Statistics from the Institute for Traffic Safety Analysis --Links temporarily down as site relocates--

Traffic Fatality Trends in the US, UK and Australia: A Comparative Analysis

Here is the ITSA analysis of FARS fatality data.

And here is the ITSA analysis reexamining the FARS helmet data.

Statistics from the UK Department of Transport

The Potential for Cycle Helmets to Prevent Injury:
A Review of the Evidence
TRL Report PPR 446 - Findings

• Cycle helmets would be expected to be effective in a range of accident conditions, particularly:
• the most common accidents that do not involve a collision with another vehicle, often simple falls or tumbles over the handlebars; and also
• when the mechanism of injury involves another vehicle glancing the cyclist or tipping them over causing their head to strike the ground.
• A specialist biomechanical assessment of over 100 police forensic cyclist fatality reports predicted that between 10 and 16% could have been prevented if they had worn an appropriate cycle helmet.
• Of the on-road serious cyclist casualties admitted to hospital in England (HES database):
• 10% suffered injuries of a type and to a part of the head that a cycle helmet may have mitigated or prevented; and a further
• 20% suffered ‘open wounds to the head’, some of which are likely to have been to a part of the head that a cycle helmet may have mitigated or prevented.
• Cycle helmets would be expected to be particularly effective for children, because:
• the European Standard (EN 1078) impact tests and requirements are the same for adult and child cycle helmets – both use a 1.5 m drop height test; and so
• given that younger children are shorter than older children and adults, their head height would be within the drop height used in impact tests, so a greater proportion of single-vehicle accidents are likely to be covered by the Standard for children.
• No evidence was found for an increased risk of rotational head injury with a helmet compared to without a helmet.
• In the literature reviewed, there is a difference between hospital-based studies, which tend to show a significant protective effect from cycle helmets, and population studies, which tend to show a lower, or no, effect. Some of the reasons behind this were due to:
• the lack of appropriateness of the control groups used; and
• limitations in the available data, such as knowledge of helmet use and type of head injury.

another UK report has this table:

UK - Reported deaths per billion passenger kilometres -2007 data

Rate per billion passenger kilometres

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.

Bicycle vs. Other Activities

Statistics from the US Consumer
Product Safety Commission

Source: National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, CPSC

n/a = Sample size too small to report estimate.

Includes injuries suffered participating in the activity and/or patients wearing the apparel and equipment associated with the activity.

Includes injuries to head, ears, mouth, eyes, and face.

*Includes cases where patient was admitted, was held for observation, was treated and transferred to another hospital, was dead on arrival, or died in the ER.

This chart also appeared in the March, 2006 press release on a CPSC Helmet Guide

Statistics from CPSC's NEISS data

Injury Estimates for the Top 25 Product Groupings
From the 2007 NEISS Data Highlights

To construct your own custom query for NEISS data, visit this CPSC page and be prepared to spend some time mastering the intricacies of the database!

Statistics from the Dr Pietro Tonino of Loyola U. School of Medicine

Based on data from CPSC

Dr. Tonino's study was reported in the Washington Post on June 19, 2006.

Statistics from the Snell Memorial Foundation

• Every year the estimated number of bicycling head injuries requiring hospitalization exceeds the total of all the head injury cases related to baseball, football, skateboards, kick scooters, horseback riding, snowboarding, ice hockey, in-line skating and lacrosse.
  
  
  
  

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  Expensive Statistics from American Sports Data

  Comprehensive Study of Sports Injuries in the US

  The teaser for this study (the link above) indicates that in the US in 2002 there were 51.7 million bicycle riders and they had 3.8 million injuries. Basketball led the list with 5.3 million injuries, followed by football with 4.0 million. For injuries per 1000 participants, they rank cycling fourth with 7.3, below basketball with 13.2, football with 32.3 and in-line skating with 11.4. Their numbers include both emergency room visits and less serious injuries, which they say are five times more numerous than those requiring emergency room care. They will sell you the full study for about $500 to $600. The teaser is an interesting read.

  
  
  Old Statistics from Failure Analysis Associates

  
  Injuries Associated with Example Items in 1989

  (Chart copyright 1995 by FaAA, data repeated here because we have not seen anything like it since and can't find it any more on the Web.)
  
