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When he was a student at New Mexico State University, Matt Mason biked as many as 1,000 miles each semester 鈥� far enough in a school year to crisscross the width of the Land of Enchantment at least four times.

But while biking to campus along a familiar route on North Telshor Boulevard in 2012, Mason鈥檚 relationship to the sport changed when he was struck by a driver, who veered into his path while making a left-hand turn.

鈥淚 slammed on my brakes and sort of rolled across their hood,鈥� Mason said. 鈥淚 ended up landing on my feet right next to the driver on their side of the car. It was just kind of a miraculous thing 鈥� I was more or less unhurt, but the bike was bent in half and destroyed.鈥�

It was the last road bike Mason ever owned.

This spring, for the first time in about a decade, New Mexico improved from the most dangerous state in the nation for pedestrian deaths to ninth in

Using crash data from the first half of 2025, the nonprofit projected that pedestrian fatalities in New Mexico fell to 1.27 deaths per 100,000 people last year, or about a 49% decrease over a 2.49 death rate in 2024.

The projection appears on track with full-year data from the University of New Mexico, which notes 

State officials this week celebrated the improved safety rating, attributing it to new initiatives aimed at keeping people safer on or near New Mexico roadways.

鈥淣ew Mexico鈥檚 progress in pedestrian safety is the result of dedicated work happening across the state,鈥� Shannon Glendenning, New Mexico Department of Transportation traffic safety division director, said in a statement.

But over the same year-to-year period, UNM recorded a separate yet related metric moving in the opposite direction and at a much higher rate.

From 2024 to 2025, deaths among pedal cyclists 鈥� bicyclists or any other vehicle propelled by human-powered pedals 鈥� doubled, rising from seven in 2024 to 14 in 2025.

That marks the most cyclist traffic deaths in a single year since 2006, when there were four, according to UNM.

That statistic didn鈥檛 get much airtime at a meeting of the Transportation Infrastructure Revenue Subcommittee on Tuesday and appeared nowhere in a news release issued two days later announcing the decline in pedestrian fatalities.

Cyclist deaths on or near roadways in New Mexico and nationwide are vastly outnumbered by pedestrian deaths, accounting for just 3% of the 454 total traffic fatalities recorded in New Mexico last year.

But while pedestrian deaths are on the decline 鈥� with the Governors Highway Safety Association noting an 11% dip in such deaths nationwide 鈥� fatalities among cyclists are on the rise in many American cities.

According to , the 鈥渘umber of preventable deaths from bicycle transportation incidents (in the U.S.) increased by 1% in 2024 and 37% in the last 10 years (from 1,015 in 2015 to 1,392 in 2024).鈥�

The 14 deaths logged in 2025 in New Mexico are more than double the average of the roughly 6.5 cyclist deaths recorded in the state each year since 2006.

While cyclist deaths have fluctuated in that time, the average number of these fatalities rose to 7.7 deaths per year in the last 10 years versus 5.5 deaths in the previous decade.

Dan Majewski, who regularly bikes to work in Downtown sa国际传媒官网网页入口, knows which roads to take and which to avoid, giving preference to streets with wider shoulders and designated bike lanes.

With more deaths among cyclists reported in the state every year, he understands why some people choose to ride outside New Mexico鈥檚 metro areas or don鈥檛 pick up the sport at all.

鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a big barrier to getting started riding,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou have to kind of learn through doing. There鈥檚 signage out there, and the city certainly tries. But you have to plan it out, you know?鈥�

Several bicyclist traffic deaths have made headlines in New Mexico in recent years.

In May 2024, an 11-year-old boy was charged with first-degree murder for allegedly intentionally hitting and killing a physicist named Michael Habermehl, who was riding to work on an e-bike.

A year and a half later, Santa Fe resident Steven Ballinger was struck by a pickup truck driver and later died in a hospital.

In November, 19-year-old sa国际传媒官网网页入口 cyclist Kayla VanLandingham was struck and killed at a bike crossing on Carlisle.

Just over a month ago, 47-year-old Robert Montoya was also hit and killed while riding to work on an e-bike just north of Interstate 40 in Northeast sa国际传媒官网网页入口, which consistently logs about half of all cyclist deaths in the state.

Majewski previously sat on the board for BikeABQ, a safety advocate organization founded in 1999 to raise awareness of bicyclists on the state鈥檚 roadways, which officials have worked to make safer in recent years.

Legislators in 2023 passed House Memorial 85, titled 鈥淭arget Zero,鈥� which aims to achieve an annual traffic safety record of zero vehicle-related deaths or serious injuries by the end of the decade.

In March, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed new legislation requiring student drivers to take at least three hours of training on 鈥渧ulnerable road users,鈥� such as bicyclists, pedestrians and emergency service providers.

The 2023 resolution committed NMDOT to following a national model called Complete Streets, which recommends roadway projects consider multimodal forms of transportation and road 鈥渆quity.鈥�

Some cyclists say reinforcing legislation will be necessary to give it teeth.

Carl Colonius, a longtime cyclist, Taos resident and program manager for the New Mexico Outdoor Recreation Division, is one of them.

He illustrated the problem with a recent example south of Taos.

鈥淵ou know the road that goes down through Llano Quemado by the water treatment plant toward the golf course?鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat road was just repaved, beautifully done, but it doesn鈥檛 have a shoulder because that鈥檚 not a sensitivity a lot of public works directors in New Mexico have. Why would you waste 10% of your project building a shoulder? Biking and walking are not something they necessarily recognize.鈥�

Recently, Colonius went on a ride with Graveleros, a spring and summertime biking meetup that Mason started in Las Cruces, one of several cities developing a municipal trail system to give cyclists safer routes to ride.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a wide age range, culture, gender, type of bike,鈥� Colonius said of the experience. 鈥淪o you鈥檝e got hardcore road bikers who show up in their lycra with a matching kit, to the dude on a cruiser wearing cut-off overalls who has a basket for his cat.鈥�

The group is a kind of microcosm for the wider New Mexico cycling community. Stories of close calls with drivers, collisions and chilling stories of final rides that ended fatally 鈥� with a white-painted bike marking the spot 鈥� remain a dark trope here and among other cycling enthusiasts throughout the state.

As of last month, UNM reported that five pedal cyclists have died so far in New Mexico in 2026.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 like to say it because I don鈥檛 want to discourage people from riding,鈥� Mason said. 鈥淏ut in my mind, I sort of say that every car that passes me when I鈥檓 riding on the road could be the one that kills me. I try to keep that number as close to zero as possible while still getting where I want to go.鈥�

John Miller is the sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 northern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at jmiller@abqjournal.com.