The most recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) names Mississippi the most dangerous state in the nation for motorcyclists. With more fatalities per 10,000 registered motorcycles than other state in the U.S., Mississippi tops even other large, warm-climate states like Texas, Florida, and South Carolina in motorcycle accident deaths.

Truck and car drivers can do their part by exercising extreme caution when sharing the road with open-air vehicles like motorcycles. The body of a motorcycle offers very little protection to its rider, and collisions which cause negligible damage to a large car can be fatal to bikers.

Have you ever been sitting in your vehicle in standstill traffic, and all of a sudden, a motorcycle zoomed past you? They couldn’t have passed you in a lane because the other stopped cars all around you filled them. Instead, they were driving on the dotted lines and passed you in between the lanes. This is called road splitting or lane splitting. Even though it is legal in California and other parts of the world, road splitting is illegal in all the other states and is a dangerous practice that can cause serious accidents for motorcyclists and vehicle drivers alike.