  

  
  
        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:

  Estimate of Fatal Risk by Activity

  
  
  
    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
  
  
  

  Data compiled by Failure Analysis Associates, Inc. (see Design News, 10-4-93)

  For more recent stats please see Dom Nozzi's Listing of Comparative Risks.

  Helmet Usage

  
  
  
  

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  Statistics from the National Survey of Bicyclist and Pedestrian Attitudes and Behavior

  Released August, 2008, but based on a survey of 9,616 U.S. residents age 16 and older during the Summer of 2002.

  A Gallup poll sponsored by the US Government to find out bicyclist and pedestrian behavior and attitudes. It took four years to publish. If the link above does not work, please use this one and then click on the Survey link under Pedestrians and Bicycles. (NHTSA often moves things.) We consider the findings on riding suspect because they are based on interviews rather than observational studies:

  • Half (50%) of bicyclists wear a helmet for at least some trips, with 35 percent using them for all or most trips.

  • Nine of 10 support helmet laws for children, while 62 percent support such laws for adults. (Here is an excerpt from the study with details.)

  • 46% of those 16 and older have regular access to a bicycle, with access increasing with increases in household income.

  • 43 percent ride a bicycle at least once in the summer months, making an estimated 2.484 billion trips during the summer of 2002.

  • Bicycling declines with age, with those under 20 most likely to bicycle and doing so more frequently, while the majority over 45 did not bicycle during the summer months.

  • The majority of bicycling trips were for recreation or for exercise, while just one in 5 trips were made to conduct errands (14%) or for commuting to work or school (5%).

  • About half of all trips (48%) were made on paved roads. An additional 13 percent were on shoulders of paved roads, and 5 percent on bike lanes on roads. One in 7 was made on sidewalks (14%) or bike trails/paths (13%).

  • Only half (50%) of bicyclists say bike paths are available in the area they ride, while 32 percent say bike lanes are available. However, over half of those who do not use available bicycle paths or lanes say they don’t use them because they are not convenient, available, or go where they need to go.

  • More than one in 10 bicyclists (13%) felt threatened for their personal safety on the most recent day they rode their bicycle in the past 30 days in the summer of 2002, with 88 percent of these feeling threatened by motorists.

  • One in 5 bicyclists rode in the dark or near-dark for at least part of their trip, with 63 percent of these saying they took actions to make themselves more visible to motorists.

  • About 4 percent of bicyclists or 2.04 million, were injured while riding in the past two years. About .5 million of these were hit by a motorist.

  • Half (50%) of bicyclists wear a helmet for at least some trips, with 35 percent using them for all or most trips.

  • Nine of 10 support helmet laws for children, while 62 percent support such laws for adults.

  • Nearly half (48%) of those 16 and older are satisfied with how their local community is designed for making bicycle riding safer. About as many (47%) would like to see changes including more bike lanes (38%) and bike paths (30%).
  
  
  
  

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  Note: BHSI does not endorse the optimistic findings of this next study! In addition, the total number of riders killed cited in point two has not been accurate for a decade, and current deaths each year are closer to 600.

  Statistics from the Consumer Product Safety Commission

  • Bicycle helmet usage has increased from 18 percent in 1991 to 50 percent in 1998
  • Bike-related crashes kill 900 people every year and send about 567,000 to hospital emergency rooms with injuries
  • Wearing a bike helmet can reduce the risk of head injury.
  • Today there are an estimated 80.6 million riders, 43 percent of whom never wear helmets and 7 percent of whom wear helmets less than half the time
  • Of bikers who now report wearing a helmet, 98 percent said they wore a helmet for safety reasons, 70 percent said they wore a helmet because a parent or spouse insisted on it and 44 percent said they did so because a law required it.
  • 69 percent of children under 16 wear a helmet on a regular basis while riding a bike, according to parents.
  • 38 percent of adult bike riders regularly wear their helmets.
  Here is the Press Release on the study, and here is the whole text. There are other estimates further down this page that we consider more realistic for the nation as a whole. For example, the University of North Carolina has conducted reliable observational studies showing a statewide helmet usage rate of 17 per cent. On the other hand, usage observed in Seattle in 1998 was 60% for children, 37% for teens and 71% for adults. Helmet use in western Washington state is 56%, but just 33% for eastern Washington where helmet promotion campaigns have not been as intense. (Source: Diane Thompson, MS, Epidemiologist, Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center)

  
  
  

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  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.

