​The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducted a study based on 2005 crash data involving motorcycle fatalities to determine the cause of the accidents. While motorcyclist shared some of blame in many accidents, drivers of passenger vehicles were also often at fault when looking at the causes of motorcycle accidents. These findings include that:

• 56% of the 4,553 motorcycle fatalities had involvement with two-vehicle crashes. 98% of the crash fatalities were either the driver of passenger or the driver of the motorcycle. Only 2% of the crash fatalities were shared by the other vehicles.
• 35% of the accidents showed that the passenger vehicle failed to yield in these instances. On the other side, only 4% of the time was the failure to yield a fault held by the motorcyclist. Moreover, in all the accidents, passenger vehicles failing to yield held the highest percentage of driver-related factors.
• 90% of reported crashes occurred on non-interstate roads. Of these accidents, 50% occurred at intersections where yielding poses a significant issue.

In the study, failure to yield to motorcycles was the prominent cause of most motorcycle accidents. The data suggests that drivers either do not see motorcycles or refuse yielding to them due to their smaller size. Over 800 motorcycle-rider fatalities that year were attributed to the non-motorcycle drivers’ failures to yield.

​The idea that drivers of cars are deliberately deciding to ignore the law and purposely fail to yield to motorcycles is unlikely. It is more likely that reckless and distracted driving is the cause for poor motor judgement. Motorcycles are not as large as other automobiles. As such, they are easier for the eye to miss, especially when drivers fail to pay sufficient attention on the road.