Road deaths have halved in the last twenty years, but pedestrians and cyclists continue to be most at risk of death or serious injury. The goal of zero deaths is still a long way off
The recent accident in Milan that caused the death of a 39-year-old cyclist overwhelmed and killed by a cement mixer at the crossroads between Corso di Porta Vittoria and Via Francesco Sforza brought the issue of road safety of those who travel by bicycle in big cities. But to frame the theme well, it is not enough to look only at what is happening in the city, as demonstrated by the dynamics of the accident that took the life of cycling champion Davide Rebellin, who died at the end of November 2022 near a roundabout in Montebello Vicentino. town of just 6,500 souls in the province of Vicenza. Or even the accident that in 2017 claimed the lives of Michael Scarponi (won the Giro d’Italia in 2011), hit by a van. Going back in the chronicles we also remember the motorcyclist Nicky Hayden, who died, again in 2017, in Misano Adriatico while riding a bicycle. He was hit by a car.
In Italy, by bike, people die everywhere e the data of Istat prove it: in the last twenty years the annual victims of the road have dropped from around 7,000 in 2001 to just under 3,000 in 2021 (the 2022 data are expected for early summer). An overall reduction of 59.5% for deaths and 45.2% for injuries, but these are overall numbers, which hide profound differences between the fate of those who have an accident in a car, moped, motorcycle, truck, bicycle and scooter or on foot.
YOU DIE MORE BY BIKE
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If in twenty years mortality due to road accidents has dropped by almost 60% for car occupants, also thanks to the use of increasingly sophisticated technologies, the same cannot be said for those traveling by bicycle: for cyclists the reduction in mortality was much smaller (-37.4%).
The progress made to protect motorists, therefore, does not correspond to the same efforts and results in the protection of cyclists, who in 2021 will maintain a very high mortality and injury rate. The mortality and injury index indicate how many deaths and injuries there are on average for each accident.
In 2021, the mortality rate for cyclists was 1.2 while the injury rate was 94.1. For car accidents the two values are, respectively, equal to 0.7 and 61.5 and this means that, in road accidents, people die by bicycle almost twice as often as by car and more than 50% are injured. sometimes more.
HOW MANY DIED ON BIKES
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Istat numbers tell us that, in 2021, 229 cyclists died in road accidents and 18,037 wounded. 141 cyclists died in urban areas. The regions with the most cyclists who died in 2021 were Emilia Romagna (41) and Lombardy (37) and compared to 2010 the mortality rate of cyclists increased in Liguria, Trentino Alto Adige, Umbria , Campania and Sicily.
FIAB: MORE BIKES FOR LESS ACCIDENTS
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On the occasion of the presentation of the Report on road accidents 2022, which took place in January 2023, the Italian Federation for the Environment and Bicycles (Fiab) reiterated its historical opinion: in Italy people die on the streets mainly due to distraction and wrong behavior.
Raffaele Di Marcello, Fiab national councilor, said: “It is people’s behavior that causes accidents and not, as we often read in the news, crazy cars or killer roads. It is not dangerous to walk or cycle, it is dangerous to drive a vehicle without awareness of its potential danger. If you don’t act on the mentality of road users, even before adopting passive protective measures, which are often of little use, you will not be able to stop the escalation of victims”.
Fiab, follow the English example
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According to the Fiab, it is necessary to adopt the “Safety in numbers” strategy, born in the United Kingdom, which provides for an increase in the number of bicycles circulating on the road to reduce accidents: “As the number of cyclists increases, car drivers become more aware of the presence of cyclists and improve their ability to anticipate their presence in traffic”.
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