Why Biking Doesn't Mean Dying

"Biking is safer than it used to be. It's safer than you might think. It does incur the risk of collision, but its other health benefits massively outweigh these risks. And it can be made much safer. What's more, making streets truly safe for cyclists may be the best way to reverse Bicycle Neglect: it may be among communities' best options for countering obesity, climate disruption, rising economic inequality, and oil addiction."

"The alternative -- inaction -- perpetuates these ills. It also ensures the continued victimization of cyclists and pedestrians."

"In fact, the best published estimates I've found -- developed by Rutgers University researchers John Pucher and Lewis Dijkstra -- suggest that per trip, bike riders face about three times as much risk of dying as car and light truck riders. Because car trips tend to be longer than bike trips, Pucher and Dijkstra estimate that the safety gap stretches to tenfold when it's calculated per mile traveled."

"That's a substantial gap, if Pucher and Dijkstra are right. But how big is the risk, really? In the United States, for every billion kilometers of cycling, they say, roughly 100 bikers die from collisions. For every billion kilometers of driving, roughly 10 drivers and passengers die from collisions. From 1999 to 2004, in the entire United States with its approximately 300 million residents, an average of 784 people died each year in bike accidents. That's a consequential number but it's no pandemic -- nothing like the more-than-40,000 deaths from auto accidents each year. It's reason for care but not for alarm."

"The same published estimates indicate you're at much greater risk of getting hit by a car when you're walking than when you're cycling. Per mile traveled, according to Pucher and Dijkstra, more than three times as many pedestrians die from auto collisions as do cyclists. Yet few people think walking is too perilous to attempt."