According to the US Department of Transportation’s National Roadway Safety Strategy released in 2022, “fatalities among pedestrians and bicyclists have been increasing faster than roadway fatalities overall in the past decade, which has a chilling effect on climate-friendly transportation options such as walking, biking, or taking public transportation.”
This page looks at bicyclist and pedestrian fatality data and breaks it down by rates per capita, per bicycle and pedestrian commuter, and other rates, including based on demographics and periodic data on the number of trips, distances, and minutes biked and walked. While no one statistic tells the whole story of bicyclist and pedestrian safety, this page provides a variety of statistics to give you greater context about bicyclist and pedestrian safety in the United States.
Data on this page:
- Number of Annual Bicyclist Fatalities
- Bicyclist Fatalities by Road Type
- Percent of All Traffic Fatalities that are Bicyclists
- Bicyclist Fatality Rates Per Capita and Per Bicycle Commuter
- Over- and Under-Representation of People Killed While Biking by Race
- Bicyclist Fatalities by Race
- Number of Annual Pedestrian Fatalities
- Traffic Fatalities Involving Pedestrians by Posted Speed Limit
- Percent of All Traffic Fatalities that are Pedestrians
- Pedestrian Fatality Rates Per Capita and Per Pedestrian Commuter
- Over- and Under-Representation of People Killed while Walking by Race
- Pedestrian Fatalities by Race
- Bicyclist & Pedestrian Deaths per Million Trips
- Bicyclist & Pedestrian Deaths per Billion Miles
- On-Road Bicyclist & Pedestrian Injuries
Number of Annual Bicyclist Fatalities
Footnote 29
Bicyclist Fatalities by Road Type
In 1975, bicyclist deaths were evenly distributed (50/50) between urban and rural land uses. Since that time, bicyclist deaths have become increasingly an urban problem, with 71% of bicyclist deaths occurring in urban areas in 2016. 32
Most bicyclist deaths occur on arterial roadways, with 61% of bicyclist deaths in 2016 occurring on principal or minor arterial roadways, despite this type of road making up only 10% of the national roadway system. 33
Bicyclist Fatalities as a Percent of All Road Fatalities
The proportion of all traffic fatalities that are bicyclists has increased in recent years. Bicyclists represent over 2% of traffic fatalities while only accounting for 1% of trips. 34
Bicyclist Fatality Rates Per Capita & Per Bicycle Commuter
Footnote 35
The rate of bicyclist fatalities per capita and per estimated bicycle commuters has increased since 2014 for both metrics.
Over- and Under-Representation of People Killed While Biking by Race
Bicyclist Fatalities By Race
After decades of declines, the number of pedestrian fatalities per year has increased since 2009. 38 A 2011 report by the AAA Foundation for Highway Safety found that the risk of death for pedestrians increased dramatically with speed – so that a pedestrian hit at 30 mph had a 25% risk of death, but a pedestrian hit at 40 mph had a 50% risk of death. 39 In 2016, ProPublica organized the data from that study into an interactive tool so that individuals can see how vehicle speeds affect pedestrian survival in crashes. 40
Number of Annual Pedestrian Fatalities
Between 2016 and 2020, more than 79% of pedestrian deaths occurred on roads with speed limits of 35 mph or greater. We cannot estimate if this is an over-representation because the U.S. DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics does not provide data on miles of road by posted speed limit.
Traffic Fatalities Involving a Pedestrian by Posted Speed Limit
Pedestrian Fatalities as a Percent of All Road Fatalities
As with bicyclists, the proportion of all traffic fatalities that are pedestrians has increased in recent years. Pedestrians make up 16% of traffic fatalities while only accounting for about 12% of trips. 42
Pedestrian Fatality Rates Per Capita & Per Pedestrian Commuter
The rate of pedestrian fatalities per capita and per 10,000 pedestrian commuters has increased since 2009 for both metrics. 43
Over- and Under-Representation of People Killed While Walking by Race
Data suggests that black people are over-represented among pedestrian fatalities, with black people accounting for slightly over 19% of pedestrian deaths while representing less than 14% of the US population.
Pedestrian Fatalities by Race
Bicyclist & Pedestrian Deaths per Million Trips
Historically, bicycling has appeared to be significantly more dangerous than walking on a per trip basis. This may reflect the short distance of many walking trips, with more than 80% of walking trips being 1 mile or less while less than 60% of bicycling trips are 1 mile or less. The 2022 National Household Travel Survey showed a significant decrease in walking during a period where pedestrian fatalities increased significantly, and this most recent data shows similar rates of death per trip for biking and walking.
Bicyclist & Pedestrian Deaths per Billion Miles
According to the National Household Travel Survey, the average (mean) bicycle trip length was 2.38 miles while the average (mean) walking trip length was .87 miles. 50
On-Road Bicyclist & Pedestrian Injuries
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Fatality Facts. Available at http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/pedestrians-and-bicyclists/fatalityfacts/bicycles (uses data from NHTSA FARS and includes fatalities categorized as “other and/or unknowns”).