  
  
  

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  Usage Data from Actual Observation of Cyclists in Portland

  Portland, Oregon, has been tracking bicycle traffic and helmet use since 1992, building a unique database. Here is their report through 2008. It has a chart of helmet use by year, and in the appendices are charts by year and gender. Their summary: "Helmet use is at an alltime high, and has risen steadily since the 1990’s. In 2008, 80% of recorded cyclists wore helmets, up from 63% in 1997 and 76% in 2007." The helmet counts track weekday transportation cyclists, not weekend recreational riders who would be likely to have lower helmet use. The numbers are impressively high, but most US communities should have higher helmet use rates for commuter and transportation cyclists.

  
  
  Usage Data from Actual Observation of Cyclists in Alaska

  "Our department initiated a project during the summer of 2000 to document the observed use of bike helmets in communities around Alaska. We needed to develop a statistical baseline of helmet use. The data is preliminary, but it looks to be a 35% use rate in larger places (Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau), about 17% in smaller cities, and almost non-existent in rural areas." Source: David Thomson, Health Program Manager, Community Health & EMS, Alaska Division of Public Health

  
  
  

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  Usage Data from Actual Observation of Cyclists in Seattle

  "Here in Seattle our OBSERVED helmet use in 1998 was 60% for children, 37% for teens and 71% for adults. We use a formal sampling scheme to select observation sites and then count helmet use among the bicyclists riding by. These observations have been done almost yearly since 1985. We also have had a very effective multifaceted helmet campaign plus legislation in the area surrounding Seattle. Helmet use in Washington state is 56% for western WA and 33% for eastern WA where campaigns have not been as intense. Helmet use does vary by area, but at least here the numbers are good and improving slowly." Source: Diane Thompson, MS, Epidemiologist, Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center, Seattle, WA. By email, April 23, 1999.

  
  
  

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

  The Duval County Health Department estimates that "for every bike injury prevention intervention dollar ($1) spent in Jacksonville, FL an estimated $23.46 is saved in medical costs, public programs, property damage, future earnings and quality of life by our residents.

  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
  
  Conclusion: 58% reduction since the Duval County bike safety program geared up.

  
  
  

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  Usage Data from Actual Observation of Cyclists in Hawai'i

  
  Helmet Use in Hawai'i

  Source: Hawai'i Dept of Transportation

  This study was based on observations at 136 sites on the islands of O'ahu, Maui, Kaua'i and the Big Island.

  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.
  
  

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

  Use this page to begin and search for "Helmets" either by State or by National level. Children 6 to 17 years old wearing helmets Always (38%) or Usually (15%) would total to 53% usually in helmets. The state breakdowns seem to track those numbers. In the subgroup breakdowns the high income group are reported as "Always" wearing helmets 48% of the time, with the lowest income group at 32%. Nationwide the 6 to 11 year old group are reported wearing helmets usually plus always as 63%.
  
  

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  Statistics from the State of Utah

  In 2004 the State of Utah published a ten year observational study of helmet use in Utah. It has pages of interesting statistics on helmet use by age groups as well as crashes.
  
  

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  Statistics from Consumer Reports

  
  A risk survey conducted in 2008 and published in 2009 by Consumer Reports concluded that 58 per cent of American cyclists never wear helmets. It also showed that 24 per cent sometimes do not fasten their seat belts. Here is the press release describing the article. The survey is available to subscribers on the CU Web site.
  
  
  

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  Usage data from a Consumer Reports poll

  This article on a Consumer Reports poll taken in March 2009 says that "82 percent said they felt it was "very" or "extremely" important to wear a helmet while cycling, but only 44 percent said they would actually wear one."
  
  
  

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  Usage data from a CDC poll of high school students

  The US Centers for Disease Control reports that its National Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System showed in 2009 that the percentage of high school students who rarely or never used a helmet while bicycling was 84.7 percent. The rate has improved since 1991, when it was 96.2 percent. We have a slide from their presentation.
  
  
  

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  Stats from a 2003 Swedish literature search

  Sweden has conducted an international literature search, summarized in this study published in 2003. (See page four for the English abstract.) They found that helmet laws can achieve level of usage not achieved by education alone, that helmet laws reduce head injuries, and that helmet laws can result in a reduction of cycling by young people. We have the abstract up on our site if you can't deal with the .pdf file.

