Outside Magazine - Cyclist Deaths in the USA

[dbnm]

Outside Magazine put together some info from 2018 to 2020 (so far).

https://www.outsideonline.com/2409749/outside-cycling-deaths-2020#content

[daker13]

Thanks for posting. That's a great site. It uses graphic design really well, very effective. Makes me consider subscribing to Outside again...

[p nut]

Yikes. CA and TX account for 36% of all deaths.

[Velocipede]

The story Andrew Bernstein wrote in Outside is horrific and graphic. Glad he survived but his life will never be the same.

[msriddle]

Really makes me realize that as a 55 year old avid road cyclist that the road is just too dangerous with today’s drivers. I agree with the article, here in Texas riding on the road is horrific.

I’m fortunate that I can access a great multi sport trail here in Ft Worth in an easy 1 mile ride from my house. Although navigating the crowds can be tough at times it’s far better than navigating the vehicles and the negligence of those operating them.

On the multi sport trails, we the cyclists need to ride responsibly and intelligently in the shared space. I see too many cyclists that are not riding safely and endangering walkers and runners. We all need to do better.

I’ve vacationed several times in Italy and enjoyed road riding there with much more respect given to cyclists by drivers.

I don’t own a gravel bike but can easily see one in my future.

[benb]

There's nothing in these stats that you can glean to adjust your behavior to be safer so I wouldn't go worrying this means you need to change your behavior or reduce your riding.

They're covering how many drivers were drinking, but what about the cyclists? Same thing with the phones, I see lots of cyclists now looking at their phones while riding too!

How many of the cyclists were riding the wrong way in traffic?

Did the increase in bike lanes help? Apparently not in NYC.

Relative total cyclists the fatal incidents is still very small you can't really pull anything from any of this.

I mean maybe you can decide you shouldn't be in FL, TX, NY, or CA when you're riding. But most of these places the deaths are probably concentrated in the cities where it's not that enjoyable to ride anyway.

But no one is telling us about the cyclists side... if you're not riding the wrong way in NYC or riding with substances or distracted with your phone your risk might be very low.

[GregL]

I'm afraid that until/unless there is a paradigm shift in American culture, the terrible trend of cyclist deaths will continue to worsen. Just last weekend, a Cornell associate professor was killed by a drunk driver (https://www.ithacajournal.com/story/news/public-safety/2020/05/05/cornell-professor-dies-after-crash-driver-charged-manslaughter/3084034001/). Despite the driver's history of DUI and the horrific circumstances of the accident, he was released without spending a minute in jail. No words can make sense of these tragedies. I will contact my state assembly and senate representatives to urge mandatory punishment for these crimes. However, in car-culture America, with our warped view of freedom and rights, I don't expect my right to continue living to be a priority.

Greg

[thirdgenbird]

Yikes. CA and TX account for 36% of all deaths.

Based on my parts sales statistics over the last two weeks, 90% of cyclists live in CA and TX.

[oldpotatoe]

No surprise since more people driving, more people cycling and more people in cars using their cell phone and/or speeding. BUT, even though horrific and troubling, the numbers are very,very low of deaths caused..

Not going to get a lot of attention, as in some way to reduce these numbers, in a country that still views the 'bike' as a toy best used in cul-de-sacs..IMHO.
Over 50% of these accidents are caused by alcohol impaired drivers. Over 50% of all fatal highway crashes involving two or more cars are alcohol related. Over 65% of all fatal single car crashes are alcohol related.

About 16,000 deaths per year in the US where alcohol is involved in a fatal accident. A person getting hit and killed by a car awful, tragic but about 850 per year..

I'd like to see possible solutions...like removing distracted driving or not speeding or driving drunk...but.....

[Jsafran]

This is a tough subject, particularly since the cycling community in general is so tight knit. Most incidents in New England I’ve had some connection to the location or even the person. A few years ago I lost a colleague to an incident and switched away from road cycling for a few years. I had been doing gravel races for a year or so and it seemed like a new freedom. Living in a city makes finding empty off-road space hard, so most training needed to be on the roads or the trainer.

As I got back into road the last six months a family friend was just involved in a serious incident with a vehicle and can never ride again due to injuries. Both incidents were with people I’ve ridden with, whom I know always ride safely.

