Statistics from the abstract of a widely-quoted article which appeared in the
New England Journal of Medicine on May 25, 1989.

A Case-Control Study of the Effectiveness of Bicycle Safety Helmets

Bicycling accidents cause many serious injuries and, in the United States, about 1300 deaths per year, mainly from head injuries. Safety helmets are widely recommended for cyclists. but convincing evidence of their effectiveness is lacking. Over one year we conducted a case-control study in which the case patients were 235 persons with head injuries received while bicycling, who sought emergency care at one of five hospitals. One control group consisted of 433 persons who received emergency care at the same hospitals for bicycling injuries not involving the head. A second control group consisted of 558 members of a large heath maintenance organization who had had bicycling accidents during the previous year.

Seven percent of the case patients were wearing helmets at the time of their head injuries, as compared with 24 percent of the emergency room controls and 23 percent of the second control group. Of the 99 cyclists with serious brain injury only 4 percent wore helmets. In regression analyses to control for age, sex, income, education, cycling experience, and the severity of the accident, we found that riders with helmets had an 85 percent reduction in their risk of head injury (odds ratio, 0.15; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.07 to 0.29) and an 88 percent reduction in their risk of brain injury (odds ratio, 0.12; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.04 to 0.40).

We conclude that bicycle safety helmets are highly effective in preventing head injury. Helmets are particularly important for children, since they suffer the majority of serious head injuries from bicycling accidents. (N Engl J. Med 1969;320:1361-7)

Statistics from a study titled The Effect of Bicycle Helmet Legislation on Bicycling Fatalities by Darren Grant and Stephen M. Rutner.

Abstract:
"A number of states passed legislation in the 1990s requiring youths to wear helmets when riding bicycles. The effect of this legislation on bicycling fatalities is examined using data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System. A panel analysis is used to account for unobservable, time-invariant factors that may correlate with the incidence of laws across states. A control-group methodology is used to control for time-varying unobservable factors that may correlate with the implementation of laws within states. Timing issues are also explored. A helmet law reduces fatalities by about 15% in the long run, less in the short run. There is no evidence of spillover effects (to adults) or substitution effects (youths choosing other methods of transportation) associated with implementation of a helmet law. Through 2000 existing helmet laws have saved 130 lives. If all states had adopted helmet laws in 1975, more than 1,500 lives would have been saved."

Statistics from a publication of the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Bicycle Use and Hazard Patterns in the United States

Note: We recommend caution in using these figures, since a number of people in the bicycle community questioned the validity of the survey techniques used for this study. - BHSI

The exposure survey found that only 11.8 million (18 percent) of the entire population of about 67 million bicyclists wear helmets all or most of the time. Another 6 percent, representing about 4 million riders, reported that they wear helmets sometimes, but less than half of the time.

The proportion of children under age 15 who wear helmets all or most of the time was about 15 percent. HF reports (in part IV) that the low usage rate for children may be partly related to peer pressure. Some studies show that children are not inclined to wear helmets if their social group disapproves of helmet use. However, helmet use in all age groups appears to be increasing. Just over half of the current users (53 percent) began wearing helmets in the last two years.

And here is Michael Ravnitzky's article on how to get better statistics from CPSC.

Usage Data from Actual Observation of Cyclists in Alaska

Usage Data from Actual Observation of Cyclists in Seattle

Usage Data from Actual Observation of Cyclists in Duval County, Florida

2000 Duval County Helmet Usage Rate:

• Under 5 years old: 100%
• 5 to 10: 74.3%
• 11 to 13: 31.1%
• 14 to 17: 0%
• 18 to 30: 25.4%
• Over 30: 30.2%

2001 Duval County Helmet Usage Rate:

• Under 10 years old: 64.7%
• 11 to 13: 17.9%
• 14 to 29: 35.4%
• Over 30: 26.6%

Observed usage rates in two cities in Broward County:

• Ft. Lauderdale: 25%
• Hollywood: 15%

Duval County Bicycle Fatality Rates

Per 100,000 riders

1995: 0.97
1996:0.69
1997:0.67
1998:0.41

Usage Data from Actual Observation of Cyclists in Hawai'i

Helmet Use in Hawai'i

Source: Hawai'i Dept of Transportation

1997: 26 per cent
1998: 36
1999: 19
2000: 22
2001: 25
2002: 20

BHSI note: we do not know why the variations are so large from year to year.

