Alarming trend: Minnesota motorcyclist deaths up 56 percent

Minnesota officials in May warned of a jump in motorcycle deaths, including four deaths in four days. In early June, it happened again — four motorcyclists dying in as many days in Minnesota.

On Friday, they asked again for motorcycle riders and car drivers to take greater care as they unveiled a grim statistic: 25 riders have died on Minnesota roads so far in 2015, 56 percent more than this time last year.

In 2015 so far, there have been 158 traffic fatalities in Minnesota; nearly 16 percent of those are motorcycle riders. In 2014, 46 motorcyclists were killed in crashes, the department added.

By early May, public safety officials were already calling it the highest number of rider deaths at this point in the riding season since 1994, when such record keeping began.

"Motorcyclists and motorists need to work together to share the road to prevent more motorcycle fatalities," State Patrol Lt. Bob Zak said in a statement Friday. "It's really unfortunate that there are nine more motorcycle deaths than this time last year, and we need the public's help to keep this number from increasing."

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