Bicycle Austin forum

MichaelBluejay

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From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

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Driver/pssgr. deaths dropped since 2008; cyclists/peds not so lucky

I made a chart showing the annual deaths by mode of travel in the U.S.:

No clue as to why driver/passenger deaths dropped sharply starting in 2008.  A cursory web search wasn't illuminating.  One old theory was that we're simply driving less for various reasons, but that can't be it since vehicle miles traveled has gone down only slightly, and we haven't seen a corresponding drop in the number of cyclist/pedestrian deaths, usually caused by cars.

Then again, maybe cyclist/ped deaths *would* have gone down along with driver/passenger deaths, except that texting while driving has become so popular in the last few years, taking its toll on peds/cyclists.  It might not be taking its toll on drivers/passengers since texting probably mostly happens on urban roads at slow speeds, where car occupants are unlikely to be killed if they crash.

Here's the whole page of safety stats, though it's pretty dated:  http://BicycleUniverse.info/transpo/almanac-safety.html