Usage Rate Statistics from The National Survey of Children's Health

Economic Statistics from the Children's Safety Network

BICYCLE HELMETS SAVE MEDICAL COSTS FOR CHILDREN

A. Costs Saved

• Every $10 bike helmet generates $570 in benefits to society. (Although the retail cost of bicycle helmets typically range from $10 to $70, nonprofit organizations can buy them in bulk for as little as $7 and distribute them nearly at cost.)
• These savings include $50 in medical costs, $140 in future earnings and other tangible resources, and $380 in quality of life costs.
• For each child bicycle helmet law that is passed, it costs $11 per new user and generates $570 in benefits to society.
• If 85 percent of all child cyclists wore helmets in 1 year, the lifetime medical cost savings would total $197 to $256 million.
• It is very expensive to treat a child with a bike-related head injury. These medical costs may sometimes last the child's lifetime. For example, in 1991, bicycle crashes to children ages 4 to 15 caused 52,000 nonfatal head injuries and 93,000 nonfatal face scalp injuries. Lifetime medical payments for these injuries will approach $394 million.
• 2,200 of the children who sustain these head injuries will suffer permanent disabilities that will affect their ability to work. Universal bicycle helmet use by children aged 4 to 15 would prevent 1,200 to 1,700 of these permanently disabling injuries.
• Every bicycle helmet saves health insurers $57 and auto insurers $17.
• These cost savings estimates may be conservative, as they ignore other significant benefits. For example:
  • Parents will spend less time and money caring for injured children.
  • Lawyers will file fewer lawsuits seeking compensation for child cyclists' injuries.

B. LIVES SAVED AND INJURIES PREVENTED

• Universal bike helmet use by children aged 0 to 14 would prevent 212 to 294 deaths annually.
• Universal bike helmet use by children aged 0 to 14 would prevent 382,000 to 529,000 bicycle-related injuries annually.

C. BICYCLE HELMET USE

• Helmet use among children aged 14 and younger is approximately 15 percent nationwide.
• Parents report that 85 percent of children who own bicycle helmets wear them. The usage rate does not vary by income.

These numbers are from Childhood Injury Costs & Prevention Facts
Children's Safety Network Economics and Data Analysis Resource Center
(www.edarc.org) Phone: 301-755-2728 E-mail: sheppard@pire.org
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation
11720 Beltsville Drive, Suite 900, Calverton, MD 20705 Rev: 10/05

Statistics from Scott Osberg

I just got back from 3 weeks of counting bicycle helmets in Boston's Back Bay. I replicated my 1996-97 observations and preliminary analyses indicate helmet use is holding steady at around 31-35 percent. Considering the huge medical and public health communities in Boston and the affluence of Back Bay where I collected the data, one would certainly expect helmet use among riders there to exceed any national average.

Statistics from the US Department of Transportation
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Here is NHTSA's latest on bicycle deaths and injuries, published in early 2006.

Some highlights:

Pedal cyclist deaths 1994 to 2005

1994	802
1995	833
1996	765
1997	814
1998	760
1999	754
2000	693
2001	732
2002	665
2003	629
2004	727
2005    784

• Pedalcyclist fatalities occurred more frequently in urban areas (66%), at nonintersection locations (67%), between the hours of 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. (30%), and during the months of June, July, and August (36%).

• In 1994, the average age of pedalcyclists killed in traffic crashes was 28.9; in 2004 the average age of those killed was 38.7, and the average age of those injured was 28.6.

• Pedalcyclists under age 16 accounted for 21 percent of all pedalcyclists killed and 32 percent of those injured in traffic crashes in 2004. In comparison, pedalcyclists under age 16 accounted for 37 percent of all those killed in 1994.