My current dilemma is that bike-paths and trails are so crowded with people who are combative with cyclists that I don’t know where I belong sometimes. As of now I think about 70% of my riding has been on Zwift.

[oldpotatoe]

I'll also say, as a guy who got hit from behind while riding by a lady in a Dodge Dakota pickup truck, at 10:30 on a Saturday morning(she fell asleep)...you can 'what if' yourself out of anything. Risk management is key. Riding when and where minimizing that risk is key, IMHO. Riding defensively BUT..in reality, getting hit and/or killed by a car while riding is far lower than a lot of other things we do everyday.
The analysis from the Governors Highway Safety Association estimated that pedestrian deaths totaled 6,590 in 2019, an increase of 5 percent over 2018.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/distractions-drinking-and-darkness-contribute-to-rise-in-pedestrian-deaths-report-says/2020/02/26/71a93408-58f0-11ea-9b35-def5a027d470_story.html

https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-home-front/2009/08/31/the-top-5-causes-of-accidental-home-injury-deathsand-how-to-prevent-them

[thwart]

On the multi sport trails, we the cyclists need to ride responsibly and intelligently in the shared space. I see too many cyclists that are not riding safely and endangering walkers and runners. We all need to do better.


+100.

I try to see pedestrians as the 'vulnerable one' when I'm riding my bike on a MUP... much as I am the 'vulnerable one' when I'm riding out on the road. As in other things in life, try to put yourself in someone else's shoes.

Higher speed (:rolleyes:) 'training' ride on a MUP? Not happening... unless I'm out really early in the AM... or lucky enough to find a deserted MUP at other times.

[steelbikerider]

I will admit not reading all of the articles connected to the link yet but a significant number of deaths in the Houston area are low income workers riding to work/home in the dark without lights or reflectors. While this doesn't excuse driver conduct and points to cycling infastructure issues as well as societal issues, personal resonsibility also comes into play.

[benb]

I will admit not reading all of the articles connected to the link yet but a significant number of deaths in the Houston area are low income workers riding to work/home in the dark without lights or reflectors. While this doesn't excuse driver conduct and points to cycling infastructure issues as well as societal issues, personal resonsibility also comes into play.

Right.. and things are *definitely* going to look worse this summer.

There's a huge boost in casual cyclists right now and there are tons of riders out there right now riding around on the wrong side of the road, doing strange things at intersections, bouncing between sidewalk & road, riding with no lights in the dark, no helmets, etc... all stuff that makes it more likely to have an incident with a car and/or have a more severe injury.

With so many new people riding so much more there are going to be more incidents.

Last weekend I was in the car on a fairly busy 40mph zone and came up behind a group of 4 guys in street clothes on brand new road bikes. Randomly out of the blue their group of 4 split up and 2 of the guys crossed the road and started riding against traffic in the shoulder on the opposite side of the road. Then they later came back across and joined their buddies. Super strange and super dangerous, no driver is going to see odd & illegal behavior like that coming.

The last time I remember seeing so much careless & clueless casual cyclist behavior was when Pokemon Go came out and every video game nerd in town was out trolling around at 8mph on a bike in the roads, MUTS, sidewalks while staring at their phone trying to find Pokemon. They were on bikes to cover more ground...

[LegendRider]

The story Andrew Bernstein wrote in Outside is horrific and graphic. Glad he survived but his life will never be the same.

Here's a podcast that covers the story.
https://www.outsideonline.com/2412781/what-happens-body-hit-by-car

While I fully understand the probability of this happening is low...yadda, yadda, yadda...my risk tolerance is changing. When I first started riding in Atlanta in 1990 the population was 1/3 of today's figure and there were no cell/smart phones, GPS units or home entertainment systems in cars.

[C40_guy]

Here's a podcast that covers the story.
https://www.outsideonline.com/2412781/what-happens-body-hit-by-car

While I fully understand the probability of this happening is low...yadda, yadda, yadda...my risk tolerance is changing. When I first started riding in Atlanta in 1990 the population was 1/3 of today's figure and there were no cell/smart phones, GPS units or home entertainment systems in cars.

