Bike and Pedestrian Accident Statistics Wisconsin

The chance of injury in a bike crash is quite high. According to Wisconsin DOT in 2016 there were 918 bicycle accidents with 849 inured and 11 killed. Thus, people riding bicycles had a 94% chance of injury or death when involved in a crash. Insurance lawyers will often claim the person on the bicycle always loses in a crash so the person on the bicycle needs to “ride defensively.” This is an attempt to shift blame to the victim. In reality, there is no law that says a person on a bicycle has to do anything more defensive than a person operating a motor vehicle. Since the person operating the motor vehicle has an estimated 94% chance of injuring or killing a human being riding a bicycle when there is a crash, the person operating the heavy machinery should be the one doing everything they can to avoid the crash. This includes not using a phone while driving, operating at an appropriate reduced speed when cresting hills/ approaching intersections, and yielding the right of way to humans in crosswalks.

According to the Wisconsin DOT, the number of pedestrians injured in crashes was:

2013: 1,231

2014: 1,119

2015: 1,227

2016: 1,181

2017: 1,438

2018: 1,412

The number of pedestrians killed was 10, 4, 15, 11, 7, 4, respectively.

The number of people riding bicycles injured in accidents was:

2013: 868

2014: 844

2015: 891

2016: 849

2017: 830

2018: 755

The number of people in Wisconsin who were killed in bicycle accidents was 10, 4, 15, 11, 7, 4 respectively.