• Pedalcyclists age 25 and older have made up an increasing proportion of all pedalcyclist deaths since 1994. The proportion of pedalcyclist fatalities age 25 to 64 was 1.4 times higher in 2004 than in 1994 (56% and 41%, respectively).

• Nearly one-fifth (19%) of the pedalcyclists killed in traffic crashes in 2004 were between the ages of 5 and 15. The pedalcyclist fatality rate for this age group in 2004 was 3.1 per million population - about 24 percent higher than the rate for all pedalcyclists (2.5 per million population). The injury rate for this age group was 286 per million population, compared with 140 per million population for pedalcyclists of all ages.

• Alcohol involvement - either for the driver or the pedalcyclist - was reported in more than one-third of the traffic crashes that resulted in pedalcyclist fatalities in 2004. In 28 percent of the crashes, either the driver or the cyclist was reported to have a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 grams per deciliter (g/dL) or higher. Lower alcohol levels (BAC .01 to .07 g/dL) were reported in an additional 6 percent. Nearly one-fourth (24%) of the pedalcyclists killed had a BAC of .01 g/dL or higher, and one-fifth (20%) had a BAC of .08 g/dL or higher.

• Most of the pedalcyclists killed or injured in 2004 were males (87% and 76%, respectively), and most were between the ages of 5 and 44 (58%and 78%, respectively).

• In 2004, the pedalcyclist fatality rate per capita was almost 7 times as high for males as for females, and the injury rate per capita was more than 3 times as high for males as for females.

Statistics from a publication of the Centers for Disease Control.

Injury Mortality

National Summary of Injury Mortality Data
1986-1992

Data Source:
National Center for Health Statistics, Vital Statistics

Produced by
Office of Statistics, Programming, and Graphics
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
4770 Buford Highway - K59
Atlanta, GA 30341
(Contact: Steve James 404-488-4656)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Public Health Service
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
February 1995

Introduction

The National Summary of Injury Mortality Data provides tabulations of the total numbers of deaths and the mortality rates per 100,000 population for major and other selected external causes of death from injury, by race, sex, and age groupings. There are two sets of tables. The first set presents national data on injury mortality for 1986 through 1992 and will allow the user to assess short-term trends in numbers of deaths and mortality rates. The second set of tables summarizes national and state data for 1992 on the eight major causes of Injury mortality. The state tables provide a means of comparing the relative magnitude of deaths from these major causes within and across states.

The numbers of deaths by external cause of injury (International Classification of Disease-9th Revision, E-Godes [1]) are from the annual mortality data tapes of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We used population data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census to calculate death rates for 1985 through 1990. Intercensal population estimates were used for 1985 through 1989 and decennial census population counts for 1990. For 1991 and 1992, we used Demo-Detail postcensal population estimates. (For information about the postcensal population estimates, contact Richard Irwin, Director, Demo-Detail, 2303 Apple Hill Road, Alexandria, VA 22308, Phone No. 703-780-9563.)

We computed age-adjusted rates by the direct method and standardized to the total U.S. population as enumerated in 1940. This method and the standard year of 1940 were used to be consistent with data reported by NCHS and with data being tracked for the year 2000 objectives of the U.S. Public Health Service (2). Our age-adjusted death rates may differ slightly from those of NCHS because we used 5-year age categories, as presented in our tables, for calculations and NCHS used 10-year age groups (3).

For the convenience of the user, we have provided mortality rates for each of the race-sex-age groupings In which one or more deaths occurred. (Note: They did, but we did not! See phone number below for more tables. - BHSI) However, because NCHS considers rates based on 20 or fewer deaths to be statistically unreliable, such rates should be regarded with caution. For further details on this and other statistical issues, please refer to the Advance Report of Final Mortality Statistics, 1992 (3). (To obtain a copy of this report, contact NCHS at 301-436-8500).

