Fatality Facts 2006

Bicycles

Overview | When they died | Age and gender | Where they died

Two percent of motor vehicle-related 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.¹ 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 phone survey estimated that state helmet use laws increase by 18 percent the probability that a rider will wear a helmet.² Helmets are important for riders of all ages, especially because 85 percent of bicycle deaths are persons 16 and older.

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

Overview

A total of 770 bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles in 2006. Bicyclist deaths were down 23 percent since 1975 but 23 percent more than in 2003. The decline among female bicyclists (49 percent) was larger than the decline among male bicyclists (18 percent).

Bicyclist deaths by gender, 1975-2006

Bicyclist deaths by gender, 1975-2006
Year	Male		Female		Total*
Year	Num	%	Num	%	Num
1975	820	82	183	18	1,003
1976	751	82	163	18	914
1977	730	79	192	21	922
1978	714	80	178	20	892
1979	759	81	173	19	932
1980	782	81	183	19	965
1981	748	80	181	19	936
1982	720	83	144	17	864
1983	700	84	130	16	830
1984	684	82	153	18	838
1985	732	84	137	16	869
1986	789	85	140	15	929
1987	826	88	114	12	940
1988	773	86	128	14	901
1989	696	85	126	15	822
1990	732	86	121	14	853
1991	715	86	121	14	836
1992	627	87	90	13	717
1993	702	87	104	13	806
1994	687	86	109	14	796
1995	699	84	128	15	828
1996	654	86	107	14	761
1997	712	88	99	12	811
1998	658	87	99	13	757
1999	656	87	94	13	750
2000	613	89	76	11	689
2001	657	90	72	10	729
2002	590	89	73	11	663
2003	554	88	71	11	626
2004	626	87	96	13	722
2005	687	88	97	12	784
2006	675	88	93	12	770
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Ninety-five percent of bicyclists killed in 2006 reportedly weren't wearing helmets.

Bicyclist deaths by helmet use, 1994-2006
Year	No helmet use		Helmet use		Total*
Year	Num	%	Num	%	Num
1994	776	97	19	2	796
1995	783	95	34	4	828
1996	731	96	27	4	761
1997	785	97	23	3	811
1998	741	98	16	2	757
1999	698	93	42	6	750
2000	622	90	50	7	689
2001	616	84	60	8	729
2002	589	89	54	8	663
2003	535	85	58	9	626
2004	602	83	87	12	722
2005	676	86	77	10	784
2006	730	95	37	5	770
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Twenty-four percent of bicyclists killed in 2006 had blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) at or above 0.08 percent. This percentage is one-third higher than in 1982.

Estimated number and percent of fatally injured bicyclists with BACs ≥ 0.08 percent, 1982-2006
Year	Bicyclists killed	Estimated bicyclists killed with BAC ≥ 0.08
Year	Num	Num	%
1982	864	159	18
1983	830	129	16
1984	838	123	15
1985	869	105	12
1986	929	130	14
1987	940	140	15
1988	901	140	15
1989	822	123	15
1990	853	143	17
1991	836	157	19
1992	717	115	16
1993	806	146	18
1994	796	138	17
1995	828	169	20
1996	761	140	18
1997	811	150	19
1998	757	159	21
1999	750	174	23
2000	689	157	23
2001	729	173	24
2002	663	154	23
2003	626	145	23
2004	722	148	20
2005	784	185	24
2006	770	182	24

When they died

Bicyclist deaths in 2006 occurred most often during June-September and between the hours of 6pm and 9pm.

Distribution of bicyclist deaths by month, 2006
Month	Deaths	%
January	55	7
February	50	6
March	48	6
April	56	7
May	69	9
June	82	11
July	78	10
August	95	12
September	83	11
October	61	8
November	47	6
December	46	6
Total	770	100

Distribution of bicyclist deaths by time of day, 2006
Time of day	Deaths	%
Midnight-3am	34	4
3am-6am	42	5
6am-9am	87	11
9am-noon	82	11
Noon-3pm	103	13
3pm-6pm	115	15
6pm-9pm	168	22
9pm-midnight	139	18
Total*	770	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Age and gender

Deaths among bicyclists younger than 16 have gone down by 84 percent since 1975, while deaths among bicyclists 16 and older have more than doubled.

Percent of bicyclist deaths by age, 1975-2006
Year	<16		≥16		Total*
Year	Num	%	Num	%	Num
1975	675	67	323	32	1,003
1976	605	66	306	33	914
1977	613	66	306	33	922
1978	570	64	320	36	892
1979	552	59	373	40	932
1980	529	55	431	45	965
1981	479	51	438	47	936
1982	413	48	446	52	864
1983	434	52	392	47	830
1984	410	49	415	50	838
1985	424	49	435	50	869
1986	435	47	485	52	929
1987	443	47	494	53	940
1988	393	44	502	56	901
1989	371	45	449	55	822
1990	292	34	551	65	853
1991	300	36	530	63	836
1992	297	41	418	58	717
1993	303	38	500	62	806
1994	294	37	495	62	796
1995	278	34	542	65	828
1996	248	33	507	67	761
1997	248	31	560	69	811
1998	229	30	526	69	757
1999	211	28	537	72	750
2000	191	28	496	72	689
2001	155	21	570	78	729
2002	153	23	503	76	663
2003	143	23	481	77	626
2004	149	21	569	79	722
2005	142	18	636	81	784
2006	110	14	653	85	770
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

More than 7 times as many bicyclist deaths in 2006 were males compared with females. At every age more male than female bicyclists were killed and the rates of bicyclist deaths per million people were higher for males than females. The highest rate of bicyclist deaths per million people occurred for 50-54 year-old males.

