Motorcycle Deaths Up

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Federal highway safety officials say motorcycle fatalities in Idaho are up more than 50 percent compared to same time last year. The Post Register reports preliminary data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows 13 motorcycle-related deaths in Idaho between January and July. There were just six fatalities during the first seven months of 2011, when motorcycle deaths were down compared to the previous four years. In southeastern Idaho, at least three motorcyclists have died in accidents so far in 2012. Most recently, 36-year-old Brent Hansen of Blackfoot was fatally injured and a 6-year-old girl hospitalized last week after the motorcycle he was riding collided with a vehicle. The driver of the vehicle was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatal crash