Distance travelled by Bikes in Different Countries
A statistics that won’t surprise many. The US and UK both have pitiful cycle rates compared to other European countries such as Holland, Denmark and Germany. A slight surprise Spain has such a low rate of cycling.
Death Rates by Country for Cycling
An almost inverse proportion. The US with the lowest rate of cycling has by far the worst cycling injury and fatality rate.
Distance Travelled and safety
After 1950, the Netherlands (like all industrialised countries had a sharp decline in cycle rates as people took to the car. The difference was that Netherlands made a concerted effort to encourage cycling – (even if it meant discouraging cars). Their efforts in increasing bike use have been well rewarded. As cycle rates picked up, the fatality rate of cyclists fell dramatically.
Cycling is so much more safer in Netherlands that it is hardly surprising there is little enthusaism for wearing a helmet. Ask an American about wearing a helmet and usually they find it hard to imagine riding without one.
Cycling Utopia – People enjoying getting around by bike
Amsterdam Cycling
Note: The statistics are taken from an authoritative report – Making Cycling Irresistable – Rutgers
I hope this doesn’t put people off cycling in the US and UK. Cycling is still relatively safe see:
10 comments ↓
Fascinating stats. The correlation with helmet use is particularly interesting.
I don’t wear a helmet and for a long time I felt that I probably should. But since reading things like the following, I realised the risk equation is more complicated than I had thought:
[from http://www.movingtargetzine.com/article/helmets “There is also some evidence that motorists drive closer to helmet-wearing cyclist, which is an unintended, and unfortunate, consequence of bicycle helmets. This is an example of risk compensation. Risk compensation occurs where safety measures are in place that make people feel that the risk of a collision is reduced, therefore it’s safe to go a bit faster, or closer, or pay less attention, thus subverting the extra level of safety.”
I would love to know why its so much higher in the Netherlands than anywhere else.
Mike, it’s quite simple. It’s much more pleasant to cycle in the Netherlands than anywhere else. There is never any stress or conflict if you cycle and routes are made direct for cyclists (more so than if you drive).
[...] Maybe that difference (*) can explain why there are more cycling injuries per 10 million km in US than in Netherlands, despite that the average distance cycled per person in Netherlands is 25 times longer than in US. Check out these two articles from Cycling UK, Cycling in Holland and Cycling Rates by Country. [...]
The Netherlands are as flat as a euro. That’s a major reason for the popularity of cycling. Also the infrastructure for bicycles is very good, as was said before, and the cities/towns are compact so everything is easy to reach by bike.
[...] It seems cycling safety varies alot from country to country. cycle rates by country [...]
[...] in numbers" also explains why the U.S. has such a high rate of cyclist injuries and fatalities compared to countries like the Netherlands and Denmar…, where biking is much more common. And it’s pretty much Exhibit A when it comes to proving the [...]
[...] in numbers" also explains why the U.S. has such a high rate of cyclist injuries and fatalities compared to countries like the Netherlands and Denmar…, where biking is much more common. And it’s pretty much Exhibit A when it comes to proving the [...]
[...] report certaintly backs up the global statistic (cycle rates by Country) showing a marked correlation between cycling rates and cycling fatalities. safety numbers – [...]
[...] The bad news is that these statistics were calculated from the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, the incidence of bike accidents to distance travelled is one of the lowest in the world. In the UK and US, the typical average mortality from traffic accidents is likely to be higher than the average of 5-9 days of the Netherlands. But, even so, even if mortality rates in UK are triple Netherlands, the benefits of cycling still far outweigh costs. See: Cycling Fatality Rates by Country [...]
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