ALBANY, N.Y. â The Governorâs Traffic Safety Committee (GTSC) recently held a press event at the Alfred E. Smith State Office Building in Albany to mark the start of Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month and urged safety in the wake of an alarming spike in motorcycle crashes and fatalities. According to the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research (ITSMR) at the University at Albany's Rockefeller College, fatal motorcycle crashes were up more than 30 percent in 2020 over the previous year, and fatalities increased nearly 35 percent from 2019 to 2020, based on preliminary 2020 data. ITSMR data shows that there were 132 fatal crashes that killed 133 people in 2019 compared to 172 fatal crashes that killed 179 people in 2020. So far this year, there has been one fatality and more than 40 reported injuries in just the first few weeks of riding season.