Pedal Cyclist Deaths and Rates per 100.000

For Years 1988-1992
All Races / Both sexes

AGE        1988       1989       1990        1991       1992
YRS      No. Rate   No. Rate   No. Rate   No. Rate   No. Rate

0-4     18  .10    17  .09    18  .10    14  .07    10  .05
5-9    157  .88   129  .72   104  .58   106  .58    99  .54
10-14  186 1.13   180 1.07   149  .87   161  .91   151  .83
15-19  136  .73   114  .63   124  .69    80  .47    68  .40
20-24   86  .44    68  .35    65  .34    79  .41    48  .25
25-29   69  .32    69  .32   100  .47    60  .29    50  .25
30-34   58  .27    68  .31    63  .29    71  .32    59  .26
35-39   52  .27    44  .23    67  .34    74  .36    58  .27
40-44   33  .20    38  .22    45  .26    39  .21    42  .22
45-49   29  .22    23  .17    37  .27    49  .35    41  .27
50-54   19  .17    19  .17    23  .20    33  .28    26  .22
55-59   19  .18    21  .20    19  .18    26  .25    32  .31
60-64   16  .15    17  .16    26  .24    25  .24    19  .18
65-69   19  .19    12  .12    27  .27    28  .28    23  .23
70-74   22  .28    17  .22    17  .21    22  .27    16  .19
75-79   16  .27    19  .32    16  .26    19  .30    13  .20
80-84    5  .14    12  .31     9  .23    11  .27    14  .34
85+      7  .24     3  .10     7  .23     3  .10     8  .25
UNK AGE  2          0          1          3          0

TOTAL* 949   .39  870  .35   917  .37   903  .36   777  .30
AgeAdj**     .42       .38        .39        .38        .32

All Races / Males

AGE       1988        1989        1990        1991       1992
YRS     No. Rate    No. Rate    No. Rate    No. Rate   No. Rate

 0-4     12  .13     12  .13     12  .13     11  .11     7  .07
 5-9    128 1.41    105 1.14     81  .88     81  .87    83  .88
10-14   157 1.86    151 1.75    131 1.50    133 1.47   131 1.41
15-19   124 1.31    104 1.12     11 1.23     71  .81    61  .70
20-24    75  .75     61  .62     58  .60     64  .66    43  .44
25-29    60  .55     56  .52     85  .79     52  .50    48  .47
30-34    47  .44     60  .56     56  .52     65  .59    55  .50
35-39    46  .49     37  .38     58  .59     66  .65    49  .47
40-44    28  .35     30  .36     37  .43     31  .33    38  .41
45-49    24  .38     21  .32     30  .45     45  .65    35  .46
50-54    15  .28     18  .33     20  .36     33  .58    23  .39
55-59    13  .25     15  .30     18  .36     25  .50    30  .60
60-64    15  .30     16  .32     22  .44     23  .46    18  .37
65-69    18  .41      9  .20     24  .53     23  .51    20  .45
70-74    22  .66     16  .48     13  .38     21  .59    14  .38
75-79    13  .57     17  .72     13  .54     15  .60    12  .47
80-84     5  .39     11  .83      8  .59     10  .71    12  .82
85+       7  .87      1  .12      6  .71      3  .34     8  .88
UNK AGE   2           0           1           3          0
T0TAL*  811  .68    740  .62    786  .65    775  .63   687  .55
AGEADJ**     .72         .65         .68         .65        .57

All Races / Females

AGE       1988        1989        1990        1991        1992
YRS     No. Rate    No. Rate    No. Rate    No. Rate    No. Rate

 0-4      6  .07      5  .06      6  .07      3  .03      3  .03
 5-9     29  .33     24  .27     23  .26     25  .28     16  .18
10-14    29  .36     29  .35     18  .22     28  .32     20  .23
15-19    12  .13     10  .11     11  .13      9  .11      7  .08
20-24    11  .11      7  .07      7  .07     15  .16      5  .05
25-29     9  .08     13  .12     15  .14      8  .08      2  .02
30-34    11  .10      8  .07      7  .06      6  .05      4  .04
35-39     6  .06      7  .07      9  .09      8  .08      9  .08
40-44     5  .06      8  .09      8  .09      8  .08      4  .04
45-49     5  .08      2  .03      7  .10      4  .06      6  .08
50-54     4  .07      1  .02      3  .05      0  .00      3  .05
55-59     6  .11      6  .11      1  .02      1  .02      2  .04
60-64     1  .02      1  .02      4  .07      2  .04      1  .02
65-69     1  .02      3  .05      3  .05      5  .09      3  .05
70-74     0  .00      1  .02      4  .09      1  .02      2  .04
75-79     3  .08      2  .05      3  .08      4  .11      1  .03
80-84     0  .00      1  .04      1  .04      1  .04      2  .07
85+       0  .00      2  .09      1  .05      0  .00      0  .00
UNK AGE   0           0           0           0           0
TOTAL*  138  .11    130  .10    131  .10    128  .10     90  .07
AGEADJ**     .13         .11         .11         .11         .08

