Florida Tops the Record of Deadliest Locations to Experience a Bike

Should you’re getting on a bicycle anytime quickly within the nice state of Florida, it’s possible you’ll need to say goodbye to your loved ones first. Biking is harmful regardless of the place you hit the street, however in response to a brand new evaluation of federal freeway knowledge, Florida takes 7 of the ten prime spots for biking deaths, as reported by the Guardian.

The harm regulation agency Bader Scott used Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration knowledge to tally the variety of street accidents that killed cyclists between 2017 and 2021, narrowing the search to America’s 200 most populated counties. Florida had an unusually grim exhibiting.

The worst was Pasco County, simply exterior of Tampa, Florida. Solely 562,000 individuals dwell in Pasco, however the county reported a whopping 40 biking deaths throughout the interval within the knowledge set. Checked out one other method, for each 100,000 residents, about 7.12 of them died on a bicycle.

The one different states that made the record had been Louisiana and California. Right here’s the Corridor of Disgrace in its entirety:

1. Pasco County, Florida: 40 biking deaths; 7.12 deaths per 100,000
2. Sarasota County, Florida: 24 deaths; 5.53
3. Manatee County, Florida: 21 deaths; 5.24
4. East Baton Rouge County, Louisiana: 23 deaths; 5.04
5. Pinellas County, Florida: 48 deaths; 5
6. Orleans County, Louisiana: 19 deaths; 4.95
7. Volusia County, Florida: 27 deaths; 4.88
8. San Joaquin County, California: 37 deaths; 4.75
9. Marion County, Florida: 17 deaths; 4.52
10. Hillsborough, Florida: 66 deaths; 4.52

Should you’re noticing a sample, that’s as a result of street accidents are a systemic situation. The narrative round crashes often facilities on people making dangerous choices, however street design works like a machine that pipes drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians via it. Altering infrastructure is an costly and labor-heavy course of, however placing within the work to prioritize security saves lives.

Sadly, cyclists share an unusually excessive share of the fatality burden. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention stories that biking makes up simply 1% of all journeys within the US, however 2% of people that die in street accidents are on a motorbike. Each week, about 17 cyclists die on American roads. Yearly, US biking deaths add as much as about 1,000, and an extra 130,000 cyclists are injured.