And as we get older, our awareness of our own mortality increases. Our responsibilities grow - family, mortgage, work, community -- and we feel a greater need to be around to take care of our loved ones.

I love road riding...been doing it almost fifty years. But today I'd rather go for a trail run than to take my road bike out. Just too many distracted drivers, road rage, etc...

[weisan]

No judgment made, just an observation.

I drive 15 minutes to my start point to begin my ride every time.

For one reason.

Safer.

In doing so, I avoid a relatively curvy road that even though is not considered "busy traffic" is of a higher risk due to the twist and turns and narrow. I often see cars having a hard time maintaining within their lane and crossing the center line.

15 minutes of driving not only help me avoid that section of the road but also get me to a place where I can embark on a 40-mile route with very little traffic, low stress and nice quiet country roads.

I rode on this route by myself for the last 2 months, almost every day.

I saw maybe 6-8 cyclists passing in opposite direction, riding on their own, never a group....total, cumulative...over a span of 2 months. Social distancing is not even hard to maintain at all. I am in the best shape of my life. I am having hell of a time. It never fail to amaze me. I often wonder...

Is it a lack of local knowledge that prevents more cyclist to ride on the route that I am on?

Is it because people are hesitant to drive?

Is it because of time?

I see a lot of people riding through my neighborhood. Every day.
My neighborhood is considered low traffic by city standards but even so, I am willing and motivated to drive to my elected start point every time.

Why?

Because as much as it depends on me, I like to reduce my risks to the lowest possible level and for 15 minutes of driving time, I exchange for a much more pleasant, peaceful and quiet and safer riding experience. To me, it's a no-brainer, not even worth arguing over or burning up any brain cells to discuss. I just do it.

[Dave Ferris]

.

[bob heinatz]

I am with Weisan. I drive about 5 miles from my home to get a nice ride on country roads. It's managing the risks.

[Seramount]

I've also noticed an uptick in dangerous speeding by the UPS, Amazon and other delivery trucks.

it's not so much that they're speeding thru the residential areas I frequent, but that they pull to the curb on the wrong side of the street when making deliveries. sure it saves them a few seconds, but the last time I checked, was illegal.

when they pull away, they don't seem to ever check the blind spot where I'm invariably riding...

seems criminal that major companies allow this type of driving...but, sure they don't GAS as they gotta get those 'next day' packages to their spoiled, impatient customers.

[C40_guy]

seems criminal that major companies allow this type of driving...but, sure they don't GAS as they gotta get those 'next day' packages to their spoiled, impatient customers.

Hey, careful there. Some of those packages may be bike parts deliveries... :)

[KJMUNC]

I'll also say, as a guy who got hit from behind while riding by a lady in a Dodge Dakota pickup truck, at 10:30 on a Saturday morning(she fell asleep)...you can 'what if' yourself out of anything. Risk management is key. Riding when and where minimizing that risk is key, IMHO. Riding defensively BUT..in reality, getting hit and/or killed by a car while riding is far lower than a lot of other things we do everyday.


100% agree with this. 5yrs ago I left LA for Austin and assumed (incorrectly) that my cycling would be safer. Boy was I wrong....I had many, many more incidents/near accidents and the roads I had to ride on were way more dangerous due to speed and proximity to vehicles (these were the typical major cycling routes in Austin). Now I'm back in LA for nearly 2 years and I feel much safer riding (knock wood), even despite doing a lot of my miles up/down PCH.

[93KgBike]

No judgment made, just an observation.

I drive 15 minutes to my start point to begin my ride every time.

For one reason.

Safer.

In doing so, I avoid a relatively curvy road that even though is not considered "busy traffic" is of a higher risk due to the twist and turns and narrow. I often see cars having a hard time maintaining within their lane and crossing the center line.

15 minutes of driving not only help me avoid that section of the road but also get me to a place where I can embark on a 40-mile route with very little traffic, low stress and nice quiet country roads.

I rode on this route by myself for the last 2 months, almost every day.

I saw maybe 6-8 cyclists passing in opposite direction, riding on their own, never a group....total, cumulative...over a span of 2 months. Social distancing is not even hard to maintain at all. I am in the best shape of my life. I am having hell of a time. It never fail to amaze me. I often wonder...

