Cycling Deaths Among Children Have Plummeted
That doesn't mean roads are safer
A Ghost Bike, used to signify a fatality involving a bicycle, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
The rate of cycling deaths among American children under the age of 15 has fallen 92 percent since 1975. That doesn't mean the roads are safer—it may just mean kids are riding bikes less.
The Centers for Disease Control reported today that the total rate of cycling deaths in the U.S. declined 44 percent from 1975 to 2012, a decline driven entirely by fewer deaths of kids. For adults, who are increasingly commuting on two wheels, the rates actually rose over the same period.