Motorcycles Collisions in Italy
A Case Study on a Possible Risk Paradox
Abstract
Over the past decades, road collisions have become one of the major causes of death, especially for youths. The European Union has set ambitious goals to halve road fatalities by 2030 compared to 2020 levels. Within this framework, over twenty years, the number of motorcycles in circulation in Italy has steadily increased, alongside technological and regulatory advances in road safety. Conversely, the number of fatal motorcycle collisions and related deaths has decreased, although in recent years there has been a leveling off and even a slight increase. An analysis of the Italian historical series of fatal motorcycle collisions from 1991 to 2024 confirms this trend and highlights a particularly interesting aspect as a possible risk paradox. Despite the rise in circulating vehicles, the number of fatalities may decrease if the possible risk per vehicle declines due to improved infrastructure, safety devices, training, and effective road policing.
Copyright (c) 2026 Gianfranco Rufa, Nicole Miriam Scala, Dr., Abdulla Thani Alfalasi, Ph.D. Candidate, Paolo Cestra
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