Is it a lack of local knowledge that prevents more cyclist to ride on the route that I am on?

Is it because people are hesitant to drive?

Is it because of time?

I see a lot of people riding through my neighborhood. Every day.
My neighborhood is considered low traffic by city standards but even so, I am willing and motivated to drive to my elected start point every time.

Why?

Because as much as it depends on me, I like to reduce my risks to the lowest possible level and for 15 minutes of driving time, I exchange for a much more pleasant, peaceful and quiet and safer riding experience. To me, it's a no-brainer, not even worth arguing over or burning up any brain cells to discuss. I just do it.

Makes sense to me; my neighborhood is like walking in the mall right now :eek: with people walking from other neighborhoods into ours! :help:

But getting kids and bikes to the car - there and back --- omg.

[benb]

It's a little sad and counter productive to feel that you need to drive a motor vehicle somewhere nearby to ride your road bike.

You're putting one more motor vehicle on the road that makes it harder for other cyclists/pedestrians and you're making a motor vehicle trip that is unnecessary, you're contributing to the problem.

It's a waste of time too, you could be riding in that time or getting on with your life.

It's cool if you have to go to a race or your traveling out of your normal area on the weekend but it's sad if that's your day-in/day-out routine to ride.

This is one of the primary reasons I can't get myself to ski/snowboard anymore and why I gave up MTB races way earlier than road races.. MTB races always seemed to require more hours in the car, and it was bad enough with the road races. Is my hobby cycling or driving the car? 2 hours in the car to race a 1 hour crit or cross race or XC race is sad. For skiing and snowboarding it always seemed like it could be 6 hours of driving for 6 hours of skiing/riding.

Even with my kid.. I'm happy we have only transported a bike via motor vehicle once since this whole nonsense started. Even for MTB... riding to the trail keeps me away from the parking lot crowd and safer.. I can enter the trail system through the less popular entrances that don't have parking lots and avoid the more crowded trails that start from the parking lots.

[weisan]

It's a little sad and counter productive to feel that you need to drive a motor vehicle somewhere nearby to ride your road bike.


I already know....it's completely futile.

[Seott-e]

I sometimes see people riding with ear buds in, or an equivalent. IMO I can't think of anything worse, you need to hear what is coming up behind you. You need to constantly be aware of your surroundings.

[Gummee]

The 'golden BB' is going to get me at some point or another. I've already accepted that so fighting it is useless.

That 'golden BB' could be a slip in the bathroom, a distracted driver (on the moto, in the car, or on the bike), or something completely random like this virus kerfuffle.

I'm not going to live in fear so I'll keep riding road, gravel, mtn, and hopefully track again (if they build a velodrome near enough to DC to get to)

M

[Hellgate]

I sometimes see people riding with ear buds in, or an equivalent. IMO I can't think of anything worse, you need to hear what is coming up behind you. You need to constantly be aware of your surroundings.Eh, I've ridden with headphones/ earbuds since the Sony Walkman days.

Where I ride cars pass me ever few moments, me hearing them from begin has zero influence on if they hit me or not.

[mulp]

If the intent of the author was to get people to spend less time Outside, then it worked!

[nortx-Dave]

I get that the intent of the Outside article was to inform the general public about the tragedy of too many cyclists killed each year. But to really get the complete picture, this document, published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is worth a read.

https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812826

Things from that document that are worth considering:

1. Regardless of the season, bicyclist deaths occurred most often between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
2. Bicyclist deaths occur most often in urban areas (75%) compared to rural areas (25%) in 2017.
3. Alcohol was involved in 37% of all fatal bicyclist crashes in 2017.

I ride in Texas, on rural country roads, with a BRIGHT rear light, don't drink when I ride and do not ride at night and follow all laws. I'm retired military and last year rode 9,000+ miles without incident. No way in hell am I going to give up my passion for road riding due to some generalizations regarding bicycle related fatalities. I'm 58 years old, in the best shape of my life, riding more miles than at any time in my life and like an earlier poster having a hell of a time doing it. I can't wait to get my new Bishop ROAD bike and continue to pile on the miles.

[oldpotatoe]

The 'golden BB' is going to get me at some point or another. I've already accepted that so fighting it is useless.

