Fatality Facts 2008

Bicycles

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

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.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 telephone survey estimated that state helmet use laws increase by 18 percent the probability that a rider will wear a helmet.²Helmets are important for riders of all ages, especially because 86 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 714 bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles in 2008. Bicyclist deaths were down 29 percent since 1975 but were up 14 percent since 2003. The decline since 1975 among female bicyclists (50 percent) was larger than the decline among male bicyclists (24 percent).

Bicyclist deaths by gender, 1975-2008

Bicyclist deaths by gender, 1975-2008
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	94	12	769
2007	616	88	83	12	699
2008	622	87	92	13	714
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Ninety-one percent of bicyclists killed in 2008 reportedly weren't wearing helmets.

Bicyclist deaths by helmet use, 1998-2008
Year	No helmet use		Helmet use		Total*
Year	Num	%	Num	%	Num
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	769
2007	646	92	50	7	699
2008	653	91	58	8	714
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Twenty-six percent of bicyclists age 16 and older killed in 2008 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, 1982-2008
Year	Bicyclists killed	Estimated bicyclists killed with BAC ≥ 0.08
Year	Num	Num	%
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	616	159	26

When they died

Bicyclist deaths in 2008 occurred most often during the months of August-October.

Distribution of bicyclist deaths by month, 2008
Month	Deaths	%
January	42	6
February	41	6
March	38	5
April	64	9
May	70	10
June	63	9
July	68	10
August	76	11
September	89	12
October	78	11
November	48	7
December	37	5
Total	714	100

In 2008, bicycle deaths occurred most often between 6pm and 9pm (21 percent).

Distribution of bicyclist deaths by time of day, 2008
Time of day	Deaths	%
Midnight-3am	51	7
3am-6am	40	6
6am-9am	80	11
9am-Noon	75	11
Noon-3pm	79	11
3pm-6pm	124	17
6pm-9pm	152	21
9pm-Midnight	109	15
Total*	714	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Age and gender

Deaths among bicyclists younger than 16 have declined 86 percent since 1975, while deaths among bicyclists 16 and older increased 91 percent. Deaths of bicyclists younger than 16 were 13 percent of all bicyclist deaths in 2008.

Percent of bicyclist deaths by age, 1975-2008
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	111	14	653	85	769
2007	106	15	586	84	699
2008	94	13	616	86	714
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

More than 7 times as many bicyclist deaths in 2008 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 45-49 year-old males.

Bicyclist deaths per million people by age and gender, 2008

Bicyclist deaths per million people by age and gender, 2008
Age	Males			Females			Total*
Age	Population	Deaths	Rate	Population	Deaths	Rate	Population	Deaths	Rate
0-8	18,755,929	10	0.5	17,916,449	3	0.2	36,672,378	13	0.4
9-12	8,141,785	34	4.2	7,771,646	10	1.3	15,913,431	44	2.8
13-15	6,435,793	42	6.5	6,131,343	7	1.1	12,567,136	49	3.9
16-19	8,824,724	34	3.9	8,384,083	5	0.6	17,208,807	39	2.3
20-24	10,852,937	31	2.9	10,179,459	5	0.5	21,032,396	36	1.7
25-29	10,776,189	33	3.1	10,281,517	7	0.7	21,057,706	40	1.9
30-34	9,906,361	46	4.6	9,626,859	2	0.2	19,533,220	48	2.5
35-39	10,654,911	47	4.4	10,521,549	6	0.6	21,176,460	53	2.5
40-44	10,963,823	51	4.7	11,021,006	12	1.1	21,984,829	63	2.9
45-49	11,302,842	79	7.0	11,558,531	10	0.9	22,861,373	89	3.9
50-54	10,292,071	54	5.2	10,721,316	3	0.3	21,013,387	57	2.7
55-59	8,847,222	49	5.5	9,389,037	6	0.6	18,236,259	55	3.0
60-64	6,927,866	37	5.3	7,547,951	3	0.4	14,475,817	40	2.8
65-69	5,019,063	18	3.6	5,733,378	3	0.5	10,752,441	21	2.0
≥ 70	10,957,382	44	4.0	16,178,135	1	0.1	27,135,517	45	1.7
Total*	148,658,898	609	4.1	152,962,259	83	0.5	301,621,157	699	2.3
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Where they died

Many more bicyclists were killed in urban areas than in rural areas in 2008 (68 percent compared with 31 percent). In 1975, bicyclist deaths occurred equally in rural and urban areas.

Bicyclist deaths by land use, 1975-2008
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	555	72	209	27	769
2007	500	72	197	28	699
2008	486	68	221	31	714
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Thirty-eight percent of bicyclist deaths in 2008 occurred at intersections.

Bicyclist deaths by junction type, 2008
Intersection		Non-intersection		Total*
Num	%	Num	%	Num	%
270	38	441	62	714	100
*Total includes other and/or unknowns

Sixty-one percent of bicyclist deaths in 2008 occurred on major roads other than interstates and freeways, and 35 percent occurred on minor roads. Sixty percent of deaths among bicyclists younger than 16 and 31 percent of deaths among bicyclists 16 and older occurred on minor roads.

Bicyclist deaths by age and road type, 2008
Road type	Child bicyclist deaths (< 16)		Adult bicyclist deaths (≥ 16)		All ages*
Road type	Num	%	Num	%	Num	%
Interstates and freeways	0	0	17	3	17	2
Other major roads	38	40	399	65	438	61
Minor roads	56	60	191	31	250	35
All road types*	94	100	616	100	714	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.