Despite all the dire—sometimes hysterical—warnings about the safety risks of bike share, the country's bike share systems boast a flawless fatality record. Compare that record with, for instance, driving or riding non-bike-share bikes.
Barbara Goldberg reports for Reuters that even after 23 million bike share rides since the first program launched in United States back in 2007 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, there has not been a single fatality.
Although there is no "central reporting clearinghouse" for bike share fatality data, Reuter confirmed the statistic with three independent transportation experts.
Goldberg also points out some of the reasons why bike share's safety record is better than that of bikers not using a shared system, and, for that matter, without mandatory helmet requirements for bike share systems.
Following up on the Reuters coverage for Vox, Joseph Stromberg adds the point that the increased number of bikes on the street as a result of bike share contributes to the "safety in numbers" dynamic that has been supported by numerous studies.
Read the full story: After 23 million rides, no deaths in U.S. bike share programs
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