That 'golden BB' could be a slip in the bathroom, a distracted driver (on the moto, in the car, or on the bike), or something completely random like this virus kerfuffle.

I'm not going to live in fear so I'll keep riding road, gravel, mtn, and hopefully track again (if they build a velodrome near enough to DC to get to)

M

Get a great big jar, paint it so you can't see inside...fill with white jellybeans..throw in one black one...shake...every morning take out one jelly bean..if it's black,go back to bed..:)

USN Aviator way to not crash....:eek:

"Don't have a black jellybean day"

[Bentley]

There's nothing in these stats that you can glean to adjust your behavior to be safer so I wouldn't go worrying this means you need to change your behavior or reduce your riding.

They're covering how many drivers were drinking, but what about the cyclists? Same thing with the phones, I see lots of cyclists now looking at their phones while riding too!

How many of the cyclists were riding the wrong way in traffic?

Did the increase in bike lanes help? Apparently not in NYC.

Relative total cyclists the fatal incidents is still very small you can't really pull anything from any of this.

I mean maybe you can decide you shouldn't be in FL, TX, NY, or CA when you're riding. But most of these places the deaths are probably concentrated in the cities where it's not that enjoyable to ride anyway.

But no one is telling us about the cyclists side... if you're not riding the wrong way in NYC or riding with substances or distracted with your phone your risk might be very low.

Assume you mean riding against traffic? I mostly see people that are casual riders doing this. I think it’s because they want to see a “bad driver”. Not sure what the law is regarding riding against traffic, but I see it frequently.

I don’t read and ride and I don’t see that much, but I think distracted drivers are an issue.

Finally, enforcement of the existing laws would help, in my experience, and this is a generalization, law enforcement does not support the existing laws well enough to protect riders.

[benb]

Assume you mean riding against traffic? I mostly see people that are casual riders doing this. I think it’s because they want to see a “bad driver”. Not sure what the law is regarding riding against traffic, but I see it frequently.

I don’t read and ride and I don’t see that much, but I think distracted drivers are an issue.

Finally, enforcement of the existing laws would help, in my experience, and this is a generalization, law enforcement does not support the existing laws well enough to protect riders.

I definitely am talking about mostly casual riders riding against traffic, but I see more serious riders do all kinds of stupid things like this too.

And there just isn't much data about bike accidents that's meaningful. No one is keeping track of casual riders vs serious riders who ride thousands of miles a year. No police officer writing a report is going to write anything about that.

Distracted drivers are for sure an issue but so is our own behavior, we don't focus on our own behavior nearly as much.

They release a lot more data on motorcycle accidents, and I suspect motorcycle and bicycle accidents follow a similar pattern. Motorcyclists blame everything on car drivers just like we do, but the NTSB stats generally show the majority of motorcycle accidents don't involve a car at all, just a motorcyclist that can't keep the rubber side down all by themself.

I suspect cars would be involved in more bicycle accidents than motorcycle accidents.

But in any case in all these bicyclist deaths no one tells us whether the bicyclist was behaving foolishly. If a lot of these deaths are foolish bicyclists and you are not foolish in your behavior you shouldn't let these stats scare you off riding.

Now I really do think a lot of the behavior that goes against "Effective Cycling" is really really foolish if you're a roadie. If you're not a roadie maybe you can make an argument against some of the Effective Cycling stuff but we are riding in the road, follow Effective Cycling and ride like a slow motorcycle. Forget about using crosswalks and sometimes riding on the wrong side of the road or turning left from the right turn lane or going straight from the right turn lane and all that silliness, that will go a long way.

Actually if you go all the way to Aviation that seems to be the only area anyone gets it. In the past they might have wanted to blame the plane but they're so focused on safety they've all eventually got it straight that it's usually "pilot error".

[Smitty2k1]

I get that the intent of the Outside article was to inform the general public about the tragedy of too many cyclists killed each year. But to really get the complete picture, this document, published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is worth a read.

https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812826

Things from that document that are worth considering:

1. Regardless of the season, bicyclist deaths occurred most often between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
2. Bicyclist deaths occur most often in urban areas (75%) compared to rural areas (25%) in 2017.
3. Alcohol was involved in 37% of all fatal bicyclist crashes in 2017.