*Total number and crude rate include unknown age.

**Age-adjusted rate excludes unknown age. Standard population is 1940 U.S. all races/both sexes.

Data Sources, National Center for Health Statistics Mortality Data Tapes for number of deaths; U.S. Bureau of Census population estimates; intercensal data are used for 1984-1989 and decennial census data are used for 1990. Demo-Detail postcensal population estimates are used for 1991-92.

Query the FARS Database

Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control

Bicycle Helmet Usage and Head Injury Prevention

Statistics from the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute

Mandatory Helmet Laws

Statistics from a journal article

Motorcycle Helmet Laws

Statistics from the Health Policy Tracking Service, National Conference of State Legislatures

Mandatory Helmet Laws

Expensive Statistics from American Sports Data

Comprehensive Study of Sports Injuries in the US

A translation of statistics from a publication of the French Consumer Safety Commission (Commission de la Securite des Consommateurs):

Helmets for Cyclists

• Bicycle accidents occur two times out of three to children under 15.
• They occur mostly to boys (71% of the injured; 80% if you include 15 to 25 year olds)
• Accidents are associated with sports or leisure activities, close to home for the youngest group. Use of the bicycle for transportation is also responsible for a large number of accidents, and of those a large number of victims are over 65.
• Falls represent 90 per cent of the causes of the accidents.
• The head is hit in 38 per cent of the accidents. This figure rises to 55 per cent for infants of 1 to 5 years and 48 per cent for those of 5 to 10 years.
• Contusions are the most important lesions in bicycle accidents (40 per cent of the cases). The rate of fractures is equally large among children of 10 to 15 years of age and those over 65.
• The rate of hospitalization is high (18 per cent of the accidents). This figure rises to 30 per cent of the people from 45 to 64 years old and 40 per cent of those over 65.

Statistics from a Johns Hopkins U. study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in February, 2001:

Bicyclists and Alcohol

• One drink increases a bicyclist's probability of serious injury or death by a factor of six.

• Four or five drinks increases the probability by a factor of 20.

• One third of bicycle fatalities have elevated blood alcohol levels.

Statistics promised by the National Bicycle Dealers Association:

A Look At Some Of The Bicycle Industry's Vital Statistics

Year   Million Bicycles Sold (* indicates projections)

          20 inch wheels     All wheel
            and above         sizes

2005        14.0*              19.8*
2004        13.0*              18.3*
2003        12.9*              18.5*
2002        13.6*              19.5*
2001        11.3*              16.7*
2000        11.9*              20.9*
1999        11.6*              17.5*
1998        11.1*              15.8*
1997        11.0*              15.2*
1996        10.9               15.4
1995        12.0               16.1
1994        12.5               16.7
1993        13.0               16.8
1992        11.6               15.3
1991        11.6
1990        10.8
1989        10.7
1988         9.9
1987        12.6
1986        12.3
1985        11.4
1984        10.1
1983         9.0
1982         6.8
1981         8.9
1980         9.0
1979        10.8
1978         9.4
...
1973        15.2 (record high year)

Bicycles and related products appeal primarily to a recreation market in the United States, though there is an influential and growing number of people using bicycles for transportation.

Bicycle usage is at an all-time high, with over 100 million U.S. bicycle owners, a figure which has grown substantially each year since 1983, according to the Bicycle Institute of America. Of that 100 million, 55 million were adults (age 16 and up), while 45 million were children. 31 million adults rode regularly, defined as at least once a week. There were about 4.9 million bicycle commuters, 250,000 bicycle racers, 25 million mountain bike/hybrid riders, 1.7 million bicycle tourers, and 3.8 million participants in recreational bicycle events.

