“Increasingly, the motorcycle riders who are getting killed are in their 40s, 50s, and 60s,” says Susan Ferguson, vice president for research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which did the study.37 Riders over 40 accounted for 40% of all fatalities in 2000, up from 14% in 1990. Part of the reason for the dramatic increase in older biker’s deaths is the growing number of men and women over 40 buying motorcycles, IIHS says.