USDOT Names Members to New Motorcyclist Advisory Council

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today named 13 members to its newly established Motorcyclist Advisory Council, which will advise the Department on key motorcycle safety issues. The announcement comes as motorcyclist deaths are on the rise, even as projections show an eighth consecutive quarterly decline in overall traffic fatalities. NHTSA estimates that motorcycle fatalities increased 2% in 2023, up from the 6,218 motorcyclists killed in crashes in 2022.

The 13 members bring a variety of stakeholder perspectives to the council, including from state transportation departments, motorcycle riders’ organizations, road safety associations, nongovernmental groups, researchers, and road engineers. As part of its charter, the council will coordinate with and advise the Secretary of Transportation, NHTSA, and the Federal Highway Administration on transportation issues specific to motorcyclists, including motorcycle and motorcyclist safety, barrier and road design, construction and maintenance practices, and the architecture and implementation of intelligent transportation system technologies.

“This council will help improve motorcycle safety by bringing together riders and transportation safety professionals to advance solutions,” NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman said. “We are committed to reducing motorcycle fatalities and making our roads safer for riders, and these 13 individuals will guide us in crafting new policies and strategies to save lives.”

“The safety of motorcycle riders and everyone else using our roads, bridges and highways is of paramount importance to FHWA,” Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt said. “We look forward to working with members of the council as they develop recommendations that can result in fewer fatalities and serious injuries and safer riding for those on motorcycles.”

The 13 members named today are: Sunshine Beer and Jay Jackson to represent motorcyclist associations; Roberta Carlson, Manjunathan Kumar, James Andrew Landini, Rita Jean Lybek and Ray Pierce to represent state governments; Roy Fair to represent state transportation departments; Chanyoung Lee to represent road safety data and engineering professionals; Kevin Marshia to represent state transportation officials; Eric Perry to represent traffic safety systems professionals; and Scott Schloegel and Jason Tolleson to represent motorcycle manufacturers and distributors.

Safer people and safer roads are two of the key objectives of the Department’s National Roadway Safety Strategy. The NRSS recognizes that motorcyclists have an equal right to the roads and that all drivers should safely share the roads with motorcyclists, cyclists, pedestrians, and other road users.

Earlier this year, the Department published its 2024 NRSS Progress Report, a departmental update two years after the release of the original NRSS on Jan. 27, 2022. The departmentwide adoption of the safe system approach remains the foundation of the NRSS’s implementation and is pivotal to addressing the fatality crisis on our roads.