Statistics from Bicycle Retailer and Industry News:

How Many Cyclists are there in the US?

Statistics from American Bicyclist:

Some Bike Shops Still Do Not Carry Helmets

Source: American Bicyclist research by Readex.

Statistics from the July 8, 1995, Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin

Madison Streets may be Safer

• 86 percent of bike accidents involved an automobile or truck. Only 11 percent involved a bike only and 3 percent a bike and pedestrian.
• The most common reason for an accident? Motorists failing to yield the right of way to a bike caused 42 percent of accidents. Another 39 percent occurred because cars were making a turn and didn't notice a bike.
• Car drivers were issued traffic citations in 18 percent of accidents. Bike riders were issued tickets in just 2 percent,
• Bikes running stop signs or traffic signals resulted in just 1.7 percent of injury accidents. (This is a favorite statistic of mine because motorists continually complain about bikes running through stop signs. Drivers should realize that it's easier for bikes to check traffic while they are rolling through a stop sign than come to a complete stop. This rolling stop practice actually helps keep traffic moving.)
• Weather may be a factor. The pavement was wet in 12 percent of bike crashes.
• Booze is sometimes a factor. Bicyclists were noted as drinking in 7 percent of car-bike crashes. Only 3 percent of drivers had been drinking.
• Helmets may be reducing the number of deaths. There has been only one bicycling fatality on Madison streets since 1989. That death came last year when a 31-year-old man crashed at the comer of Gilman and Butler streets. He was not wearing a helmet.

Statistics from Failure Analysis Associates

Injuries Associated with Example Items in 1989

      Product         Number of Injuries


   Motor Vehicles                          1,744,903
   Stairs, Steps, Ramps and Landings         854,500
   Bicycles and accessories                  514,700
   Beds                                      299,200
   Household Chemicals and Cleaning Products  65,900
   Doors (Not Glass)                          46,200
   Pens and Pencils                           29,900
   Money                                      28,700
   First Aid Equipment                        27,300
   Toothpicks                                  5,500
   Combs or Hairbrushes                        3,700


Note: Emergency room treated injuries projected 
from Consumer Product Safety Commission data...
(rest is obscured on their page).

And more estimates from the same source:

  Activity            # Fatalities per 1,000,000 
                          exposure hours
------------------------------------------------
  Skydiving                             128.71
  General Aviation                       15.58
  On-road Motorcycling                    8.80
  Scuba Diving                            1.98
  Living (all causes of death)            1.53
  Swimming                                1.07
  Snowmobiling                             .88
  Passenger cars                           .47
  Water skiing                             .28
  Bicycling                                .26
  Flying (scheduled domestic airlines)     .15
  Hunting                                  .08
  Cosmic Radiation from 
           transcontinental flights        .035
  Home Living (active)                     .027
  Traveling in a School Bus                .022
  Passenger Car Post-collision fire        .017
  Home Living, active & passive (sleeping) .014
  Residential Fire                         .003

Market Guesses

Statistics from various sources gathered
by the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute

How Many Helmets are Sold Each Year?

We have asked many manufacturers if they had a good estimate of how many helmets are sold in the US market each year. If they do have that info, they are not sharing it. So we are reduced to reporting rumor and speculation on this subject. The best guesses we have found are in the 12 to 15 million helmets per year range. The bulk of those would be mass merchant sales, rather than the helmets sold in bike shops. We noted a small price increase in advertised mass merchant sales prices in our area after 2000, ending in mid-2004 when Wal-Mart began marketing a helmet for $7.14, and others followed. (Here is a collage of recent Sunday newspaper ads from our area.) In the May 1, 2002 issue of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, reporter Matt Wiebe says that helmet sales in the US for 2001 totaled $150 million. He does not attribute that estimate, but in the next paragraph he does quote Bell Sports' President Bill Fry.

One manufacturer who was willing to give us an estimate put the total world market for bicycle helmets at 25 to 30 million helmets per year. We have no idea whether or not that is correct.

