FATALITY FACTS 2010

Bicycles

Less than two percent of motor vehicle crash deaths are bicyclists. The most serious injuries among a majority of those killed are to the head, highlighting the importance of wearing a bicycle helmet. Helmet use has been estimated to reduce head injury risk by 85 percent. Thompson, R.S.; Rivara, F.P.; and Thompson, D.C. 1989. A case-control study of the effectiveness of bicycle safety helmets. New England Journal of Medicine 320:1361-67. Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have helmet laws applying to young bicyclists; none of these laws applies to all riders. Local ordinances in a few states require some or all bicyclists to wear helmets. A nationwide telephone survey estimated that state helmet use laws increase by 18 percent the probability that a rider will wear a helmet. Rodgers, G.B. 2002. Effects of state helmet laws on bicycle helmet use by children and adolescents. Injury Prevention 8:42-46. Helmets are important for riders of all ages,not just young bicyclists. Eighty-nine percent of bicycle deaths are persons 16 and older. During the past few years, only about 1 in 10 fatally injured bicyclists were wearing helmets.

The following facts are based on analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).

Data subsections:

Trends When they died Age Where they died

Trends

A total of 616 bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles in 2010, a two percent decrease from 2009. Bicyclist deaths were down 39 percent since 1975. The decline since 1975 among female bicyclists (55 percent) was larger than the decline among male bicyclists (35 percent). In every year since 1975, many more male than female bicyclists were killed in motor vehicle crashes.

Bicyclist deaths by gender, 1975-2010

Year	Male		Female		Total*
Year	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
1975	820	82	183	18	1,003	100
1976	751	82	163	18	914	100
1977	730	79	192	21	922	100
1978	714	80	178	20	892	100
1979	759	81	173	19	932	100
1980	782	81	183	19	965	100
1981	748	80	181	19	936	100
1982	720	83	144	17	864	100
1983	700	84	130	16	830	100
1984	684	82	153	18	838	100
1985	732	84	137	16	869	100
1986	789	85	140	15	929	100
1987	826	88	114	12	940	100
1988	773	86	128	14	901	100
1989	696	85	126	15	822	100
1990	732	86	121	14	853	100
1991	715	86	121	14	836	100
1992	627	87	90	13	717	100
1993	702	87	104	13	806	100
1994	687	86	109	14	796	100
1995	699	84	128	15	828	100
1996	654	86	107	14	761	100
1997	712	88	99	12	811	100
1998	658	87	99	13	757	100
1999	656	87	94	13	750	100
2000	613	89	76	11	689	100
2001	657	90	72	10	729	100
2002	590	89	73	11	663	100
2003	554	88	71	11	626	100
2004	626	87	96	13	722	100
2005	687	88	97	12	784	100
2006	675	88	94	12	769	100
2007	616	88	83	12	699	100
2008	624	87	92	13	716	100
2009	549	87	79	13	628	100
2010	533	87	83	13	616	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Seventy percent of bicyclists killed in 2010 reportedly were not wearing helmets. Information on helmet use became available in FARS in 1994.

Bicylist deaths by helmet use, 1994-2010

Year	No helmet use		Helmet use		Unknown		Total
Year	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
1994	776	97	19	2	1	0	796	100
1995	783	95	34	4	11	1	828	100
1996	731	96	27	4	3	0	761	100
1997	785	97	23	3	3	0	811	100
1998	741	98	16	2	0	0	757	100
1999	698	93	42	6	10	1	750	100
2000	622	90	50	7	17	2	689	100
2001	616	84	60	8	53	7	729	100
2002	589	89	54	8	20	3	663	100
2003	535	85	58	9	33	5	626	100
2004	602	83	87	12	33	5	722	100
2005	676	86	77	10	31	4	784	100
2006	730	95	37	5	2	0	769	100
2007	646	92	50	7	3	0	699	100
2008	654	91	59	8	3	0	716	100
2009	573	91	52	8	3	0	628	100
2010	429	70	94	15	93	15	616	100

Twenty-three percent of bicyclists age 16 and older who were killed in 2010 had blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) at or above 0.08 percent.

Estimated number and percent of fatally injured bicyclists age 16 and older with BACs ≥ 0.08 percent, 1982-2010

Year	Bicyclists killed	Estimated bicyclists killed with BACs ≥ 0.08
Year	Number	Number	%
1982	446	124	28
1983	392	108	28
1984	415	100	24
1985	435	89	20
1986	485	112	23
1987	494	124	25
1988	502	126	25
1989	449	115	26
1990	551	131	24
1991	530	148	28
1992	418	108	26
1993	500	134	27
1994	495	129	26
1995	542	162	30
1996	507	130	26
1997	560	144	26
1998	526	152	29
1999	537	168	31
2000	496	152	31
2001	570	166	29
2002	503	146	29
2003	481	139	29
2004	569	141	25
2005	636	178	28
2006	653	182	28
2007	586	155	26
2008	618	155	25
2009	543	149	27
2010	547	128	23

When they died

Bicyclist deaths in 2010 peaked during the warm weather months of July, August, and September (12 percent in each month) and were least likely to occur during the winter months of December, January, and February (5 percent, 4 percent, and 5 percent, respectively).

