Again: motorcycles occupy the first place in the Dominican vehicle fleet

Santo Domingo, DR — Over the years, the number of motorcycles in the Dominican Republic has increased.

According to the National Statistics Office (ONE), motorcycles have occupied 52% of the country’s vehicle fleet in the last 20 years, followed by automobiles (23%), cargo vehicles (11%), jeeps (10%), and buses (2%).

Statistical data from the Studies and Tax Management of the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII) showed that of the 348,701 vehicles that entered the country between January and November of the current year, 227,093 were motorcycles.

For 2023, in the same period of study (January-November), 202,066 motorcycles were registered in the country, with 25,027 more registered this year.

The last time automobiles surpassed motorcycles was in 1999.

The vehicle fleet at that time closed with 1,090,833 vehicles. Of this amount, 37% (406,723) were automobiles, and 34% (375,023) belonged to motorcycles, as explained by the DGII.

In 2000, motorcycles took first place after reaching 504,307 units (39%), an increase of 123,284 engines compared to 1999. The vehicle fleet totaled 1,294,998 vehicles, 200,000 more than the previous year.

By 2007, more than one million engines were in the national territory, almost half of all the units that constituted the vehicle fleet at that time, which closed with 2,234,307, of which only 27% were automobiles, according to the DGII.

In 2016, motorcycles soared to more than two million units, representing 54% of the vehicle fleet, already reaching 3,854,038 units.

Motorcycles and traffic accidents in the DR

In the first stage of the Christmas preventive operation “Conscience for Life 2024-2025”, the Emergency Operations Center (COE) reported 104 traffic accidents, of which 12 people were killed.

Of these accidents, 131 people were affected, with motorcycles leading the incidents with 83, 13 in light vehicles, five hit-and-runs, and the rest in a bus, a van, and a yippee.

In December 2023, Joel Santos, who was Minister of the Presidency, reported that 69% of the people who have died in the last two years due to traffic accidents were riding motorcycles.

He also stated that in more than 90% of the cases analyzed, these drivers did not wear safety helmets, thus increasing the probability of lethality.