Fatality Facts 2017Bicyclists

Overview

Each year about 2 percent of motor vehicle crash deaths are bicyclists. Although child bicyclist deaths have declined over the years, deaths among bicyclists age 20 and older have tripled since 1975.

In a majority of bicyclist deaths, the most serious injuries are to the head, highlighting the importance of wearing a bicycle helmet. Sacks, J.J.; Holmgreen, P.; Smith, S.M.; and Sosin, D.M. 1991. Bicycle-associated head injuries and deaths in the United States from 1984 through 1988. How many are preventable? Journal of the American Medical Association 266(21):3016-8.

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

Posted December 2018.

Trends

A total of 777 bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles in 2017. This represents an 8 percent decrease from the 848 bicyclist deaths that occurred in 2016. Although bicyclists deaths have decreased 23 percent since 1975, they have increased 25 percent since reaching their lowest point in 2010. Most bicyclist deaths in 2017 (86 percent) were those ages 20 and older. Deaths among bicyclists younger than 20 have declined 87 percent since 1975, while deaths among bicyclists 20 and older have tripled. In every year since 1975, many more male than female bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles. The decline since 1975 among female bicyclists (52 percent) was 3 times the decline among male bicyclists (17 percent).

Bicyclist deaths by age and gender, 1975-2017

Bicyclist deaths by age and gender, 1975-2017
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	452	73	66	11	621	100
2011	81	12	23	3	497	73	76	11	680	100
2012	100	14	17	2	535	73	72	10	730	100
2013	97	13	12	2	546	73	87	12	747	100
2014	82	11	13	2	553	76	68	9	723	100
2015	82	10	12	1	619	75	109	13	828	100
2016	87	10	16	2	622	73	112	13	848	100
2017	87	11	14	2	595	77	73	9	777	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Fifty-four percent of bicyclists killed in 2017 were not wearing helmets. However, helmet use among those killed has remained relatively consistent at 16 percent since 2010.

Bicyclist deaths by helmet use, 2010-2017
Year	No helmet use		Helmet use		Unknown		Total
Year	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
2010	429	69	94	15	98	16	621	100
2011	450	66	100	15	130	19	680	100
2012	469	64	123	17	138	19	730	100
2013	464	62	127	17	156	21	747	100
2014	429	59	118	16	176	24	723	100
2015	439	53	139	17	250	30	828	100
2016	430	51	140	17	278	33	848	100
2017	422	54	126	16	229	29	777	100

Among bicyclists ages 16 and older who were killed in 2017, 22 percent 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, 1982-2017
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	552	128	23
2011	613	151	25
2012	662	170	26
2013	684	143	21
2014	656	139	21
2015	775	172	22
2016	777	158	20
2017	716	157	22

When they died

Bicyclist deaths in 2017 were highest during August (11 percent) and lowest during February and March (6 percent each).

Distribution of bicyclist deaths by month, 2017
Month	Deaths	%
January	58	7
February	45	6
March	45	6
April	68	9
May	61	8
June	74	10
July	75	10
August	88	11
September	80	10
October	72	9
November	58	7
December	53	7
Total	777	100

Bicyclist deaths in 2017 peaked during the hours from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. (21 percent).

Distribution of bicyclist deaths by time of day, 2017
Time of day	Deaths	%
Midnight - 3 a.m.	60	8
3 a.m. - 6 a.m.	48	6
6 a.m. - 9 a.m.	85	11
9 a.m. - noon	71	9
Noon - 3 p.m.	91	12
3 p.m. - 6 p.m.	123	16
6 p.m. - 9 p.m.	161	21
9 p.m. - midnight	130	17
Total*	777	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Where they died

In 2017, 75 percent of bicyclists were killed in urban areas. Bicyclist deaths occurred about equally in rural and urban areas in 1975.

Bicyclist deaths by land use, 1975-2017
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	40	892	100
1979	541	60	367	40	932	100
1980	563	59	390	41	965	100
1981	528	59	371	41	936	100
1982	490	57	364	43	864	100
1983	502	61	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	63	265	37	717	100
1993	491	61	313	39	806	100
1994	477	60	318	40	796	100
1995	540	66	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	63	251	37	689	100
2001	478	66	251	34	729	100
2002	450	68	211	32	663	100
2003	435	70	189	30	626	100
2004	477	66	242	34	722	100
2005	539	69	243	31	784	100
2006	555	73	209	27	769	100
2007	500	72	197	28	699	100
2008	491	69	222	31	716	100
2009	436	70	191	30	628	100
2010	444	72	174	28	621	100
2011	468	69	208	31	680	100
2012	503	69	225	31	730	100
2013	505	68	242	32	747	100
2014	511	71	212	29	723	100
2015	565	71	234	29	828	100
2016	628	74	219	26	848	100
2017	554	75	187	25	777	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Thirty-six percent of bicyclist deaths in 2017 occurred at intersections.

Bicyclist deaths by junction type, 2017
	Number	%
Intersection	277	36
Non-intersection	500	64
Total*	777	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Fifty-nine percent of bicyclist deaths in 2017 occurred on major roads other than interstates and freeways, and 33 percent occurred on minor roads. Deaths of bicyclists younger than 20 were more likely to occur on minor roads compared with deaths of bicyclists ages 20 and older (53 percent vs. 30 percent).

Bicyclist deaths by age group and road type, 2017
Road type	< 20 years		≥20 years		All ages*
Road type	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Interstates and freeways	0	0	22	3	22	3
Other major roads	42	42	414	62	461	59
Minor roads	54	53	203	30	257	33
All road types*	101	100	669	100	777	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns