Despite the simple joy of a bike ride, the sobering reality is that in 2021 alone, 1,105 bicyclists lost their lives in crashes with motor vehicles in the United States.
Key Takeaways
- In 2021, 1,105 bicyclists were killed in motor vehicle crashes in the United States, with 89% involving another motor vehicle like a car
- From 2017 to 2021, the average annual number of bicyclist deaths in the US was 932, marking a 37% increase over the previous five-year period
- In 2020, there were 130,818 bicyclist injuries reported in US police crash reports, primarily from car collisions
- In 2021, male bicyclists accounted for 88% of the 1,105 fatalities in car crashes nationwide
- Bicyclists aged 45-54 had the highest fatality rate of 3.2 per million population in 2021 US car crashes
- 74% of bicyclist deaths in 2021 occurred at night, often in car collision blackspots
- In 2021, non-helmeted bicyclists in car crashes were 2.3 times more likely to suffer fatal head injuries
- From 2016-2020, 90,000 bicyclists treated in US ERs for motor vehicle crash injuries
- Upper and lower extremity injuries comprised 45% of bicyclist injuries in car crashes (2015-2019)
- Driver distraction caused 14% of severe bicyclist injuries in 2021 car crashes
- Failure to yield by drivers was primary cause in 40% of 2021 bicyclist-car fatalities
- Right-hook maneuvers by cars caused 25% of urban bicyclist crashes (2015-2020 study)
- In 2021, 85% of bicyclist deaths were males, aged 16-54 predominantly
- Adults 25-54 comprised 58% of bicyclist fatalities in car crashes (2021)
- Hispanic bicyclists had 1.5x higher fatality rate than non-Hispanic whites (2016-2020)
Bicyclist fatalities and injuries in car crashes remain alarmingly high and continue to rise.
Causes and Risk Factors
- Driver distraction caused 14% of severe bicyclist injuries in 2021 car crashes
- Failure to yield by drivers was primary cause in 40% of 2021 bicyclist-car fatalities
- Right-hook maneuvers by cars caused 25% of urban bicyclist crashes (2015-2020 study)
- Speeding vehicles contributed to 28% of bicyclist fatalities in 2021
- Distracted driving involved in 8% of bicyclist-motor vehicle crashes (2018-2022)
- 61% of bicyclist deaths occurred in areas without bike facilities, increasing car conflict risk
- Night riding without lights raised crash risk with cars by 4.5 times (2010-2020 data)
- Alcohol use by drivers in 28% and cyclists in 12% of fatal car-bike crashes (2021)
- Doorings by parked cars injured 10% of urban cyclists annually (NYC 2018-2022)
- Wide vehicle turns caused 22% of serious injuries to bicyclists (2016-2020)
- Lack of bike lanes increased crash odds by 2.3 times in urban car traffic (study)
- Cyclist not yielding caused 10% of crashes, but driver error 70% (2021 NHTSA)
- Heavy truck involvement raised fatality risk 3 times vs cars alone (2017-2021)
- Phone use by drivers linked to 15% rise in bicyclist crashes (2015-2022)
- Rural roads had 2x higher fatality rate due to high car speeds (2021 data)
- Red-light running by cars caused 18% of intersection bicyclist injuries (2018-2022)
- E-bike speed over 20mph increased crash severity with cars by 40% (2020-2023)
- Poor road maintenance contributed to 5% of car-bike crashes (2019-2022)
- Driver inattention primary in 35% of sideswipe injuries to cyclists (CA data)
- Males 16-34 riding under influence had 5x crash risk with cars (2017-2021)
- Absence of cycle tracks raised rear-end crash risk by 1.8x (studies 2010-2020)
Causes and Risk Factors Interpretation
Behind these dry numbers lies a tragic comedy of errors where drivers are starring as the main offenders, but everyone from infrastructure planners to a tipsy guy on a bike gets a supporting role in making our streets a hazardous stage.
Demographics and Vulnerable Groups
- In 2021, 85% of bicyclist deaths were males, aged 16-54 predominantly
- Adults 25-54 comprised 58% of bicyclist fatalities in car crashes (2021)
- Hispanic bicyclists had 1.5x higher fatality rate than non-Hispanic whites (2016-2020)
- Children 10-14 years old had injury rate of 250 per 100,000 in car crashes (2019)
- Urban males over 45 faced 4.1 fatalities per million population (2021)
- From 2018-2022, Black bicyclists died at 2.2x rate of whites per population
- Females represented 15% of fatalities but 25% of injuries in car-bike crashes (2021)
- Seniors 65+ had 12% of fatalities despite 5% of cycling population (2020-2022)
- Low-income areas saw 3x higher bicyclist death rates (2015-2020 study)
- In Florida, males 35-44 had highest crash involvement rate (2020-2022)
- Youth under 20 accounted for 20% of ER visits but lower fatalities (2017-2021)
- Native American bicyclists had fatality rate 3.5 per 100,000 (2016-2020)
- In NYC, immigrant communities had 40% higher injury rates from car crashes (2022)
- Males comprised 75% of injured cyclists in car crashes nationally (2021)
- Rural males 18-34 had 2x urban fatality risk (2021 data)
- Asian Americans lowest fatality rate at 0.8 per 100,000 (2016-2020)
- Teens 15-19 had highest non-fatal injury rate per mile cycled (2019)
- In California, Latino cyclists 30% of fatalities despite 20% population (2021)
- Women over 55 saw 30% rise in injuries from car crashes (2018-2022)
- Delivery cyclists (gig workers) had 5x injury rate in urban car crashes (2022 NYC)
- In Texas, males under 25 were 40% of fatalities (2022)
- LGBTQ+ cyclists reported 1.7x higher near-miss rates with cars (2021 survey)
- From 2010-2021, adult male fatalities rose 60% correlating with commuting trends
Demographics and Vulnerable Groups Interpretation
This grim portrait reveals that while a bicycle might be a simple machine, the road it travels is a complex map of systemic inequality, where your gender, age, income, race, and even your job dramatically skew your odds of surviving a collision with a car.
Fatalities and Mortality
- In 2021, male bicyclists accounted for 88% of the 1,105 fatalities in car crashes nationwide
- Bicyclists aged 45-54 had the highest fatality rate of 3.2 per million population in 2021 US car crashes
- 74% of bicyclist deaths in 2021 occurred at night, often in car collision blackspots
- From 1975-2021, over 30,000 US bicyclists died in traffic crashes with cars being the primary vehicle
- In 2020, 982 bicyclists were killed, with a 32% increase in fatalities from the prior decade due to car interactions
- Alcohol impairment was involved in 29% of bicyclist fatalities in 2021, mostly car drivers
- Urban areas saw 69% of bicyclist deaths in 2021 from car crashes
- Head injuries caused 60% of bicyclist fatalities in car crashes from 2016-2020
- In 2022, 1,135 bicyclist deaths marked a record high, 13.5% up from 2021, primarily car-related
- Florida's bicyclist fatality rate was 2.3 per 100,000 population in 2021, highest nationally in car crashes
- In 2021, 467 bicyclists died in intersection crashes with cars, 42% of total fatalities
- From 2018-2022, 89% of 5,465 US bicyclist deaths involved motor vehicles like cars
- Nighttime bicyclist fatalities increased 140% from 2010-2021 in car crashes
- In 2021, 20% of bicyclist deaths involved large trucks in car-equivalent crashes
- Bicyclist fatality rate per bike-mile traveled was 1.11 per 100 million miles in 2019
- In 2021, 39 states saw increases in bicyclist deaths from car crashes compared to 2020
- Elderly bicyclists (65+) had a fatality rate 4 times higher than average in 2021 car crashes
- In 2022, 70% of bicyclist fatalities lacked bike lanes at crash sites with cars
- From 2000-2020, bicyclist deaths rose 50% while car miles driven increased 40%
- In 2021, 58% of fatal bicyclist crashes involved driver failure to yield to cars
Fatalities and Mortality Interpretation
The grim road to a record 1,135 deaths in 2022 is paved with a lethal cocktail of insufficient infrastructure, predictable driver error, and a system that still treats a head-on collision between a car and a bicyclist as an unequal, and often fatal, accident.
