalities and all but one of those counties have five or fewer for 2015. Sedgwick County is the one exception with seven deaths for the year. This number is up from 2014 when there were four, but it is consistent with other years. Crawford and Cherokee counties both had fatalities after having years of zero. Crawford reported one while Cherokee had two for the year. Johnson County reported five for the year, one of the higher numbers in the state, while Douglas County had just one. Leavenworth County has remained consistent with two fatalities for every year except 2012 when it reported four for the year. Many of the motorcycle deaths are clustered around the northeastern portion of the state, which is also more highly populated.