Odds of Dying in a Bicycle Crash

Over the course of your life, it may be safer to ride a bicycle than to be a pedestrian!

But the chances of dying in a bicycling accident is apparently more than that of going down in an airplane.

This interesting picture showed up on the Pixdaus blog. Check it out.

1 in 4919 (0.02%) is a lifetime probability that means that out of every 4919 instances you ride your bicycle, 1 can result in death. According to this website, this data was provided by the National Safety Council.

But referring to the NSC's website itself, that number seems more like 1 in 4098 (2005). Interestingly, we are named 'Pedalcyclists'. I've never seen that before. Is there any other form of cycling other than pedaling? I guess you could technically 'cycle' drugs and steroids too but...

Anyway, so is this picture reflecting new data?

Bicycle death statistics can have various facets as an article on the CICLE blog says. It is suffice to say that riders who don't follow the rules will die much earlier than the rest.

The general picture though, relative to other terrestrial modes of transportation, is not all that bad. I wonder how it varies from geographical locations, age and application (road vs mountain biking vs bmx). Remember, data also changes from year to year.