Bike Stats

Here are some great bicycle statistics provided by the website Bikes Belong. You access these statistics and plenty more at http://www.bikesbelong.org/resources/stats-and-research/statistics/.

General Bicycle Statistics:

More than 200,000 people bike every day in New York City. Cycling has increased 26% between 2008 and 2009.
About one-third of U.S. bicycle fatalities in 2009 occurred in an intersection.
Girls who walk or bike to school perform better on tests. Longer commutes were associated with higher test scores, regardless of how much exercise students got outside of school.
Why do people commute by bicycle? According to a survey of 2,400 cyclists:
- 95% ride for health and fitness
- 82% do it for the environment
- 52% bike to avoid congestion
- 46% ride to save money on gasoline
- 34% want to avoid car-parking costs and availability
In the U.S., 35% of all bicycle trips are made by women and 65% are made by men.
High school students are less likely to bike or walk to school if they are girls, in grade 12, smoke daily, are low-moderate in physical activity, or attend a rural school.
Europeans bicycle an average of 188 km per year; United States residents bike only 40 km a year.
Regular cycling or walking to school (10 trips/week) is associated with parents' travel mode to work.
A 2007 analysis of California schools showed that Safe Routes to School infrastructure improvements increased biking and walking by up to 200%.
Bicycling is the most popular outdoor activity for American youth. 29% of kids (14.7 million individuals) ages 6 to 17 bicycled in 2009, for a total of 1.04 billion bicycling outings (71 outings per bicyclist.)
More than 70 percent of all U.S. children age five to 14 ride a bicycle.
On average, boys cycle nearly 6 times as much as girls (138 miles/year versus 24 miles/year.)

Environmental Statistics:

If all Americans between 10 and 64 were to bicycle instead of driving for 60 minutes a day, the resulting reduction in CO2 emissions would be 11% of 1990 net US emissions.
Increasing the mode share of all trips made by bicycling and walking from 12% to 15% could lead to fuel savings of 3.8 billion gallons a year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 33 million tons per year. This is equivalent to replacing 19 million conventional cars with hybrids.
If 20% of short car trips were replaced by bicycle trips in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin, it would prevent 57,405 tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted, a value of $1.2 million.
If 20% of Madison, Wisconsin commuters biked to work, it would save 16,687 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, a value of $366,577. If 20% of Milwaukee commuters biked to work, it would save 40,718 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, a value of $821,282.
A reduction in carbon dioxide emissions through an increase in biking and walking for transportation has greater health benefits for a population than from the increased use of lower-emission motor vehicles. An increase in active transportation is estimated to reduce 500 fatalities per million inhabitants in cities such as Delhi and London.
If all Americans between 10 and 64 were to bicycle instead of drive for 60 minutes a day, the resulting reduction in CO2 emissions would be 11% of 1990 net US emissions.
Half of U.S. schoolchildren are dropped off at school in the family car. If 20% of those living within two miles of school were to bike or walk instead, it would save 4.3 million miles of driving per day. Over a year, that saved driving would prevent 356,000 tons of CO2 and 21,500 tons of other pollutants from being emitted.
If the number of kids who walk and bike to school returned to 1969 levels, it would save 3.2 billion vehicle miles, 1.5 million tons of CO2 and 89,000 tons of other pollutants annually. This is the equivalent of keeping more than 250,000 cars off the road for a year.

Health Statistics for Adults and Children:

By 2017, Portland, Oregon residents will have saved $64 million in health care costs thanks to bicycling. By 2040, the city will have invested $138-605 million in bicycling yet saved $388-594 million in health care costs and $143-218 million in fuel costs, a benefit-cost ratio of up to 4 to 1.
The benefits of increased physical activity from shifting driving to bicycling (3 to 14 months gained) outweigh the effects of increased inhaled air pollution (0.8 to 40 days lost) and increased traffic accidents (5 to 9 days lost).
82% of bicycle commuters believe their health has improved since they started bicycle commuting.
According to the federal government, biking for transportation can count toward the minimum 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity recommended for physical health. It is also listed as the safest way to get physical activity.
A 30+ minute round trip bicycle commute is associated with better mental health in men.
Women who walk or bike 30 minutes a day have a lower risk of breast cancer.
A study of nearly 2,400 adults found that those who biked to work were fitter, leaner, less likely to be obese, and had better triglyceride levels, blood pressure, and insulin levels than those who didn't active commute to work.
Aerobic exercise [like bicycling] can have an antidepressant effect.
An adult cyclist typically has a level of fitness equivalent to someone 10 years younger and a life expectancy two years above the average.
The risk of fatality while cycling is just once every 32 million kilometers (20 million miles), or over 800 times around the world.
Cyclists on average live two years longer than non-cyclists and take 15% fewer days off work through illness.
The health benefits of cycling outweigh the safety risks by a factor of 20 to one.
After bicycle lanes were installed post-Katrina on a New Orleans, Louisiana street, there was a 57% increase in the number of cyclists. The number of female cyclists increased 133%, and the percentage of cyclists riding in the correct direction increased from 73% to 82%.
In a study of nearly 75,000 women, those who cycled for transportation were 35% less likely to die during the follow-up period.
A study of over 2,000 workers concluded that physically active commuting to work is effective at improving physical fitness and raising HDL (good) cholesterol, and also that it can be successfully promoted by low cost measures.
Bicycle commuting burns an average of 540 calories per hour.
Fourth grade boys who bike or walk to school have lower BMIs and body fat than non-active commuters. Kids who actively commute to school are also more likely to remain at a healthy weight.
Youth who commute to school by motorized transport gain an average of 2-3 pounds per year more than those who actively commute to school.
Overweight adolescents who participate in bicycling 3 to 4 days per week are 85% more likely to become normal-weight adults.
In the New York City school system, elementary and middle school students who placed in the top third of a fitness scale had better math and reading scores than students in the bottom third of the fitness scale. Those who were in the top 5% for fitness scored an average of 36 percentage points higher on state reading and math exams than did the least-fit 5%.
Kids who ride a school bus inhale up to a million times more vehicle emissions than the average person outside the bus.