Georgia Injury Law Blog
Bicycle accidents take a heavy toll on the US economy. Now, a new study finds that these crashes cost the American economy more than $24 billion a year in health care and other costs. What’s worse, the study also finds that those costs have been steadily increasing over the years.
Researchers focused on fatal and non-fatal bicycle accidents across the country between 1999 and 2013. They found that there were nearly 10,000 bicycle accident fatalities during this period of time. Researchers also found that there were a total of 3.8 million non-fatal bicycle accident injuries during this period of time, and a 120% increase in the number of hospital admissions related to bicycle accidents.
There is a specific reason why costs associated with bicycle accidents, especially healthcare costs, have been increasing the way they have. Accidents involving older bicyclists are one of those factors. Accident-related costs involving cyclists over the age of 45 contribute heavily to those expenses, because these crashes are strongly linked to longer hospital stays, and higher recovery times after accidents.