Distribution of bicyclist deaths by month, 2010

Month	Deaths	%
January	25	4
February	32	5
March	49	8
April	49	8
May	59	10
June	51	8
July	74	12
August	73	12
September	75	12
October	51	8
November	50	8
December	28	5
Total	616	100

Bicyclist deaths in 2010 occurred most often during the hours of 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (18 percent) and 6 p.m.-9 p.m. (23 percent).

Distribution of bicyclist deaths by time of day, 2010

Time of day	Deaths	%
Midnight - 3 a.m.	37	6
3 a.m. - 6 a.m.	24	4
6 a.m. - 9 a.m.	70	11
9 a.m. - Noon	56	9
Noon - 3 p.m.	76	12
3 p.m. - 6 p.m.	113	18
6 p.m. - 9 p.m.	139	23
9 p.m. - Midnight	101	16
Total*	616	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Age

Deaths among bicyclists younger than 16 have declined 90 percent since 1975, while deaths among bicyclists 16 and older have increased 69 percent. Deaths of bicyclists younger than 16 were 11 percent of all bicyclist deaths in 2010.

Percent of bicyclist deaths by age group, 1975-2010

Year	<16		≥16		Total*
Year	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
1975	675	67	323	32	1,003	100
1976	605	66	306	33	914	100
1977	613	66	306	33	922	100
1978	570	64	320	36	892	100
1979	552	59	373	40	932	100
1980	529	55	431	45	965	100
1981	479	51	438	47	936	100
1982	413	48	446	52	864	100
1983	434	52	392	47	830	100
1984	410	49	415	50	838	100
1985	424	49	435	50	869	100
1986	435	47	485	52	929	100
1987	443	47	494	53	940	100
1988	393	44	502	56	901	100
1989	371	45	449	55	822	100
1990	292	34	551	65	853	100
1991	300	36	530	63	836	100
1992	297	41	418	58	717	100
1993	303	38	500	62	806	100
1994	294	37	495	62	796	100
1995	278	34	542	65	828	100
1996	248	33	507	67	761	100
1997	248	31	560	69	811	100
1998	229	30	526	69	757	100
1999	211	28	537	72	750	100
2000	191	28	496	72	689	100
2001	155	21	570	78	729	100
2002	153	23	503	76	663	100
2003	143	23	481	77	626	100
2004	149	21	569	79	722	100
2005	142	18	636	81	784	100
2006	111	14	653	85	769	100
2007	106	15	586	84	699	100
2008	94	13	618	86	716	100
2009	85	14	543	86	628	100
2010	65	11	547	89	616	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Where they died

Many more bicyclists were killed in urban areas than in rural areas in 2010 (71 percent compared with 28 percent). In 1975, bicyclist deaths occurred equally in rural and urban areas.

Bicyclist deaths by land use, 1975-2010

Year	Urban		Rural		Total*
Year	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
1975	497	50	506	50	1,003	100
1976	470	51	444	49	914	100
1977	543	59	375	41	922	100
1978	532	60	350	39	892	100
1979	541	58	367	39	932	100
1980	563	58	390	40	965	100
1981	528	56	371	40	936	100
1982	490	57	364	42	864	100
1983	502	60	324	39	830	100
1984	491	59	346	41	838	100
1985	515	59	353	41	869	100
1986	567	61	361	39	929	100
1987	532	57	406	43	940	100
1988	525	58	374	42	901	100
1989	520	63	302	37	822	100
1990	523	61	330	39	853	100
1991	539	64	297	36	836	100
1992	448	62	265	37	717	100
1993	491	61	313	39	806	100
1994	477	60	318	40	796	100
1995	540	65	284	34	828	100
1996	494	65	265	35	761	100
1997	519	64	289	36	811	100
1998	479	63	277	37	757	100
1999	484	65	266	35	750	100
2000	422	61	251	36	689	100
2001	478	66	251	34	729	100
2002	450	68	211	32	663	100
2003	435	69	189	30	626	100
2004	477	66	242	34	722	100
2005	539	69	243	31	784	100
2006	555	72	209	27	769	100
2007	500	72	197	28	699	100
2008	491	69	222	31	716	100
2009	436	69	191	30	628	100
2010	438	71	173	28	616	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Thirty-five percent of bicyclist deaths in 2010 occurred at intersections.

Bicyclist deaths by junction type, 2010

Intersection		Non-intersection		Total*
Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
215	35	401	65	616	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Sixty percent of bicyclist deaths in 2010 occurred on major roads other than interstates and freeways, and 35 percent occurred on minor roads. Fifty-seven percent of deaths among bicyclists younger than 16 occurred on minor roads, while 63 percent of deaths among bicyclists 16 and older occurred on major roads other than interstates and freeways.

Bicyclist deaths by age group and road type, 2010

Road type	Age < 16		Age ≥ 16		All ages*
Road type	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Interstates and freeways	1	2	25	5	26	4
Other major roads	25	38	343	63	369	60
Minor roads	37	57	174	32	214	35
All road types*	65	100	547	100	616	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

FATALITY FACTS 2010

Bicycles

Trends

When they died

Age

Where they died

References