QUESTION: How common are cycling crashes? I’m a runner and pretty fit. I am interested in triathlons and maybe even doing some group rides, but I’m worried about getting in a crash and breaking a collarbone or my wrist or something. Am I making too big of a deal out of it? —Al T.
RBR’S STAN PURDUM REPLIES: That’s a difficult question to answer in a definitive way. The most recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — from May 2022 — states that over 130,000 people are injured in bicycle crashes that occur on roads in the United States every year and nearly another 1,000 people die from bike crashes every year. But there are a couple more figures we need to put those numbers into perspective.
One of those is how many people cycle in the U.S. every year. According to Statista, in 2021, the number was around 51.4 million, “including all of those who took part in that sporting activity at least once in that year.” I have no idea how they arrive at that number — you need a Statista account to view the sources of information — but assuming it’s correct, that means about 0.254% of all riders crash in a given year, and fewer than 1% of those do who crash die.
The other figure we need is how many cyclists should be subtracted from the crash figures because their riding circumstances don’t match ours. This would include children, people riding under the influence of alcohol or drugs, people riding at night without lights and reflective clothing, occasional riders on unmaintained bikes and some other factors I haven’t thought of. (Recreational riders can also eliminate from the count riders who have crashed while racing, but since you’re considering triathlons, that exception may not apply to you.) I cannot find any figures to estimate how many riders fit into these various exceptions, but it must be quite a few.
Probably a better measure of how common bike crashes are comes from the fact that just about all of us who’ve been riding for a while have at least one personal story about coming out the loser in a tumble on the tarmac. I myself have had four falls that resulted in injury in over 100,000 miles of riding — though only one of those required surgery to fix (broken collarbone). Three of these were single bike accidents and one involved getting tangled with another bike. No motor vehicle was involved in any of them, though I have had a few close calls with inattentive drivers.
Naturally, it’s important to remain upright on your bike as much as possible and most serious non-racing cyclists do so most of the time. But we who live to ride and ride to live know it’s also important not to let fear of the occasional (and perhaps inevitable) crash keep us out of the saddle. Bicycling contributes much to what is good in life, and nothing good comes without at least minimal risk. But it still comes down to your own risk evaluation.
If you choose to ride, be smart about it, of course. Wear a helmet, obey traffic laws, think like a driver (and assume the drivers around you aren’t thinking about their driving) and ride at speeds suitable for the road conditions.
Stan Purdum has ridden several long-distance bike trips, including an across-America ride recounted in his book Roll Around Heaven All Day, and a trek on U.S. 62, from Niagara Falls, New York, to El Paso, Texas, the subject of his book Playing in Traffic. Stan, a freelance writer and editor, lives in Ohio. See more at www.StanPurdum.com.
There are three types of cyclists:
1. Those who have crashed in the past
2. Those who will crash in the future
3. Those who are crashing at this very moment
Crashes happen. Thankfully rare and most are more embarrassing than painful. The joy I get from riding most certainly outweighs the risk of a crash here and there.
Yup! That says it.
I had a couple of crashes because after bikes came back from the bike shop after maintenance, the rear wheel was not on solid enough. Insist when getting the bike back at the shop that they do a safety check of the bike in front of you. This was at a professional bike shop.
I need to make a correction to what you wrote “dw”
“This was ABSOLUTELY NOT a professional shop” – because a professional shop would have had QC checks to ensure repairs are done expertly and properly. You might want to look for a better shop.
Jim
Corollary: There are 2 kinds of cyclists, those who have broken collar bones and those who will.
Well I’m 85 years old, have crashed many, many times and have not yet broken my collarbone and do not expect to. That’s because I do not stick out my arm when I crash, but hold onto the bars as long as possible, then roll to land on my back.
If I ‘lose’ the front wheel I do the opposite, push back forcefully sitting up and letting go of the bars to avoid a face plant
I’m 70 and have been racing off and on for 50 years. I’ve had my fair share of slow and embarrassing “can’t get my foot out” crashes where I have time to land on my back. I’ve also had occasional cuts-and-bruises crashes in races where it was possible to minimize serious injuries.
I’ve had two serious crashes, both on velodromes, which happened so fast that I had no time to react. The first was a front tire puncture that put me on the deck in an instant – broken collar bone requiring surgery In the second I was hit from behind in a sprint – shattered wrist, 4 broken ribs, punctured lung, broken (other side) collar bone. (the least of the injuries) .
But I’m agreeing with you, if you have reaction time your advice is spot on. As for our concerned neo rider, I’d suggest getting confident on the bike in solo rides before trying group rides. In a group, never overlap your front wheel with others’ rear wheels (called half wheeling). I would avoid group riding on a tri bike. Stay alert and stay safe. .
League of American Bicyclist suggest that experienced riders crash about once every 4500 miles. Of course thats not helpful if you are riding 4500 miles a year.
had a fairly bad one tuesday
before that was 2006 i think for anything at all
Stan, can you get stats just on racers? Seems that’s what the questioner wants to know.
I can’t find any overall stats for bike racer crashes, but long time Tour de France rider Jens Voigt decided after the finish of the 2012 race to count how many riders had fallen in that year’s event, so he talked to someone from each of the 22 teams that competed. He found that only 47 of the 198 riders who started the race made it to the finish line without one or more crashes.
That’s so high! We might assume most crashes did not stop the racer from going on, and I would guess the majority of crashes for all riders result in either no harm or road rash or the like. Not pleasant, but for racers, not a stop sign to riding.
Many crashes while racing do not stop the rider from continuing — often on a spare bike supplied from the team car — but the crashes often negatively affect the performance of rider. For example, 0ne who was a pre=race favorite to win may end up falling far short of those expectations.. And some who continue eventually find the crash injuries too severe to keep competing, and later withdraw from the race
Having experienced minor crashes with bruising and skin scraping I’m amazed at those racers who actually do perform well after the ‘usual’ falls.