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Fact Sheets : Bicycling by the Numbers
 How many bicycles
are sold each year? Why do people ride? What are the numbers on
bicycling crashes? Find answers to these and other questions by
clicking on the links below.
How many people ride bikes?
Other national transportation-related surveys
that include bicycling
Why do people ride?
How many bicycles are sold each year?
How many cyclists are killed and injured each
year?
Who is involved in bicycle crashes?
What is the economic cost of crashes involving
bicyclists?
How many bicycles are stolen each year?
How safe do people feel bicycling?
How much has been spent by the Federal Government
on improving conditions for bicycling?
How many people ride bikes?
The 2002 National Survey of Pedestrian and Bicyclist Attitudes
and Behaviors was sponsored by the US Department of Transportation’s
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Bureau
of Transportation Statistics in order to gauge pedestrian and
bicyclists trips, behaviors, and attitudes. http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/survey2002.htm
According to the survey, approximately 57 million people, 27.3%
of the population age 16 or older, rode a bicycle at least once
during the summer of 2002. The survey breaks this down by gender,
age, and race/ethnicity.
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Other national transportation-related surveys that include
bicycling:
United States Census, 1990 & 2000:
Percentage of journeys to work by bicycle in 1990: 0.41% (466,856
people)
http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/journey/usmode90.txt
Percentage
of journeys to work by bicycle in 2000: 0.38% (488,497 people)*
http://factfinder.census.gov
* Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability.
Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey,
1995:
Percentage of trips: 0.7% (approximately 3 billion miles, and
9 million daily bicycle trips)
http://www-cta.ornl.gov/npts/1995/Doc/trends_report.pdf
Note - Data for the 2001 National Household Survey is available
at http://www.bts.gov/nhts/index.html
National Sporting Goods Association,
2002:
Number of people aged seven and older who participated more than
once: 41.1 million.
http://www.nsga.org/public/pages/index.cfm?pageid=149
Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association,
2001:
People aged six and older who participated at least once in recreational
bicycling: 53.0 million
http://www.sgma.com/reports/data/2001/p27_samplepages2001.pdf
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Why do people ride?
The BTS survey found that in February 2003, of the 20.9 million
people riding bicycles the majority reported doing so for exercise/health
(41 percent) and recreation (37 percent). Only 5 percent reported
commuting to work by bicycle as the primary use of the bicycle
during the previous 30 days.
http://www.bts.gov/omnibus/household/2003/february/index.html
The 2002 National Survey of Pedestrian and Bicyclist Attitudes
and Behaviors also reported on the purpose of respondent’s
bicycle trips. The survey found that exercise and health for recreation
followed the largest percentage of trips.
| 2002
Purpose of Bicycle Trips: |
| Recreation |
26.0% |
| Exercise
or health reasons |
23.6% |
| To
go home |
14.2% |
| Personal
errands |
13.9% |
| To
visit a friend or relative |
10.1% |
| Commuting
to school/work |
5.0% |
| Bicycle
ride |
2.3% |
| Other
|
4.9%
|
|
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How many bicycles
are sold each year?
According
to the Bicycle Retailer and Industry News http://www.bicycleretailer.com/
the total US Bicycle Market rose from 15.2 million on 1997 to 16.6
million in 2001. The worsening economy hit the bike market hard
in 2001, decreasing from its height in the last five years of 20.6
million in 2000 to 16.6 million in 2001.
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of page
How many cyclists are killed and injured each year?
In 2001, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/ncsa/tsf2001/2001pedal.pdf
reported that 728 bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles
and 45,000 were injured. These numbers represent 2 percent of the
total number of people killed and injured in traffic crashes. In
2000, the number of fatalities dipped below the 800 mark for the
first time in the past decade:
| Year |
Fatalities |
Injuries |
| 2001 |
728 |
45,000 |
| 2000 |
690 |
51,000 |
| 1999 |
750 |
51,000 |
| 1998 |
760 |
53,000 |
| 1997 |
814 |
58,000 |
| 1996 |
765 |
59,000 |
| 1995 |
833 |
61,000 |
| 1994 |
802 |
|
| 1993 |
816 |
|
| 1992 |
723 |
|
| 1991 |
843 |
|
| 1990 |
859 |
|
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However, a
significant number of bicycle crashes requiring emergency room
treatment are not included in these reported fatalities and injuries.
