Financial Services, Insurance, Legislation, Lithuania, Transport

The most popular brands of motorcycles, Yamaha and Honda, are involved in accidents the most often.

Gediminas Radavicius, Leading Specialist of CASCO and ECA Insurance of BTA, says that often road traffic accidents occur when motorcycle drivers exceed the speed limit or change lanes quickly and crash into cars. 18-25-year-old motorcycle drivers are involved in road traffic accidents the most frequently. 6% of 18-25-year-old drivers insured by BTA caused accidents, whereas among 26-30-year-old and 35-40-year-old groups only three% of drivers where involved accidents.

According to Radavicius, 500-700 cc motorcycle engines are the most popular in Lithuania. However, there is a noticeable interest in 950-1000 cc engines which are often opted for by 18-25-year-olds.

For several years in a row now Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki have been the preferred brands of motorcycles in Lithuania. It should be mentioned that the popularity of Kawasaki brand has grown, especially among young drivers.

Based on BTA statistics, 8 times less women than men drive motorcycles but they cause just 5 times less accidents than men. In other words, they are involved in road traffic accidents more often.

BTA has insured around 6,000 two wheeled transportation means in Lithuania. One third of them are scooters the rest are powerful motorcycles. In 2013 the company paid out LTL 146,000 (EUR 43,000) to cover for damages caused by two-wheeled transportation means.