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Fatality Facts. Available at http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/pedestrians-and-bicyclists/fatalityfacts/bicycles (uses data from NHTSA FARS and includes fatalities categorized as “other and/or unknowns”).
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Fatality Analysis Reporting System (query of 2016 data). Available at https://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov//QueryTool/QuerySection/SelectYear.aspx.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Fatality Analysis Reporting System (query of 2016 data). Available at https://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov//QueryTool/QuerySection/SelectYear.aspx.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics (2013). Table 1-1: Public Road Length, Miles by Functional System. Available at https://cms.bts.dot.gov/archive/ publications/state_transportation_statistics/state_transportation_statistics_2015/chapter-1/table1_1.
Compare to 1.1.1: Trends in Prevalence of Bicycling and Walking for All Trips.
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Fatality Facts. Available at http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/pedestrians-and-bicyclists/fatalityfacts/bicycles (uses data from NHTSA FARS and includes fatalities categorized as “other and/or unknowns”). U.S. Census Bureau (2016). American Community Survey Tables B01003 and B08006 1-year estimates. Available at https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml.
NHTSA FARS Database; (Query: Table Option 1; Person Fields “Hispanic Origin,” “Injury Severity,” “Person Type,” and “Race;” Injury Severity = “(4)Fatal Injury (K), Person Type = “(6)Bicyclist.”)
U.S. Census Bureau. United States Quick Facts. Available at https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/RHI225216
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Fatality Facts. Available at https://iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/pedestri- ans-and-bicyclists/fatalityfacts/pedestrians.
Tefft, B.C. AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (2011). Impact Speed and a Pedestrian’s Risk of Severe Injury or Death. Available at http://aaafoundation.org/impact-speed-pedestrians-risk-severe-injury-death/.
Groeger L., ProPublica (2016). Unsafe at Many Speeds. Available at https://www.propublica.org/article/unsafe-at-many-speeds.
Groeger L., ProPublica (2016). Unsafe at Many Speeds. Available at https://www.propublica.org/article/unsafe-at-many-speeds.
Compare to 1.1.1: Trends in Prevalence of Bicycling and Walking for All Trips
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Fatality Facts. Available at http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/pedestrians-and-bicyclists/fatalityfacts/pedes- trians (uses data from NHTSA FARS and includes fatalities categorized as “other and/or unknowns”). U.S. Census Bureau (2016). American Community Survey Tables B01003 and B08006 1-year estimates. Available at https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml.
NHTSA. FARS Database (Query: Table Option 1; Person Fields “Hispanic Origin,” “Injury Severity,” “Person Type,” and “Race;” Injury Severity = “(4)Fatal Injury (K), Person Type = “(5)Pedestrian.”).
U.S. Census Bureau. United States Quick Facts. Available at https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/RHI225216
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Fatality Facts. Available at http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/pedestrians-and-bicyclists/fatalityfacts/pe- destrians (uses data from NHTSA FARS and includes fatalities categorized as “other and/or unknowns”. “2017” data reflects a 5-year average of available fatality data from 2012-2016 and “2009” data reflects a 5-year average of available fatality data from 2005-2009). Ralph Buehler (2017). Analysis of 2009 and 2017 National Household Travel Survey data for the League of American Bicyclists.
U.S. DOT Federal Highway Administration. 2017 National Household Travel Survey (Person Trips with Trip distance in miles, derived from route geometry returned by Google Maps API, or from reported loop-trip distance and mode, derived). Available at https://nhts.ornl.gov/.
U.S. DOT Federal Highway Administration. 2017 National Household Travel Survey (Person Trips with Trip distance in miles, derived from route geometry returned by Google Maps API, or from reported loop-trip distance and mode, derived). Available at https://nhts.ornl.gov/.
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Fatality Facts. Available at http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/pedestrians-and-bicyclists/fatalityfacts/pe- destrians (uses data from NHTSA FARS and includes fatalities categorized as “other and/or unknowns”. “2017” data reflects a 5-year average of available fatality data from 2012-2016 and “2009” data reflects a 5-year average of available fatality data from 2005-2009). Ralph Buehler (2017). Analysis of 2009 and 2017 National Household Travel Survey data for the League of American Bicyclists.
U.S. DOT Federal Highway Administration. 2017 National Household Travel Survey (Person Trips with Trip distance in miles, derived from route geometry returned by Google Maps API, or from reported loop-trip distance and mode, derived). Available at https://nhts.ornl.gov/.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting On-road non-fatal injuries (2006-2016). Available at https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Fatality Facts. Available at http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/pedestrians-and-bicyclists/fatalityfacts/pedestrians.
