The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office is the recipient of a $90,000 grant from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) for motorcycle safety in the county, the FCSO announced Friday. The announcement comes just weeks before the start of Biketoberfest, a four-day motorcycle event in Daytona Beach that annually brings thousands of bikes through Flagler County. It’ll be the third straight year the FCSO has received FDOT funding for motorcycle safety.
According to the FCSO’s release on the grant, the funding will be used to give overtime pay to the FCSO Traffic Enforcement Unit. These extra hours won’t necessarily be used to keep them out patrolling the roads for longer stints, but instead to hold enforcement and driver education with a focus on motorcycles. Also receiving funding through the grant is a plan to purchase more speed detection equipment and materials to increase public awareness of motorcycle safety.
Bike Week, Biketoberfest, and Local Factors
“Motorcycle crashes are a serious issue affecting the safety of our community. Just in the last few weeks, we’ve unfortunately seen multiple fatal motorcycle crashes,” said Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly. “And sadly, the blame can go all around. Sometimes the crashes are the motorcyclist’s fault, and sometimes it is another driver who didn’t see the motorcycle. That’s why it is important for everyone on the road to follow traffic laws and pay attention by not driving distracted.”
Law enforcement and public safety leaders in Flagler may have extra reason to fret over motorcycle safety in the area. “Many motorcyclists live in and travel to our county, especially during popular events,” Staly continued. “I believe in bringing as much grant money to Flagler County to make our community safer. This grant is key to assisting our mission to keep all drivers and motorcyclists on our roadways safe.”
As alluded to by Staly, Flagler County receives regular influxes of motorcycle traffic thanks to two large annual bike events in Volusia County. Bike Week in February and Biketoberfest in October regularly draw hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists from around the country, many of whom pass through or stay in Flagler County. Harley-Davidson Insurance places the annual Bike Week attendance at half a million. The economic boost of such events tends to carry an unfortunate downside.
Motorcycle Safety in Florida & America
According to the National Safety Council, Florida led the nation in motorcycle deaths in 2023, with a total of 668. This well outpaced the second and third place states: Texas (598) and California (583). The same data show that motorcycle deaths in Florida have more than doubled over the last 25 years, and are part of a steadily rising trend across the country. In Flagler County alone, there have been 413 motorcycle accidents since 2020 according to the FCSO. 37 of these crashes have caused fatalities.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that motorcyclists account for 15% of all traffic accidents nationwide as of 2023. The agency stresses the importance of bikers wearing helmets, exercising good judgment in sharing the road with larger vehicles, and taking steps to make themselves visible.
Another study by the NHTSA wrote that the usage of ‘DOT-compliant motorcycle helmets’ was shown to be 78.3% as of 2023. Usage of these helmets appeared to increase from 2022 in ‘light traffic’, from 35.5% to 66.0%. Conversely, ‘noncompliant motorcycle helmets’ were shown being used less in slow and light traffic situations.
Out of all the motorcycle accidents. How many were the fault of the motorcycle operator? It would be nice to know and not make it sound as if they were all the motorcyclist fault. I’ll bet most of them were cause by people in cars not paying attention.