FATALITY FACTS 2011

Bicycles

Two percent of motor vehicle crash deaths are bicyclists. In a majority of these deaths, the most serious injuries were 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-four percent of bicycle deaths are persons 20 and older. During the past few years, no more than 15 percent of 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 Where they died

Trends

A total of 675 bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles in 2011, a 10 percent increase from 2010. Bicyclist deaths were down 33 percent since 1975. Deaths among bicyclists younger than 20 have declined 87 percent since 1975, while deaths among bicyclists 20 and older have increased 167 percent. The decline since 1975 among female bicyclists (46 percent) was larger than the decline among male bicyclists (30 percent). In every year since 1975, many more male than female bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles.

Bicyclist deaths by age and gender, 1975-2011

Year	<20 years				≥20 years				Total*
	Males		Females		Males		Females
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
1975	638	64	148	15	180	18	32	3	1,003	100
1976	568	62	130	14	180	20	33	4	914	100
1977	543	59	159	17	184	20	33	4	922	100
1978	531	60	140	16	182	20	37	4	892	100
1979	534	57	130	14	219	23	42	5	932	100
1980	511	53	132	14	268	28	49	5	965	100
1981	477	51	127	14	260	28	53	6	936	100
1982	428	50	91	11	288	33	52	6	864	100
1983	463	56	85	10	233	28	45	5	830	100
1984	405	48	98	12	268	32	53	6	838	100
1985	435	50	86	10	288	33	50	6	869	100
1986	459	49	85	9	322	35	54	6	929	100
1987	470	50	77	8	353	38	37	4	940	100
1988	415	46	75	8	353	39	52	6	901	100
1989	374	45	75	9	320	39	51	6	822	100
1990	319	37	56	7	403	47	65	8	853	100
1991	290	35	66	8	419	50	55	7	836	100
1992	290	40	51	7	335	47	39	5	717	100
1993	304	38	58	7	395	49	46	6	806	100
1994	293	37	61	8	387	49	48	6	796	100
1995	263	32	63	8	430	52	64	8	828	100
1996	246	32	52	7	402	53	55	7	761	100
1997	271	33	48	6	438	54	51	6	811	100
1998	235	31	41	5	421	56	58	8	757	100
1999	229	31	44	6	425	57	50	7	750	100
2000	201	29	30	4	410	60	46	7	689	100
2001	174	24	31	4	479	66	41	6	729	100
2002	157	24	32	5	426	64	41	6	663	100
2003	159	25	29	5	394	63	42	7	626	100
2004	144	20	44	6	478	66	52	7	722	100
2005	149	19	30	4	532	68	67	9	784	100
2006	131	17	23	3	539	70	71	9	769	100
2007	120	17	25	4	489	70	58	8	699	100
2008	111	16	24	3	509	71	68	9	716	100
2009	95	15	23	4	454	72	56	9	628	100
2010	81	13	18	3	448	73	65	11	616	100
2011	81	12	23	3	491	73	76	11	675	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Sixty-seven percent of bicyclists killed in 2011 reportedly were not wearing helmets. Information on helmet use became available in FARS in 1994.

Bicylist deaths by helmet use, 1994-2011

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
2011	450	67	100	15	125	19	675	100

It is estimated that 25 percent of bicyclists age 16 and older who were killed in 2011 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, 1982-2011

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	127	23
2011	608	151	25

When they died

Bicyclist deaths in 2011 were higher during the warm weather months of June, July, August and September (10 percent, 13 percent, 10 percent and 10 percent, respectively) and were least likely to occur during the winter months of January, February and March ( 6 percent, 5 percent and 6 percent, respectively).

Distribution of bicyclist deaths by month, 2011

Month	Deaths	%
January	40	6
February	31	5
March	42	6
April	52	8
May	57	8
June	69	10
July	88	13
August	69	10
September	65	10
October	48	7
November	58	9
December	56	8
Total	675	100

Bicyclist deaths in 2011 occurred more often during the hours from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. (22 percent).

Distribution of bicyclist deaths by time of day, 2011

Time of day	Deaths	%
Midnight - 3 a.m.	47	7
3 a.m. - 6 a.m.	30	4
6 a.m. - 9 a.m.	62	9
9 a.m. - Noon	71	11
Noon - 3 p.m.	85	13
3 p.m. - 6 p.m.	122	18
6 p.m. - 9 p.m.	151	22
9 p.m. - Midnight	107	16
Total*	675	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Where they died

Many more bicyclists were killed in urban areas than in rural areas in 2011 (69 percent compared with 31 percent). In 1975, bicyclist deaths occurred equally in rural and urban areas.

Bicyclist deaths by land use, 1975-2011

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	439	71	174	28	616	100
2011	465	69	206	31	675	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Thirty-six percent of bicyclist deaths in 2011 occurred at intersections.

Bicyclist deaths by junction type, 2011

Intersection		Non-intersection		Total*
Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
242	36	433	64	675	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Sixty percent of bicyclist deaths in 2011 occurred on major roads other than interstates and freeways, and 35 percent occurred on minor roads. Sixty-one percent of deaths among bicyclists younger than 20 occurred on minor roads, while 64 percent of deaths among bicyclists 20 and older occurred on major roads other than interstates and freeways.

Bicyclist deaths by age group and road type, 2011

Road type	< 20 years		≥ 20 years		All ages*
Road type	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Interstates and freeways	3	3	27	5	31	5
Other major roads	39	38	364	64	405	60
Minor roads	61	59	174	31	235	35
All road types*	104	100	567	100	675	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

FATALITY FACTS 2011

Bicycles

Trends

When they died

Where they died

References