Bell Sports informed us that they manufactured more than four million bicycle helmets per year in the US in 2002-03 although they have some models made in Asia. They did not give us total sales.

If you need very old market estimates for comparisons, back in 1990, Bell Helmets was good enough to share with us their market estimates for total industry sales of bicycle helmets for 1989-1990. We were grateful to have these numbers from Bell, since they were not available to us elsewhere, and still are not. Bell cautioned at the time that the usage rates, which they referred to in marketingspeak as Usage Penetration rates, were approximate.

Below are some rare stats that a manufacturer actually published, but they date back to the mid-1990's and the manufacturer is no longer in business.

Old Statistics from the Headstrong Group:

How Many Helmets are Sold Each Year?

From Headstrong Group (no longer in business--this is old stuff!)

Market Share of Some Major Manufacturers:

Manufacturer        1993       1994      Percent     1995 est.

Bell Sports         3,000     4,000        40%       4,500

Cycle Products      1,500     2,000        20        2,000

Headstrong                    1,700        17        3,300

Troxel              1,500     1,000        10        1,000

Other               1,000     1,300        13        2,200
                    -----     -----       -----      -----

     Total          7,000    10,000       100       13,000

Statistics from the National Bicycle Dealer Association:

How do dealers regard helmet brands?

The NBDA has posted the results of a dealer survey rating helmet brands by consumer demand, availability, profitability, marketing support, etc. You can find it here on the NBDA site. The Consumer Demand rankings were Giro, Bell, Pro-tec, Specialized, Trek, Louis Garneau and Vigor. The dealers ranked the product lines in order Giro, Specialized, Bell, Louis Garneau, Vigor, Trek.

Statistics from the Bicycle Market Research Institute:

How Many Active American Cyclists are There?

(As reported in Bicycle Retailer and Industry News on April 15, 1995)

• There are 58.7 million Americans who are active cyclists.
• Thirty percent of them live in California, New York and Illinois.
• California accounts for 14.5 percent of the nation's riders and 18 percent of all its mountain bike riders.

These numbers are much lower than others often cited, including those from the Bicycle Federation and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. We do not have the definition of "active cyclist" to confirm how the total was reached. This data is contained in a study titled BIKETRAC Bicycling Participation and Usage Study. For more information on purchasing this study you can contact BMRI at (617) 277-5660.

Statistics from American Sports Data

No Data Available!

Statistics from the National Sporting Goods Association:

How Many Active American Cyclists are There?

(As reported in Bicycle Retailer and Industry News on September 1, 1995)

• Some 49.8 million Americans rode their bicycles in 1994.
• That's an increase from 47.9 million in 1993
• But it falls well short of the peak figure for 1989, which was 56.9 million.
• Cycling placed third behind exercise walking and swimming.
• As a percentage of state population, cycling is the number one sport in Colorado, Iowa and Oregon. In California, cycling placed behind backpacking, camping, hiking and table tennis.

This study defines a bicyclist as someone over the age of 6 who has ridden at least six times during the year. The same participation was applied to walkers and swimmers. Campers, hikers and table tennis players required only one time.

The NSGA will sell you a copy of the full survey for $275. You can call them at (708) 439-4000.

Stats from Bell Sports' Bell Mile Marker, December 2005:

Other Pages to Check

Death and injury stats are available at DOT/NHTSA. This is the compilation through 2004, published in early 2006..

You will want to check out the stats on the Safe Kids home page.

And don't miss the exposure data and other info on the Harborview Injury Prevention Center bicycle page

For broader scope, check out the DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics page.

Here are some hospital stats from Australia, put up by the Health Department of Western Australia. They include stats on car/bike vs. bike-only crashes, and they have a very informative chart on hospitalizations by nature of injury. And here is another report titled "Bicycle Injury Hospitalisations and Deaths in Western Australia - 1981-1995" with more numbers on how the proportion of head injuries declined.

Here is lots of info on Adult Bicyclists in the U.S.: Characteristics and Riding Experience in 1996.

This page was last revised on: August 20, 2008.

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