Over the past several decades, the number of bicycling-related deaths of children has fallen significantly. But during that same time, more adults are dying from the same cause, according to new findings.
Since 1975, the annual rates of all bicyclists dying by getting struck by a car decreased by 44 percent, going from 0.41 to 0.23 deaths per 100,000 people, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The steepest decline was among children younger than 15 years old. From 1975 to 2012, the latest year studied, the mortality rate for children declined 92 percent to 0.25 children per 100,000 people.
Adults ages 35 to 74 were a different story, with bicycling deaths increasing threefold during the same period, the study found. The mortality rate increased from 0.11 in 1975 to 0.31 in 2012.
The agency also looked at the mortality rate for certain genders, with the rate for male cyclists about six times greater than the overall mortality rate for female cyclists.
Some U.S. cities have a higher bicycle use but lower mortality than the entire country, the study found. Vermont’s mortality rate declined the most of all states by about 82 percent from 1975 to 2012, and Maine came in second with 78 percent.
Wyoming had the lowest decline of about 6 percent.
Many factors likely contributed to the overall decline in bicycling deaths, such as traffic law enforcement, helmet use and number of cars on the road.
More needs to be done, however, to address the growing mortality rate of adult cyclists, the study said. Some areas have created physically separated bike lanes, speed bumps or lowered speed limits to address bike safety.
There are some caveats to the study, which looked at collision data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System from 1975 to 2012. The data only look at people who were struck by motorists while on a public road and so doesn’t take into account fatalities where a vehicle wasn’t involved or occurred off a public road, the CDC said.
