With motorcycle season roaring back to life, Utah officials on Thursday went public with a blunt warning after new state numbers showed a sharp spike in rider deaths. The Department of Public Safety says 72 motorcyclists died on Utah roads in 2025, a total officials say is the highest the state has recorded. Troopers answered with a stark visual memorial and a fresh push for outreach and discounted safety classes in hopes of stopping the trend before another season turns deadly.
State numbers and the public display
At a press event, Department of Public Safety leaders said 72 motorcyclists died in 2025, the highest annual tally in recent records. Maj. Jason Ricks told reporters, “Utah lost 72 motorcyclists on our Utah roads, and this is the highest we’ve ever seen,” and troopers set out 80 helmets at a Taylorsville training track to represent those lives lost, according to KSL TV. The rows of empty helmets were meant to hammer home what those numbers actually look like in real life.
Training gaps and safety courses
State data also pointed to a serious training gap among those killed. A majority of the fatally injured riders did not have a motorcycle endorsement, and very few had completed formal rider training. Local reporting that reviewed Department of Public Safety figures found more than three-quarters of the riders lacked proper endorsements and fewer than 10% had completed a formal safety course, per TownLift.
To get more riders into the classroom instead of the crash statistics, the state’s Ride to Live program is offering a 25% discount on Motorcycle Safety Foundation classes this season, according to Ride to Live Utah. Officials are framing the courses as a relatively cheap investment compared with hospital bills, tickets, or worse.
Driver behavior in focus
Troopers also put plenty of the responsibility on everyday drivers. They singled out driver actions such as failure to yield, unsafe lane changes, and speeding as leading factors in many collisions with motorcycles. Officials said a large share of the deadly crashes involved another vehicle misjudging a rider’s presence or making a risky maneuver, a pattern traced back to state crash data summarized by local reporting. KSL covered the trend in its statewide traffic fatality review.
What officials are urging now
State troopers are now boiling the message down to a few basics. For riders, they are urging people to “get trained, get endorsed, and wear proper gear.” For drivers, the ask is to “look twice,” especially at intersections and on narrow canyon roads where bikes are easy to miss. Officials also pushed for slower speeds and extra following distance around motorcycles, steps they said could prevent many of the crashes, according to local coverage. Community groups and rider-education providers are echoing the same talking points and urging Utahns to cash in on the discounted classes.
For riders looking for a course or that discount code, the state’s site lists providers and registration details on Ride to Live Utah. Authorities say keeping another season from turning this deadly will take both better training for riders and more attentive driving from everyone who shares the road.
