Biker395 

Check this out:

Bicycle-Vehicle Accident Deaths Show Unexpected Trend | BestRide

I KNOW why child deaths are down. Damn few of them ride bikes to school and the like anymore.

But why are male adult deaths going up at such a faster rate than women? I don't think it is sheer participation, as in my experience, there are just as many women taking up the sport as men (thankfully).

Any ideas? I'm flummoxed.

FBinNY 

The fastest growing category is middle age and older men. I suspect that a large part of that is simply attributable to growth in participation by this group. Possibly (thinking, not claiming) made worse because many are coming to the sport new, and are more frajile during the learning curve than youths.

As for women, the numbers don't tell the story. It's not who' riding, it's how their riding. Men are more likely to be engaged is serious sport, or borderline competitive riding, with clubs, or on Strava. That type of riding can be more dangerous if one "stupidly". I also see much more men of all ages riding in pacelines or tight ragged bunches on open roads, and that may also be part of the equation.

johnny99

Most bicyclist fatalities are people commuting to work. Bicycle commuters are far more likely to be men than women. The number I usually hear is 75-80% of bicycle commuters are men. Varies by city, of course.

canklecat

Based on the available data and my own observations, I'd say:

• More men than women cycling.
• More men cycling solo in traffic than women.
• Differences in risk taking/aversion. Women tend to be more risk-averse. Men take more chances.
• Infrastructure to accommodate cyclists is growing faster than public awareness among drivers and faster than changes in driver attitudes and behaviors.

Adult male cyclists are the pioneers of this newly increasing cycling infrastructure. It's still the Wild West. Vehicle drivers are still accustomed to having the road to themselves. Awareness, attitudes and behaviors haven't kept pace with the incursions of cyclists into territories considered the domain of motor vehicles.

Another factor regarding the increase in deaths among cyclists and pedestrians, particularly at night: Despite the official reports, the economy is not doing well for lower income working people. I'm seeing more people locally commuting on foot and bus or bicycle because they can't afford cars. So more people are exposed, particularly at night when returning from jobs after the bus service ends.

There are many dangerous streets, highways and intersections that are the only means of getting from place to place on foot. It's not at all unusual for working poor folks to dart across highways because there is no other way to get to and from home, without walking miles out of their way.

There are a number of reasons for this.

A major factor was the mandatory auto liability insurance laws. Before that law was passed and enforced in the early 1980s in Texas I rarely saw anyone walking. It was like the Missing Persons song, Walking In LA. Nobody walked in Texas. Only a nobody walked in Texas.

That began the slippery slope toward what we called de-horsing in the car sales business.

At first law enforcement only issued citations for driving without insurance, with expired tags for plates and inspection, even driving with an expired license. Compared with the high cost of liability insurance for a low income driver who'd been driving without insurance, it was relatively affordable to take the risk and pay the fines.

Now they arrest everyone. Almost every family I know of, including my own, has had to bail out at least one relative who was arrested for driving with expired insurance, tags or license. The fines are much steeper. The arrest can cost the driver his or her job. No job, no way to pay the fines or get their vehicles legal again. Sometimes they lose their vehicles because they can't keep up the payments after losing their jobs. Then they miss court dates because they have no transportation -- very common in rural counties without public transportation. Then they get arrested for failure to appear. The penalties escalate way out of reach of the typical low wage working stiff. Now they're in jail for weeks or months. They get behind on rent or mortgage payments and lose everything, including families -- financial stress is usually the final blow to most marriages. Then they get behind on child support payments and end up in jail for even longer periods. Some never recover from the downward spiral.

This is not an exaggeration by any means. I've seen it happen to people I know. Eventually some leave the state just to get a respite from the downward spiral, and try to get a job elsewhere and piece their lives back together. All because of a "zero tolerance" policy toward misdemeanors that are mostly a civil matter, not criminal.

So more working poor folks are walking or bicycling. They can't afford lights or don't realize how difficult it can be to see them at night. I've stopped and talked with some folks just like that at night, and given away cheap lights and reflectors that I buy at the dollar store and carry with me. They figured if they could see cars, the cars could see them. Fortunately most dollar stores now carry very affordable lights and reflectors, and I'm seeing more working poor pedestrians and cyclists using them.

Dave Cutter

I think the deaths are young men... of drinking age. Looking for good times in drinking establishments while cleverly using a bike for transportation. Or... maybe they use a bike now... because previous drinking and driving trips have left them as cyclists (without driver licenses).

But... IMHO the stats now include the results of bicycle drinking... a modern version of pub crawling.

Biker395 

I dunno man. Most of the women I know are on Strava and are running pretty fast with the men. I don't see sufficient differences to explain the wide variation in those statistics.

wphamilton

Those two I think are spot on, and I've seen pretty good data to support the first.

Because of the risk of being alone at night in some places, I believe that fewer women ride at night. I don't know that it factors into fatalities, but I'll bet there is an even greater disparity in injuries at night, male vs female.

FBinNY 

No doubt there are probably regional differences, but I'll venture that even where you are, you'll find many more men riding "competively".

