Apparently, no. But actually, yes – for a surprising reason.

By David Darlington [link to story]

DO A QUICK WEB SEARCH or ask any group of cyclists if riding on the road is more dangerous than ever, and the prevailing opinion is an unequivocal yes-that under the pressure of a growing population, more congestion, denser development, bigger and faster cars, and an ever-increasing array of distracting gadgets, the risk of a car-bike crash is at an all-time high.

But according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Center for Statistics and Analysis, over the past decade the number of U.S. cycling fatalities has held relatively steady, hovering just above or below 700 per year. Compared with 1995, when 833 riders were killed, or the all-time highest year, 1975, when the number topped 1,000, the trend seems to be toward greater safety….

What becomes clear is that, as numbers of cyclists increase, the rate of fatalities decreases. This inverse relationship is borne out by a 2003 report entitled “Safety in Numbers” by Peter L. Jacobsen, a public-health consultant in Sacramento, California. Studying cities of varying sizes from California to Scandinavia to the United Kingdom to the Netherlands, Jacobsen found that collisions between motor vehicles and people walking or bicycling declined with increases in the numbers of pedestrians and cyclists, partly because motorists in foot- or bike-prone communities are themselves more likely to walk or bicycle occasionally, and thus give greater consideration to others who are doing it.
Jacobsen’s fundamental conclusion: “A motorist is less likely to collide with a person walking or bicycling if more people walk or bicycle.”