The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) recently submitted formal public comments to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in response to the agency’s request for input on the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the Non-Traffic Surveillance (NTS) system. These systems form the backbone of how federal and state agencies track roadway fatalities and serious crashes. The MRF emphasized the importance of these systems to the motorcycling community.
In its comments, the MRF reaffirmed that FARS is an indispensable tool for understanding motorcycle fatalities and developing effective safety strategies. Because motorcycles differ significantly from passenger vehicles in terms of exposure, performance, visibility, and rider behavior, aggregated crash data often fails to capture trends that uniquely affect motorcyclists. Accurate, consistent and detailed motorcycle-specific data is essential for identifying patterns, targeting safety resources, evaluating training programs and guiding sound policymaking.
The MRF also urged NHTSA to ensure that any modernization of FARS, particularly efforts to improve the timeliness of data release, does not compromise data integrity or year-to-year consistency. For a relatively small but high-risk group such as motorcyclists, even minor changes in data definitions or collection practices can distort long-term trend analysis. Transparency and public engagement, the MRF noted, must remain central to any substantial changes in how data is collected or coded.
“FARS is not simply a database for motorcyclists, it is the yardstick by which progress is measured,” the comments stated. From rider education and training to infrastructure investment and regulatory decisions, nearly every motorcycle safety initiative depends on reliable fatality data. The MRF concluded by urging NHTSA to prioritize continued funding, accuracy, consistency, and accessibility of FARS, while ensuring that the unique characteristics of motorcycle crashes remain visible in the nation’s most important traffic safety dataset.
The MRF will continue to engage federal agencies to ensure that motorcyclists are fully represented in national safety data and that policies are based upon accurate information, not assumptions.
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