The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Tuesday recommended that all 50 states implement laws that require bicyclists to wear helmets when riding.

The recommendation was one of several made by the federal agency following a hearing on bicycle safety, according to The Associated Press.

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The hearing detailed a rise in bicyclists' deaths from crashes with motor vehicles last year, with 857 deaths representing a 6.3 percent increase from 2017.

“If we do not mitigate head injury for more bicyclists, additional bicyclists will die,” NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said in a statement.

The NTSB pointed to research that found fewer than half of bicyclists wear helmets.

The agency noted that an improvement in road designs that separate cyclists from traffic, along with making riders more visible through lighting and clothing, would reduce the number of cyclist deaths.

There are currently no states that require all bicyclists to wear helmets, the AP reports. Nineteen states, however, require motorcyclists to wear helmets.