Frequency and Occurrence
- In 2021, 1,105 bicyclists were killed in motor vehicle crashes in the United States, with 89% involving another motor vehicle like a car
- From 2017 to 2021, the average annual number of bicyclist deaths in the US was 932, marking a 37% increase over the previous five-year period
- In 2020, there were 130,818 bicyclist injuries reported in US police crash reports, primarily from car collisions
- California reported 232 bicyclist fatalities from 2018-2022, mostly in car-bike crashes in urban areas
- Between 2015-2019, Florida had 1,046 bicyclist deaths, 80% involving passenger cars or trucks
- New York City saw 29 bicyclist deaths in 2022 from car crashes, up 16% from 2021
- In 2022, Texas recorded 165 bicyclist fatalities, with 70% in rural car collision scenarios
- US bicyclist crash involvement rate was 45 per million population in 2021, mostly with cars
- From 1980-2021, bicyclist fatalities in the US increased by 121% despite fewer cyclists, linked to car traffic growth
- In 2019, 40,496 emergency department visits for bicyclist-motor vehicle crashes occurred in the US
Frequency and Occurrence Interpretation
The grim reality is that for cyclists, America's streets often feel less like shared spaces and more like a deadly game of Frogger played against a backdrop of increasing car traffic and inadequate infrastructure.
Injuries and Severity
- In 2021, non-helmeted bicyclists in car crashes were 2.3 times more likely to suffer fatal head injuries
- From 2016-2020, 90,000 bicyclists treated in US ERs for motor vehicle crash injuries
- Upper and lower extremity injuries comprised 45% of bicyclist injuries in car crashes (2015-2019)
- In 2020, bicyclist injury rate per million trips was 150, mostly from car sideswipes
- Traumatic brain injuries occurred in 24% of hospitalized bicyclist-car crash victims (2017-2021)
- From 2013-2017, 467,000 non-fatal bicyclist injuries police-reported, 75% car-related
- In California 2021, 13,500 bicyclists injured in car crashes, 20% serious
- Helmet use reduced severe head injury risk by 69% in bicyclist-car collisions (meta-analysis 2001-2020)
- In 2022 NYC, 4,064 injured cyclists, 30% from car doors opening
- From 2018-2022, 40% of serious bicyclist injuries were fractures from car impacts
- Bicyclist injury hospitalization rate was 15 per 100,000 in 2019 US car crashes
- In 2021, 60% of injured bicyclists in crashes with cars had multiple injuries
- Children under 15 suffered 12% of bicyclist injuries but 25% severe cases in car crashes (2015-2019)
- From 2010-2020, ER visits for bicyclist-motor vehicle injuries rose 25%
- In Florida 2020-2022, 5,200 bicyclist injuries from car crashes, 15% requiring surgery
- Dark clothing increased severe injury risk by 1.8 times in daytime car-bike crashes (study 2015-2020)
- In 2021, 35% of police-reported bicyclist injuries were incapacitating from car collisions
- Bike light use reduced injury severity by 40% in car crash studies (2018-2022)
- From 2017-2021, 28% of bicyclist ER visits involved spinal injuries from car impacts
- In Texas 2022, 12,000 bicyclist injuries, 25% at intersections with turning cars
- Females had 1.5 times higher severe injury rate per crash than males in bicyclist-car incidents (2016-2020)
- In 2021, intersection-related injuries made up 55% of total bicyclist-car crash injuries
- Protected bike lanes reduced injury crashes by 50% in studied cities (2010-2020)
- From 2019-2022, 18% of bicyclist injuries involved e-bikes in car crashes, rising trend
Injuries and Severity Interpretation
If one were to draft an obituary for common sense, these statistics would serve as a thorough eulogy, revealing that a helmet, a light, and a dedicated lane could have rewritten most of these grim endings.
Sources & References
- Reference 1NHTSAnhtsa.govVisit source
- Reference 2INJURYFACTSinjuryfacts.nsc.orgVisit source
- Reference 3GHSAghsa.orgVisit source
- Reference 4OFFICEOFTRAFFIC-SAFETYofficeoftraffic-safety.ca.govVisit source
- Reference 5FLHSMVflhsmv.govVisit source
- Reference 6NYCnyc.govVisit source
- Reference 7TXDOTtxdot.govVisit source
- Reference 8CRASHSTATScrashstats.nhtsa.dot.govVisit source
- Reference 9CDCcdc.govVisit source
- Reference 10IIHSiihs.orgVisit source
- Reference 11PEOPLEFORBIKESpeopleforbikes.orgVisit source
- Reference 12NCBIncbi.nlm.nih.govVisit source