Bicyclist deaths per million people by age and gender, 2006

Bicyclist deaths per million people by age and gender, 2006
Age	Males			Females			Total*
Age	Population	Deaths	Rate	Population	Deaths	Rate	Population	Deaths	Rate
0-8	18,514,947	28	1.5	17,690,545	5	0.3	36,205,492	33	0.9
9-12	8,240,351	32	3.9	7,861,065	9	1.1	16,101,416	43	2.6
13-15	6,543,085	32	4.9	6,232,894	3	0.5	12,775,979	35	2.7
16-19	8,718,360	39	4.5	8,277,859	5	0.6	16,996,219	44	2.6
20-24	10,910,090	38	3.5	10,201,150	6	0.6	21,111,240	44	2.1
25-29	10,584,270	36	3.4	10,125,210	7	0.7	20,709,480	43	2.1
30-34	9,980,383	43	4.3	9,726,116	6	0.6	19,706,499	49	2.5
35-39	10,649,913	38	3.6	10,535,872	8	0.8	21,185,785	46	2.2
40-44	11,200,369	62	5.5	11,280,796	11	1.0	22,481,165	73	3.2
45-49	11,261,856	76	6.7	11,535,713	7	0.6	22,797,569	83	3.6
50-54	10,027,772	71	7.1	10,452,833	7	0.7	20,480,605	80	3.9
55-59	8,845,291	59	6.7	9,379,154	5	0.5	18,224,445	64	3.5
60-64	6,378,589	36	5.6	6,983,649	2	0.3	13,362,238	38	2.8
65-69	4,838,842	33	6.8	5,536,712	4	0.7	10,375,554	37	3.6
≥70	10,818,034	45	4.2	16,066,764	8	0.5	26,884,798	53	2.0
Total*	147,512,152	668	4.5	151,886,332	93	0.6	299,398,484	772	2.5
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Where they died

Many more bicyclists were killed in urban areas than in rural areas in 2006 (71 percent compared with 27 percent). In 1975, bicyclist deaths occurred equally in rural and urban areas.

Bicyclist deaths by land use, 1975-2006
Year	Urban		Rural		Total*
Year	Num	%	Num	%	Num
1975	497	50	506	50	1,003
1976	470	51	444	49	914
1977	543	59	375	41	922
1978	532	60	350	39	892
1979	541	58	367	39	932
1980	563	58	390	40	965
1981	528	56	371	40	936
1982	490	57	364	42	864
1983	502	60	324	39	830
1984	491	59	346	41	838
1985	515	59	353	41	869
1986	567	61	361	39	929
1987	532	57	406	43	940
1988	525	58	374	42	901
1989	520	63	302	37	822
1990	523	61	330	39	853
1991	539	64	297	36	836
1992	448	62	265	37	717
1993	491	61	313	39	806
1994	477	60	318	40	796
1995	540	65	284	34	828
1996	494	65	265	35	761
1997	519	64	289	36	811
1998	479	63	277	37	757
1999	484	65	266	35	750
2000	422	61	251	36	689
2001	478	66	251	34	729
2002	450	68	211	32	663
2003	435	69	189	30	626
2004	477	66	242	34	722
2005	539	69	243	31	784
2006	546	71	206	27	770
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

One-third of bicyclist deaths in 2006 occurred at intersections.

Bicyclist deaths by junction type, 2006
Intersection		Non-intersection		Total*
Num	%	Num	%	Num	%
254	33	511	66	770	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Sixty percent of bicyclist deaths in 2006 occurred on major roads other than interstates and freeways, and 33 percent occurred on minor roads. Forty-six percent of deaths among bicyclists younger than 16 and 62 percent of deaths among bicyclists 16 and older occurred on major roads.

Bicyclist deaths by age and road type, 2006
Road type	Child bicyclist deaths (<16)		Adult bicyclist deaths (≥16)		All ages*
Road type	Num	%	Num	%	Num	%
Interstates and freeways	1	1	31	5	32	4
Major roads	51	46	407	62	463	60
Minor roads	54	49	197	30	253	33
All road types*	110	100	653	100	770	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

References

¹Thompson, 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.

²Rodgers, G.B. 2002. Effects of state helmet laws on bicycle helmet use by children and adolescents. Injury Prevention 8:42-46.