By Greg Schneider
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 22, 2005; Page A01

Margit Showalter's son lost his life in a motorcycle accident. He wasn't a young kid out being reckless; he was a 41-year-old construction worker riding on a suburban Florida street on a sunny day in January.

Michael Showalter's age made him part of a deadly trend on U.S. highways, with over-40 riders accounting for a significant increase in motorcycle fatalities nationwide.

More than 3,900 people died on motorcycles in the United States in 2004, up 7.3 percent from the year before, according to preliminary highway safety numbers released yesterday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That's the seventh straight year of increases in motorcycle deaths on U.S. roadways, for an 85 percent overall rise since 1997.

The majority of the increase in motorcycle deaths -- 60 percent -- involved riders over age 40, the agency said.

More Americans are riding motorcycles than ever as aging, affluent baby boomers recapture the "Easy Rider" dreams of their youth. In 2003, the median age of all motorcyclists in the United States was 41, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council. In 1985, the median age was 27.

Total ridership hit 8.8 million in 2003, up from 6.57 million just six years before. The trend has led to the rebirth of the classic American cycle builder Harley-Davidson and spawned a host of imitators out to grab a share of the middle-aged market for full-throated, big-tired cruising bikes. But along with that surge has come an increase in motorcycle casualties among older riders.

Tom Lindsay, spokesman for the American Motorcyclist Association, said the increase in the number of older riders overall could explain the increase in the number of fatalities, but that not enough is known about what lies behind the statistics.

"Certainly that's a concern to anyone that cares about motorcycling, but what we have here are numbers, data, we don't have research," he said. "What we need to find out is why the crashes are taking place."

He added that his group is lobbying Congress to appropriate $3 million for a comprehensive nationwide study of motorcycle crash data.

"It has always been a presumption that young people are the ones most over-involved in motorcycle crashes," said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, which advocates safety laws. "A lot of states passed laws saying you have to wear a helmet if you're 18 or younger, assuming that if you're over 18 you'll have good judgment and of course you'll wear a helmet. Well, people don't."

In fact, older riders have spearheaded a push to eliminate or weaken mandatory helmet laws in states that have them, which safety groups say has directly led to the increase in motorcycle fatalities.

Showalter, the Florida cyclist, was not wearing a helmet when he was killed in a collision with a car. Though his mother says doctors told her a helmet might not have saved her son, Margit Showalter can't help approaching motorcyclists in parking lots to urge them to cover up.

Florida repealed its mandatory motorcycle helmet law in 2000 under pressure from cycle enthusiasts, capping a 30-year trend in which most of the states that once required such safety equipment made helmets voluntary. Today only the District and 20 states, including Virginia and Maryland, mandate motorcycle helmets.

"When we lived in Maryland [in the 1980s], he wore a helmet," Showalter said. "We tell little kids, when they ride their tricycles, to wear a helmet. But we're letting a motorcycle that drives on a main road with Hummers and trucks go without it? To me, I have a problem with that."

But many motorcycle enthusiasts argue that personal freedom is central to their love of cycling and that governments shouldn't tell them how to take care of themselves. "Personal choice is what we want," said Jim Cannon, 45, of Richmond, head of the Virginia Coalition of Motorcyclists. "In my case, I feel a lot more aware without a helmet. I feel unencumbered. Truth be known, I'm probably a safer rider without a helmet."

Cannon worked on legislation to repeal Virginia's mandatory helmet law during this year's General Assembly session. Though the effort failed, he said the keys to improving motorcycle safety lie in better training -- both for riders and for car and truck drivers, who sometimes aren't paying enough attention to see cyclists.

The reason fatalities rise in states that repeal helmet laws, he said, is that motorcycle ridership increases. With more bikes on the road, there are bound to be more accidents, he said.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research arm of the auto insurance industry, disagrees. "Motorcyclists are at risk because they don't have the protection that's built into cars, SUVs and pickups," said institute Chief Operating Officer Adrian Lund. "There's one thing that would help all motorcyclists of all ages, and that's to get universal helmet laws in all states."

NHTSA's preliminary 2004 statistics, which will be finalized later this year, say that motorcycles accounted for more than 9 percent of the 42,800 total fatalities last year. In 1997, motorcycles accounted for 5 percent of all fatalities.