Making a left turn at an intersection can be an extremely dangerous maneuver for motorcycle riders, with left turns ranking as the number one factor in motorcycle accidents and fatalities. 53% of crossing-path crashes involve left turns, while only 6% involve right turns.
This difference is because, during a left turn, motorcycle drivers must check to their left to ensure that someone in their lane is not trying to pass them on the left, which is unnecessary when making a right turn at the same intersection.
To make matters worse, drivers turning right do not have to cross the path of any oncoming traffic, while drivers turning left must watch for oncoming vehicles that could be coming from either direction. With these factors in mind, it is no surprise that left-turn accidents on motorcycles are far more common than right-turn accidents. In this blog post, we will discuss five reasons why left-turn accidents on motorcycles are so common.