Fatalities Jump as More People Ride Bikes
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iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — More Americans in recent years are biking as a means of staying fit and reducing transportation costs. However, the downside to this phenomenon is that more bikers are also dying on U.S. roads.
The Governors Highway Safety Association reports that between 2010 and 2012, the number of bicyclists involved in fatal collisions with vehicles jumped 16 percent from 621 to 722.
The researchers wouldn’t say conclusively that an increase of people on bikes was directly related to a jump in deaths although the signs certainly point in that direction.
During the first year the association compiled figures in 1975, there were just over 1,000 deaths as the result of crashes involving cars. Back then, the overwhelming majority of people killed were under 20 years old. Today, most of those killed are over 20.
The study also showed that two out of three bicyclists killed in 2012 were not wearing helmets.
Another disturbing finding is that 25 percent of bikers over the age of 16 who died had been drinking alcohol with many at or over a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent, which is legally drunk.
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