Cycling deaths have increased

[LegendRider]

http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/transportation/bike-large-truck-deaths-soar-bucking-trend/nTRcx/

[Mark McM]

http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/transportation/bike-large-truck-deaths-soar-bucking-trend/nTRcx/

While technically correct, the authors are jumping to conclusions based on a very small picture. With such a small sample population (there are only about 650 cyclist deaths per year), you would naturally expect to see large variations from year to year. Here's a graph of cyclist deaths over the last 35 years (from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety web site (http://www.iihs.org/research/fatality.aspx?topicName=Bicycles&year=2010)):

http://www.iihs.org/Renderers/ShowMedia.ashx?i=MediaArchive:7d886288-fd28-4e55-9a4a-13e72c845fe2

The 8.7% increase in cyclist deaths in from 2010 to 2011 is just a normal fluctuation in the data. Keep in mind that 2010 had the lowest number of cyclist deaths on record (616).

[Don49]

"The increase in bicycle deaths probably reflects more people riding bicycles to work and for pleasure, said Jonathan Adkins, deputy executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state highway safety agencies."

As he says, I'm not sure if an increase in deaths is statistically significant unless they control for the increase in miles ridden.