  
  
  

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  Stats from a 2009 article on Korean helmet use

  this article in the Korea Times indicates that 3 percent of Korean children now wear helmets, and "In 2008, bicycle accidents accounted for 14 percent of traffic accident victims with 46 percent of them being under 20 years old." They go on to give some numbers for the US: "In the United States, the helmet-wearing rate was 3.8 percent in 1991, but education and guidance campaigns raised the rate to 14.9 percent in 2007." We do not know their source for that.

  
  
  

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  Stats from an Aussie study of helmet use and injuries

  Here is a study from Western Australia that shows that helmet use has reduced the incidence and severity of head injuries there. It is based on hospital data, and shows that the number of closed head injuries was cut in half with increased helmet use over time, though other injuries did not change significantly in number. The head injuries were less serious, and hospital stays were shorter.

  
  
  

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  San Francisco useage data

  From the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency:

  71 Percent of SF cyclists wear bike helmets.

  Reported July 25, 2011 in a blog of the San Francisco Examiner.
  
  
  

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  Boston 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.

  
  
  

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

  "From a survey Bell conducted last year, we know that nearly 60% of kids don’t wear helmets when they ride bikes." Note: last year would have been 2004.

  Cost of Injuries

  
  
  Economic Statistics from the Children's Safety Network

  
  
  BICYCLE HELMETS SAVE MEDICAL COSTS FOR CHILDREN

  Annually, 196 children younger than age 15 die from bicycle-related injuries. Approximately 8,900 additional children were hospitalized for bicycle-related injuries, and another 344,000 were treated and released in emergency departments. Bicycle helmets prevent 52 to 60 percent of bike-related head injury deaths (for all ages), as well as an estimated 68 to 85 percent of nonfatal head and scalp injuries, and 65 percent of upper and middle face injuries, even when misuse is considered. Thus, bicycle helmets significantly reduce the total medical costs for bike-related head injuries. (Note: BHSI usually quotes a later study showing that "helmets provide a 63 to 88% reduction in the risk of head, brain and severe brain injury for all ages of bicyclists.")
  

  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.
  Note: All costs are in 2004 dollars and were computed using the methodology outlined by Miller, Romano, and Spicer. Numbers may not correspond to totals due to rounding.

  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

  
  
  

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  Statistics from the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics

  
  
  Ohio Bike Helmet Safety Awareness Coalition Fact Sheet

  • In 2010, the number of people injured by NOT wearing a bike helmet was 51,000--enough people to fill Nationwide Arena in Columbus 2 1/2 times.
  • Currently in Ohio, estimates indicate that just 10-20% of children wear bike helmets, yet more than 70 percent of children ages 5 to 14 ride a bicycle regularly.
  • 75 percent of bike-related fatalities would be prevented with a helmet. Helmet use can reduce the risk of head injury and severe brain injury.
  • Apart from the automobile, bicycles are tied to more childhood injuries than any other consumer product, including trampolines, ladders and swimming pools.
  • Universal use of bicycle helmets by children ages 4 to 15 could prevent between 135 and 155 deaths, between 39,000 and 45,000 head injuries, and between 18,000 and 55,000 scalp and face injuries annually.
  • A $10 bike helmet saves healthcare system $41 per child.
  • If 85 percent of the children injured in the U.S. per year wore helmets, we could save up to $256 million in just one year.

  
  
  

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  Helmet Laws

  Statistics from the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute

  Mandatory Helmet Laws

  As of May 4, 2012 we know of 22 state laws (including the District of Columbia) requiring minors to wear helmets while bicycling, and more than 201 local ordinances, some of which cover all ages. Please check our page on mandatory helmet laws for more current info.

  
  
  

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  Statistics from a journal article

  Motorcycle Helmet Laws

  Depending on the particular measure that is employed, states with universal helmet laws have motorcyclist fatality rates that are on average 22-33% lower in comparison to the experience with no helmet law. Additionally, partial coverage helmet laws are associated with reductions in motorcyclist fatality rates of 7-10%, on average.

  
  
  

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

  Mandatory Helmet Laws

  The National Conference of State Legislatures, has a more detailed chart, listing the states that do not have laws, but when last checked was out of date.