You might note that there's no female version of the mamil phenomenon.

But, I've no interest in arguing, because I don't care about it either way. You asked for theories, I offered one, and you're free to accept or reject it without prejudice.

Biker395 

Fair enough. But the reason I mention that is because I considered and rejected that theory. This is all speculation of course, but I don't see that substantial a difference between men and women in that regard. I see (and enjoy) a lot of MAWILs. Maybe my usual riding group is the exception.

Looking at the plot, maybe the rise in female deaths is about the same on a percentage basis, and the scale of the graph is obscuring that?

CrankyOne

In Mpls/St Paul and NYC the overwhelming majority of commuters are male, I'd guess 80-90% and MAMILs are certainly well represented. This is slowly changing with more protected bikeways but that's the way it stands, anecdotally anyway, today. This would also support the men taking greater risks element since men are more likely to ride on roads with no infrastructure or just painted bike lanes while women are more likely to wait until safer protected bikeways are built.

Club rides seem a bit more equal but still maybe 60-70% male. Men also appear to ride many more miles than women. The top 25 men have averaged 3900 miles so far this year while the top 25 women are at 1620.

Some good info here: https://bikeleague.org/sites/default/...port_final.pdf

Nearly half of fatalities are bicycle riders being hit from behind while riding on the shoulder or in the lane.

Carbonfiberboy 

Around here, cycling fatalities are definitely associated with commuting and irresponsible or drunk driving, especially during shift changes at night. Looks like if you commute at night, you should stop at every intersection and look both ways, whether or not you have the thru street or green light. And as was said upthread, almost all commuters are male.

There have also been deaths associated with descending at speed on roads with driveways. Remember, they can't see you, really not at all, not when you're doing 50 unless you're running a bright flasher. Those have been men also.

Running bright flashers at both ends during daylight is a very good idea. At night a bright steady light plus a flasher at both ends seems best for solo riding.

BikeArkansas

More men ride bicycles and men ride more agressively than women. Now that problem has been solved and I did not need to check any stats. All I had to do is take a look around at group rides and charity events. Any more questions, I am on a roll.

reppans

Males have always heavily outweight females in this sport for the reasons mentioned above.

The shift in age seems to just be following us baby boomers through a period that Wiki describes as the biggest bicycling boom in history - '65-'75. I grew up right through that period and never shook that bicycling bug, and of course I am just riding the top of that graph/wave from the 70s to now.

My kids have the Internet.... and parental chauffeurs.

Loose Chain

I see maybe one woman for every ten males in sporting cycling events. In the commuting world, I have seen women, but not many. Everyone I know who commutes by bike is male.

I am sure this is not universal and that there are places with a more established cycling universe that includes more women but in the places I have lived, no.

Not to get into my Europe business trip earlier this year, I would say it was nearly 50/50 commuting, I saw no sporting cyclist or cycles.

Garfield Cat

Title IX

Rick@OCRR

Yes Victor, On this point there is no speculation. You certainly do have a lot of lovely MAWIL's in your usual riding group!

Based on my experience riding with other groups, yes, yours is an exception.

But . . . in a Very Good way

Rick / OCRR

texaspandj

The answer you seek is in the question you ask. Simply remove the the first two words at the beginning of your question and change the word fatalities to the word ride.

Wildwood 

Because women are 51+% of the populace and they intend to keep it that way.

MAMIL Lives Matter
edit: old men in lycra/wool, too!

Biker395 

Yea, no kidding, huh? Amazing women. Strong riders, a joy to ride with, and easy on the eyes. We're really blessed.

lenticular

When the report talks about greater fatalities for men (25% of which happen after dark), I think about the guys I see scooting around on BMX/beater bikes, and cutting across traffic while balancing packages on their handlebars rather than sports cyclists.

TheLibrarian

Doesn't seem to be mentioned yet, I suspect more women are riding mups for casual fitness.

Doug64

Here is a pretty good study commissioned by the State of Oregon. Check out the Demographics in the Appendix.

https://www.deanrunyan.com/doc_library/bicycletravel.pdf

FBinNY 

I can't point to a source right now, but I believe I've seen data showing that men have a higher rate of accidental death, starting t an early age, and continuing until old age. If I remember correctly, this disparity was greatest in the twenties. Also, (if I recall) the data included murder, so that might account for part of the difference.

Biker395 

I saw a plot of that, recently. It was really kind of hilarious ... there was a definite bump in male mortality in the "hey fellas, watch this!" age group relative to the women.

Gerryattrick

I couldn't access the full article, but unless the statistics break down the fatalities into categories such as: racing, training, commuting, social, charity rides, night/day males/females/ages we can only make guesses. These are going to be subjective based on our individual circumstances rather than an objective analysis that can be supported.

I have a gut feeling it is a combination of the increase in numbers plus the (imo) higher tendency of men to think they are faster/more competent than they are, and to ride in racing/training groups.

My experience of the number of women riding competitively or in club rides is obviously different to Socal, but they are in a significant minority here in south Wales.