2022 was the ‘worst year ever for bicyclist deaths,’ new data shows

The number of cyclists who died in traffic crashes reached the highest number in 2022 since the federal government started tracking those deaths half a century ago, with 1,105 people dying in that year while riding a bike.

That’s an increase from 976 cyclists who died in 2021.

The grim statistics come as part of a trove of data on 2022 road fatalities that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released earlier this week. Data on cyclists and their habits is notoriously hard to collect, and changing federal definitions make some year-to-year comparisons difficult. Part of the reason for the most recent jump appears to be a new way of classifying motorized bicycles.

But Ken McLeod, the policy director of the League of American Bicyclists, said 2022 was the “worst year ever for bicyclist deaths.” 

“It’s probably not because there’s more people biking,” given the little data on cycling that’s available, McLeod said in an interview. “So it’s an increase in people being hit and in those crashes resulting in deaths.” 

Overall traffic fatalities in 2022 decreased by 1.7% from the previous year. NHTSA also estimated that nationwide road deaths decreased by 3.6% in 2023, but those numbers are preliminary and do not include details on different kinds of road users. The federal government started collecting road fatality data in 1975.

Cyclist deaths have been climbing since 2010, which suggests that the increase is related to the changing mix of vehicles on the road during that time, McLeod said, as SUVs and pickup trucks become more common and vehicles in general are getting bigger.

“We have a basic problem of physics on our roadways. When you have a higher mass going at a higher speed, you don’t need to have as many crashes to cause more deaths,” he said, noting that reported cyclist injuries have not increased as rapidly as cyclist deaths.

The increase in cyclist deaths coincides with a similar rise in the number of pedestrians who have died, noted Jessica Cicchino, the vice president of research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

“Back in 2010 when bicycle fatalities were at their lowest, we saw 42% of new vehicles were SUVs or pickups. By 2022, that was up to almost three-quarters,” she said. The average horsepower on new vehicles has also increased dramatically during that time.

“The biggest increases are in vehicles like pickups, which are also the most deadly because of their size and shape. We also see that the higher horsepower vehicles are more likely to speed, and speed is a real issue for bicyclists, because they’re not protected by a vehicle, so the small differences in speed can make a big difference in whether they survive a crash,” Cicchino said.

Another factor that could be at play is the proliferation of smartphones and other electronic devices over the last decade and a half. But NHTSA data shows that distraction-related fatalities are going down as a percentage of cyclist fatalities. “I think a lot of people would find that hard to believe,” McLeod said.

The federal data is based on traffic reports filed by police officers at the scene of a crash, and they might not be able to determine whether distracted driving was an issue. Drivers can be reluctant to admit they did not have their eyes on the road, McLeod said. But that had been a problem before the increase in cyclist fatalities, too. “The reporting forms haven’t gotten worse,” he said.

The age of the cyclists who died has changed dramatically since the 1970s, when previous records for cyclist deaths were set. Back then, it was mostly children who died, but now it is adults.

Cicchino said changing biking patterns could be contributing to the increase of cyclist deaths. If people in sprawling suburban areas with few bike amenities are trying to get around, she said, “they might be trying to use a bike to get around on roads that have not been designed to give them a safe place to ride or a safe place to cross.”

Both experts stressed that the increased deaths of vulnerable road users pointed to the need for safer street designs. The federal government released new road design standards in December that activists hope will allow state and local governments to build safer intersections for pedestrians and cyclists.

Meanwhile, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, an industry advocacy and standards-setting group, plans to release its long-awaited update of its bicycle design guide in late summer or fall, although those dates can change slightly.

Redesigning roadways to include protected bike lanes not only offers a physical barrier between bikes and vehicles, but also encourages drivers to go slower. “We’ve seen big increases in speeding, especially since the pandemic,” Cicchino said. “If we add elements to the road that make it harder for people to speed, like speed safety cameras or lowering speed limits, all of those things can help even though [road design] isn’t what was causing the change [in cyclist fatalities].”

California saw the largest increase in the number of cyclists who died in 2022. The 177 people who died in the state that year was 43 more than in 2021. Florida had an increase of 25 cyclist deaths; New York had 17 more; and Georgia had 14 more.