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

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 81% of bicyclist deaths occurring in urban areas between 2018-2022.

Most bicyclist deaths occur on arterial roadways, with 65% of bicyclist deaths between 2018-2022 occurring on principal or minor arterial roadways, despite this type of road making up only 10% of the national roadway system.

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.

Bicyclist Fatality Rates Per Capita & Per Bicycle Commuter

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

Number of Annual Pedestrian Fatalities

Between 2018 and 2022, more than 80% 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.

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.

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.

Bicyclist & Pedestrian Deaths per Million Trips

Prior to the 2022 National Household Travel Survey, bicycling consistently appeared to be significantly more dangerous than walking on a per trip basis. This may have reflected 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. However, the 2022 National Household Travel Survey showed significant changes in the number of trips for all modes of transportation and based on that data walking is similarly dangerous to cycling on a per trip basis.

Bicyclist & Pedestrian Deaths per Billion Miles

According to the 2022 National Household Travel Survey, the average (mean) bicycle trip length was 2.46 miles while the average (mean) walking trip length was .93 miles.

On-Road Bicyclist & Pedestrian Injuries