HOW MANY BICYCLISTS WERE HURT OR KILLED IN CANADA IN 2013?

The most recent information about bicyclist deaths and injuries in relationship to traffic accidents was released by Transport Canada regarding the year 2013. In general, there were several good statistics showing a reduction in overall traffic accidents in the country. For instance, the number of fatal motor vehicle accidents was only 1,923, which had dropped 7.2 per cent from the prior year.

As a cyclist, you may think that’s good news. It may seem significant, too, if you are considering working with a lawyer on a current cycling accident you’ve had, because it shows that the roads are getting safer overall. That’s not necessarily good news for cyclists, though, as the lower rates of injuries and fatalities don’t seem to have affected them directly. A chart showing the years 2009 through 2013 states that the number of cyclists fatally wounded in an accident in 2009 was 45, just 2.0 per cent of all fatalities. However, in 2013, that number had risen to 62 and 3.2 per cent, higher than in 2012 and all prior years on the study.

Bicyclists also made up 4.6 per cent of all serious injuries on the roads. The next lowest group for injuries was motorcyclists, who made up 11.6 per cent of injuries in 2013.

Where do these accidents take place? The chart shows that the number of collisions in urban areas far exceeded those in rural areas, although it was shown that rural areas tended to have more fatalities. For example, fatal injuries only totalled 742 in urban areas, while collisions in rural areas result in 973 fatalities. When it’s considered that more accidents take place in urban areas, you can see that it’s far more likely to be in a fatal accident in a rural area.