TravelSTATS (STAtisics on Travel Safety) is a brand new online application that anyone can use to query information about multiple dimensions (age, sex, time of day, geographic location, mode of transportation, etc.) of travel safety risk not just fatalities. Bicyclist and pedestrian risk is integrated into TravelSTATS.
The comparison of “Pedestrian” and “Bicyclist” illustrates the importance of looking at several exposure measures, especially when comparing across travel modes. On a per-minute basis, bicycling and walking have the same fatality risk. For any given trip, however, bicycling entails a substantially higher risk than walking (21 deaths per 100 million trips compared to 13.6). On the other hand, bicyclists cover more ground, and therefore on a per-mile basis, walking is riskier. Regardless of the exposure measure chosen, bicycling and walking are both more dangerous than being a vehicle occupant. Because of our use of the FARS data, these walking and biking fatality risks only account for risks of getting killed in a traffic incident.
These numbers show that city, state, and federal government need to devote far more resources to making traveling by foot and by bike safer. It is negligent to look at this data and not take any steps to mitigate the risk associated with walking and bicycling.
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