The first automobile crash in the United States occurred in New York
City in 1896, when a motor vehicle collided with a pedalcycle rider
(Famous First Facts, by Joseph Kane).
More than 49,000 pedalcyclists have died in traffic crashes in the United
States since 1932 ─ the first year in which estimates of pedalcyclist
fatalities were recorded. The 350 pedalcyclists killed in 1932 accounted
for 1.3 percent of the 27,979 persons who died in traffic crashes that year.
In 2004, 725 pedalcyclists were killed and an additional 41,000 were
injured in traffic crashes.
