Nevada Bicycle Accident Attorney - Las Vegas Bicycle Accident Lawyer

This information relates to the safety of Bicycles. If you came directly to this page from a search engine, may want to read the Nevada Personal Injury Law Introduction on our home page. Also, you can get an overview of the different types of accidents such as Wrongful Death, Auto Accidents, Premises Liability, and Products Liability before you explore Bicycle Safety Facts.

The following gives safety facts on Bicycle Accidents for 2002:

The first automobile crash in the United States occurred in New York City in 1896, when a motor vehicle collided with a pedalcycle rider (Famous First Facts, by Joseph Kane).

More than 47,000 pedalcyclists have died in traffic crashes in the United States since 1932 — the first year in which estimates of pedalcyclist fatalities were recorded. The 350 pedalcyclists killed in 1932 accounted for 1.3 percent of the 27,979 persons who died in traffic crashes that year.

In 2002, 662 pedalcyclists were killed and an additional 48,000 were injured in traffic crashes. Pedalcyclist deaths accounted for 2 percent of all traffic fatalities, and pedalcyclists made up 2 percent of all the people injured in traffic crashes during the year.

The number of pedalcyclist fatalities in 2002 was 8 percent lower than the 723 fatalities reported in 1992. The highest number of pedalcyclist fatalities ever recorded in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) was 1,003 in 1975.

Pedalcyclists accounted for 12 percent of all nonmotorist traffic fatalities in 2002. Pedestrians accounted for 86 percent, and the remaining 2 percent were skateboard riders, roller skaters, etc.

Pedalcyclist fatalities occurred more frequently in urban areas (68 percent), at nonintersection locations (68 percent), between the hours of 5:00 PM and 9:00 PM (33 percent), and during the months of July, August, and September (35 percent).

In 1992, the average age of pedalcyclists killed in traffic crashes was 27.5 years; in 2002 the average age of those killed was 35.7 years, and the average age of those injured was 26.7 years.

Pedalcyclists under age 16 accounted for 24 percent of all pedalcyclists killed and 39 percent of those injured in traffic crashes in 2002. In comparison, pedalcyclists under age 16 accounted for 42 percent of all those killed in 1992.

Pedalcyclists 25 years of age and older have made up an increasing proportion of all pedalcyclist deaths since 1992. The proportion of pedalcyclist fatalities age 25 to 64 was 1.4 times as high in 2002 as in 1992 (57 percent and 40 percent, respectively).

More than one-fifth (22 percent) of the pedalcyclists killed in traffic crashes in 2002 were between 5 and 15 years old. The pedalcyclist fatality rate for this age group in 2002 was 3.2 per million population — about 40 percent higher than the rate for all pedalcyclists (2.3 per million population). The injury rate for this age group was 411 per million population, compared with 166 per million population for pedalcyclists of all ages.

Alcohol involvement — either for the driver or the pedalcyclist — was reported in more than one-third of the traffic crashes that resulted in pedalcyclist fatalities in 2002. In 31 percent of the crashes, either the driver or the cyclist was intoxicated, with blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) of 0.08 grams per deciliter (g/dl) or greater. Lower alcohol levels (BAC 0.01 to 0.07 g/dl) were reported in an additional 6 percent. More than one-fourth (27 percent) of the pedalcyclists killed had a BAC of 0.01 g/dl or greater, and almost one-fourth (24 percent) were intoxicated.

Most of the pedalcyclists killed or injured in 2002 were males (90 percent and 75 percent, respectively), and most were between the ages of 5 and 44 years (64 percent and 82 percent, respectively).

In 2002, the pedalcyclist fatality rate per capita was more than 8 times as high for males as for females, and the injury rate per capita was more than 3 times as high for males as for females.

All facts excerpted from: Traffic Safety Facts 2002 - Pedalcyclists (DOT HS 809 613), National Center for Statistics and Analysis, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, online at http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/TSF2002/2002pcyfacts.pdf (visited on 12/17/03).

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If you want a free evaluation of a Las Vegas Bicycle Accident Claim, contact David Matheny, Esq. (of the law firm of Dempsey, Roberts & Smith, Ltd) for a free personal injury consultation. We are located in Las Vegas, Nevada and we provide legal services for Las Vegas BicycleAccident Claimants (and many other injury claims) throughout the State of Nevada.