Originally Posted by
Road Fan
Believe me, I am THOROUGHLY aware of FARS and GESS and IIHS, what they offer, and what it takes to draw conclusions based on them. I've used them extensively in my work, identifying ways active safety might be employed on the automotive side.
The data you showed are of interest, but I keep coming to the conclusion, "this is why there is minimal attention paid by NHTSA to cycling fatalities." There's not enough information to draw the kinds of conclusions that would point to the most likely-to-be effective countermeasures, and the size of the problem is two orders of magnitude smaller than the light-vehicle/heavy vehicle problem. Problem is too small, and there's nothing pointing out what to do. NHTSA will not act under these circumstances. They can take actions that promise in much nearer term to reduce motor vehicle fatalites by larger amounts.
Sorry to revisit this thread, but given your professional interest in automotive safety and interest in cycling safety, what have you found in regard to data sources that might be more useful? Even the CDC seems to 'punt' when it comes to the subject and sends readers and researchers to the DOT/UNC Pedestrian & Cycling Information Center (bicyclinginfo.org) where, once again, the NHTSA & IIHS data are used as resources, but also acknowledged for being relatively inadequate for meaningful interpretation and action:
http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/facts/crash-facts.cfm
Originally Posted by bicycleinfo.org 'Crash Facts'
Quick Facts
Bicyclist Deaths in 1997: 814
Bicyclist Deaths in 2007: 698 (NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts)
Reduction in bicyclist deaths between 1997 and 2007: 14%
Bicyclist Injuries in 1997: 58,000
Bicyclist Injuries in 2007: 43,000 (NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts)
Reduction in bicyclist injuries between 1997 and 2007: 26%
The total cost of bicyclist injury and death is almost $5.4 billion per year (National Safety Council).
The raw numbers hide all kinds of trends, truths, and lessons, and they beg a wide range of questions. Is bicycling dangerous? Is it more dangerous than other modes of travel? Is bicycling getting safer? Who is getting killed in bicycle crashes, where, when, and why? The following section seeks to answer some of these questions and provide a better perspective and context for the facts.
Is bicycling more dangerous than other modes of travel?
Obviously with 698 deaths per year, there are risks associated with riding a bicycle. Bicycle fatalities represent just fewer than two percent of all traffic fatalities, and yet bicycle trips account for less than one percent of all trips in the United States. However, bicycling remains a healthful, inherently safe activity for tens of millions of people every year.
As mentioned, bicyclists seem to be over-represented in the crash data as they account for almost two percent of fatalities but less than one percent of trips. However, there is no reliable source of exposure data to really answer this question: we don't know how many miles bicyclists travel each year, and we don't know how long it takes them to cover these miles (and thus how long they are exposed to motor vehicle traffic). Risk based on exposure varies by time of day (with night-time being more risky), experience of rider, location of riding, alcohol use, and many other factors. Until we have better exposure measures, we just don't know how bicyclist risk compares to other modes, but the health benefits of riding may offset some of this risk
.