Studies indicate that as few as ten percent of injury crashes
are reported to the police as they do not involve a motor vehicle,
and/or do not happen on the roadway. Indeed, a recent Federal
Highway Administration study found that 70 percent of bicycle
injury events in emergency rooms did not involve a motor vehicle
and 31 percent of bicyclists were injured in non-roadway locations.
The number of bicyclists visiting hospital emergency rooms is
estimated to be in excess of 500,000 per year.
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Who is involved in bicycle crashes?
In 2001, the average age of cyclists killed in crashes with motor
vehicles was 36.0 years, up from 28.1 years in 1990. Most of those
killed in 2001 were male (91 percent) and between the ages of
5 and 44 (65 percent).
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/ncsa/tsf2001/2001pedal.pdf
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What is the economic cost of crashes involving bicyclists?
The Federal Highway Administration estimates that the comprehensive
cost of each person killed in a traffic crash to be
$2,900,000 (2000 dollars). Multiplying this number by the 728
bicyclists killed in 2000 totals $2.1 billion.
(explanation of calculation)
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov//////legsregs/directives/techadvs/t75702.htm
A 1991 study,
The Costs of Highway Crashes by the Urban Institute and
Federal Highway Administration,
calculated the average nonfatal injury cost per person involved
in a motor vehicle crash. In 2000 dollars, the average nonfatal
injury cost per person involved in a motor vehicle crash is $61,375.
Multiplying this number by the 51,000 reported injury crashes
in 2000 totals $3.1 billion.
(explanation
of calculation)
(important
note)
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How many bicycles are stolen each year?
In 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported an estimated
7,076,000 "larceny/thefts" of which 4.1 percent, or
approximately 290,000, accounted for bicycle thefts. The average
value of a stolen bicycle was estimated at $318, giving a total
estimated loss due to bicycle thefts of approximately $92.3 million.
http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_01/01crime2.pdf.
The National Bike Registry estimates that the FBI only hears about
one-third of the bicycles stolen each year.
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How safe do people feel bicycling?
The Omnibus Survey completed for the Bureau of Transportation
Statistics in February 2003 http://www.bts.gov/omnibus/household/2003/february/index.html
asked all respondents how safe they felt using different modes
of transport. When asked how safe they felt:
| How satisfied are you with how your local community is designed for making bike riding safe? |
|
22.57 percent
were Very Satisfied
31.32 percent were Somewhat Satisfied
17.55 percent were Neither Satisfied, nor Dissatisfied
16.84 percent felt Somewhat Dissatisfied
11.73 percent felt Very Dissatisfied
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How much has been spent by the Federal Government on improving
conditions for bicycling?
In the years before passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency Act of 1991(ISTEA), Federal spending on bicycling and
walking facilities was approximately $4-6 million per annum. ISTEA
was reauthorized when the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st
Century (TEA-21) was enacted on June 9, 1998, which authorized Federal
surface transportation programs for highways, highway safety, and
transit for the 6-year period from 1998-2003. By FY 2002 spending
of Federal funds by States has grown to more $416 million. http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/tea21/index.htm
| Year |
Obligation
(in millions) |
| 2002 |
$416 |
| 2001 |
$339 |
| 2000 |
$296 |
| 1999 |
$204 |
| 1998 |
$217 |
| 1997 |
$238.7 |
| 1996 |
$197.2 |
| 1995 |
$178.6 |
| 1994 |
$112.6 |
| 1993 |
$33.6 |
| 1992 |
$22.9 |
| 1991 |
$17.9 |
| 1990 |
$6.6 |
| 1989 |
$5.4 |
| 1988 |
$4.9 |
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In September 2003 The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient
Transportation Equity Act of 2003 (SAFETEA) will go into effect.
SAFETEA’s goal is to make “substantial improvements
in the safety of the Nation's surface transportation” by more
than doubling “funding for highway safety improvements over
TEA-21 levels through a new core highway safety infrastructure program
in lieu of the existing Surface Transportation Program safety set-aside”.
(http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reauthorization/safetea.htm)
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