Community Preventive Services Task Force Issues2014–2015 Annual Report to Congress
Authors: Jason Vargo, Benjamin Gerhardstein, Geoffrey Whitfield, Arthur Wendel, Thomas Frieden, Harold Jaffe, Joanne Cono, Chesley Richards, Michael Iademarco, Sonja Rasmussen, Charlotte Kent, Jacqueline Gindler, Acting Editor, Teresa Rutledge, Douglas Weatherwax, Teresa Hood, Jude Rutledge, Martha Boyd, Maureen Leahy, Julia Martinroe, Stephen Spriggs, Brian Wood, Quang Doan, Phyllis King, Teresa Moreland, Terraye Starr, Timothy Jones, Matthew Boulton, Ann Arbor, Virginia Mi, Jonathan Caine, Los Fielding, David Angeles, William Fleming, King Halperin, Rima Khabbaz, Patricia Quinlisk, Patrick Remington, William Roper, William Schaffner, Ali Hamade
Journal: MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (2015)

Physical activity, including bicycling, is linked with multiple health benefits (1).However, although bicycles account for only about 1% of trips across all modes of transportation, on a per trip basis, bicyclists die on U.S. roads at a rate double that of vehicle occupants (2).In 2009, an estimated 392 billion trips (across all modes) were taken in the United States, including 4.1 billion bicycle trips, and 33,808 deaths occurred on U.S roadways (across all modes), including 630 bicyclist deaths (3-5).This report examines mortality trends among cyclists using national collision data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) for the period 1975-2012.Annual rates for cyclist mortality decreased 44%, from 0.41 to 0.23 deaths per 100,000 during this period, with the steepest decline among children aged <15 years.In recent years, reductions in cyclist deaths have slowed.However, age-specific cyclist mortality rates for adults aged 35-74 years have increased since 1975.Multifaceted approaches to bicyclist safety have been shown to be effective in increasing bicycling while decreasing traffic injuries and fatalities (1).With U.S. adults choosing to walk and cycle more, implementation of these approaches might help counter recent increases in adult cyclist deaths.The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) maintains the FARS database.FARS catalogs an annual census of fatal traffic crashes from the years 1975-2012 collected through agreements between NHTSA and agencies in each state.To be included in FARS, an incident 1) must involve a motor vehicle traveling on a roadway open to the public, and 2) must have resulted in the death of a motorist or a nonmotorist within 30 days of the crash.This analysis uses FARS variables that were consistent during the period 1975-2012.Cyclist fatalities were identified using the "person type" descriptors "nonmotorist: pedalcyclist," "nonoccupant bicyclist," and "bicyclist" in the FARS "person" tables.Consistent data from the entire study period were available from 48 states (data were not available from Alaska and Hawaii) and the District of Columbia.The age and sex of the injured person as well as the state and county of the crash were collected from FARS.Annual county population, stratified by age and sex, was obtained from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program.*Age-adjusted mortality rates were calculated for each year using CDC's published weights for the 2000 U.S. standardized population.