I ride in Texas, on rural country roads, with a BRIGHT rear light, don't drink when I ride and do not ride at night and follow all laws. I'm retired military and last year rode 9,000+ miles without incident. No way in hell am I going to give up my passion for road riding due to some generalizations regarding bicycle related fatalities. I'm 58 years old, in the best shape of my life, riding more miles than at any time in my life and like an earlier poster having a hell of a time doing it. I can't wait to get my new Bishop ROAD bike and continue to pile on the miles.

As a NHTSA employee I'm always happy to see people linking our NHTSA data. We are quite proud of it!

A couple notes on your notes
1) If I recall 6-9pm is also the most heavily trafficked time of day, thus the more fatalities (same applies for passengers of automobiles too IIRC)
2) We have a lot of data on urban vs. rural. It's pretty interesting - for starters more traffic and people in urban environments so that's not too surprising. You could also dig a little deeper and look at how much driving/cycling is done in urban or rural environments? If only 10% of cycling is done in rural environments but 25% of the deaths occur there that isn't too good...
3) Alcohol is involved in so many vehicle fatalities, it's really quite sad. We lose around 38,000 people on USA roadways each year to traffic fatalities and if you take out incidences of alcohol, speeding, and seat belt mis-use that number is very, very small.

Of more interest to this group may be the pedestrian crash stats (we also put cyclists in a sub category of pedestrians, we refer to the whole group as "vulnerable road users" or VRUs) https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812850

I'm not in the data office at NHTSA, but I do crash testing so if you ever want to chat about that let me know!

[zap]

I'm not in the data office at NHTSA, but I do crash testing so if you ever want to chat about that let me know!

My understanding is that today's larger passenger vehicles (aka suvs) are a contributor to increased deaths of pedestrians. Not sure about cyclists.

Thoughts.

[Spinner]

I've been riding multi-speed road bikes for 48+ years and have witnessed a wide-range of driver behaviors over that period, in a wide-variety of locales.

The cell phone is the likely root of our greatest threat, therefore I try to make myself highly conspicuous. I ALWAYS have my Dinotte Quad rear light a blaze, defaulting to the medium brightness-level in flash mode on bright days, while adjusting to low or high settings as lighting changes.

Bright clothes are also a must. As I was riding last week into the mid-afternoon sun, I was closing on a cyclist dressed entirely in black. Because of the angle of the sun, his backside was entirely shaded making it very difficult to see this rider atop his black carbon Trek.

99% of my rides are out the back door. I'm fortunate that my suburban neighborhood is adjacent to 4-lane boulevard that has 4+ miles of painted cycling lanes and posted 35 mph speed limit through the city. The police monitor this thoroughfare heavily as their station is on this route. This street gets a lot of cycling traffic and provides a course to a number of low-traffic neighborhoods and nearby rural roads.

I think my scariest riding experience was on Route 19 on the Big Island thirty years ago. Although remote, the drivers of double-trailer dump truck semi rigs did not like my lycra-covered arse on their roadway.

[C40_guy]

The cell phone is the likely root of our greatest threat, therefore I try to make myself highly conspicuous. I ALWAYS have my Dinotte Quad rear light a blaze, defaulting to the medium brightness-level in flash mode on bright days, while adjusting to low or high settings as lighting changes.



A distracted driver is a distracted driver. If their head is down in their lap, looking at that critical tweet, they aren't going to see your brightly lit butt.

Sure...visibility helps, and i follow similar approaches to yours -- blinkies and bright clothing.

My primary defensive tool, however, is my helmet mounted mirror. I watch the cars as they approach, and if they're too close, I move over. Note -- I force an extra margin of safety by riding just a bit further out in the lane than I normally would...and then as the car approaches, they either have to swing out a bit further, or hit me. As they get closer, I move over...but I've already forced that extra bit of margin.

Thinking about the Garmin rear radar as an enhancement...

[Spinner]

A distracted driver is a distracted driver. If their head is down in their lap, looking at that critical tweet, they aren't going to see your brightly lit butt.

I don't disagree entirely, I simply want to be seen from a distance. Even the most distracted driver has to look up occasionally. Now a drunk driver is an entirely different critter.

"Let's be careful out there."

[Smitty2k1]

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