  
  
  

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  Market Guesses

  
  
  There is no good public source of current helmet market data that we know of.

  If you are researching the helmet market and call us to ask about these numbers we will not have anything to add to what is on this page! That goes for the Usage Rate numbers above as well. When we find out anything new, it appears here within hours.
  
  

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  Statistics from various sources gathered
  by the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute

  
  How Many Helmets are Sold Each Year?

  (Updated October, 2010. Nothing new since)

  
  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. The 4,800 bike shops in the US market were rumored to sell about 700,000 helmets in the May-June-July quarter of 2009. In the September 1, 2010 issue of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, Easton-Bell's Greg Shapleigh is quoted saying that they sold 11 million helmets in 2009 "across all brands and categories." That would include bike, hockey, football, snow and baseball helmets, but BRAIN reported that "the majority of those were for cycling." The article was not on BRAIN's Web site when we last checked on September 3, 2010. But BRAIN published new numbers in its October 1, 2010 issue, attributed to the Leisure Trends Group. Based on a year that started in July 2009 and ran through June 2010, they estimated 1,661,036 helmets sold by bike shops totaling $88,573,775. From January 2010 to June 2010 they estimated a 6.64% decline in unit sales and a 3.00% decline in dollar value. The numbers included adult, child and helmet accessories. They did not estimate helmet sales by big box stores. Here is the article in Bicycle Retailer and Industry News where the numbers appeared.

  The National Bicycle Dealer's Association may have more numbers, but we don't know how to get them.

  We do not have good price trend information either. 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. In the May 1, 2002 issue of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, reporter Matt Wiebe said that helmet sales in the US for 2001 totaled $150 million. He did not attribute that estimate, but in the next paragraph he does quote then 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.
  

  Industry-wide sales (millions)

  	1989	1990
  US	2.0	2.5
  World	2.5 to 3.0	3.5 to 4.0

  
  
  

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  Statistics promised by the National Bicycle Dealers Association:

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

  The U.S. bicycle industry is approximately a $6 billion per year industry, counting the retail value of bicycles, related parts, and accessories through all channels of distribution, according to the National Bicycle Dealers Association. Bicycle sales for the U.S., including both the dealer and mass merchant channels are as follows:

  
  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)
  

  
  Source: Bicycle Manufacturers Association

  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.

  
  
  

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  Statistics from Bicycle Retailer and Industry News:

  
  How Many Cyclists are there in the US?
  

  (As reported June 1, 2009)
  
  BRAIN reported stats from the National Sporting Goods Association used mail surveys to a panel of 10,000 households to estimate that riders over six years old who rode six or more times per year were:

  2000 43.1 million
  2002 39.7
  2004 40.3
  2006 35.6
  2008 44.7

  Of the 44.7 million, 42.5 percent reported that they rode between six and 24 days during the year.

  (BHSI thinks bike riders are not very accurate when asked by pollsters about their riding.)

  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
  
  

  Note: The brochure where this chart appears did not make it clear whether these estimates are for the U.S., North American or World helmet markets. It also does not say whether or not it includes the non-bicycle part of Headstrong's sales of baseball, equestrian, ski, snowboard and skating helmets. Source is cited as "Various industry reports and internal estimates." Whatever the accuracy of the figures, we are indebted to Headstrong Group as the only manufacturer to publicly publish their estimates.

  
  
  

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  Statistics from the National Bicycle Dealer Association:

  
  How do dealers regard helmet brands?

  
  The NBDA once posted the results of a dealer survey rating helmet brands by consumer demand, availability, profitability, marketing support, etc. 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. We can't find it any more on the NBDA site, and did not note the year.

  
  
  

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  Other Pages to Check

  Our page of scientific journal articles has many articles with statistics buried in them.

  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.

  
  
  

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  Statistics you can buy

  
  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 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.

  Others

  American Sports Data advertises a study that covers "Helmet Sports" nation-wide. We don't know what it contains, since we can't afford it.

  Leisure Trends Group launched a survey of bike shops in 2009. It covers sales by amount, bike brand and type. They did not survey the mass market, where the majority of bicycles are sold.

  Gluskin Townley Group is reported by Bicycle Retailer and Industry News to have a similar report on sales by bicycle shops. We don't know if helmets are broken out or not.
  
  

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  This page was last revised on: June 28, 2014.
  

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