THE STATISTICS: CYCLING RISK IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

Cycling can be an exciting sport and a great way to get around town, but it is not without its risks. Cyclists are sometimes involved in car accidents caused by drivers who are behaving negligently or who are distracted behind the wheel.

How many cyclists were hit in British Columbia in 2013?

According to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia’s data, cyclists were involved in crashes with motor vehicles 1,500 times in 2013. Out of those incidents, there were injuries in all cases and fatalities in 13 cases. The year before, there were the same number of accidents but two fewer fatalities. There was no direct indication of why the number of fatalities rose, but it did not appear to be statistically significant on a year-to-year basis.

Where did these accidents take place?

The Lower Mainland had 1,000 crashes with seven total fatalities. Vancouver Island saw 280 crashes with four fatalities. The Southern Interior saw 130 crashes with two fatalities. In the North Central Region, there were 31 incidents with 31 injured cyclists and no fatalities.

What did the data require for a victim to be considered a fatal victim?

In this data, a fatal victim was identified as any person who died within 30 days of an injury caused by a crash. The counts also included incidents that involved parked vehicles or occurred in local parking lots. For example, a person in a parked vehicle who opens a door in front of a cyclist could cause an accident. That accident would have been reported on this data sheet.

This data shows that while bicycling accidents aren’t common, they do still happen to a few people each day. If you’re hit, you’re able to seek compensation from the driver responsible.

Source: ICBC, “Cyclists,” accessed Oct. 26, 2016