Hawaii leads nation in motorcycle theft
Honolulu motorcycle riders are most likely to have their bikes stolen, although the city is the 53rd largest metropolitan area, according to a recent study by Progressive Group of Insurance Companies. A motorcyclist in Honolulu is four times more likely to have a bike stolen than is a motorcyclist in Chicago or Detroit, which are the third and seventh largest metro areas in the country, the study said.
Progressive reviewed claims data on more than 2 million motorcycles insured during the past three years to determine the likelihood of a motorcyclist getting into an accident or having a bike stolen. The analysis focused on the 89 U.S. metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 and higher.
The study found:
- Baton Rouge, La., ranks 75th in population, but it ranks third in the likelihood of a rider there having a motorcycle crash.
- A motorcyclist in Philadelphia, the country’s fifth largest metro area, is 36 percent less likely to have an accident as one in the Norfolk-Virginia Beach, Va., metro area, which is the 47th largest.
One metropolitan area where the statistics are more in line with what you might expect is New York; it ranks No. 1 both in population and in the likelihood of motorcycle collisions. And, while three metro areas rank among the most likely for both thefts and collisions (New York, Norfolk-Virginia Beach, and San Diego), only one — Cincinnati — ranks among the least likely for both.
