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Bikes or cars — who rules the road?

Accident toll rises as gas-shocked commuters opt for bicycles

By Alex Johnson - MSNBC

Over the last two months, Taylor Cabaniss’ morning commute has evolved into something entirely new. It has lengthened to an hour.

But that’s a good thing, said Cabaniss, a senior financial manager for Qualcomm Inc. in San Diego — it’s “just some good exercise opportunity, to get out a bit.”

Back in May, Cabaniss abandoned his car and began biking to work. With fuel prices topping $4 a gallon, it makes a big difference.

“I’m probably saving a gallon and a half a day — I imagine $6 a day,” he said.

Cabaniss’ story is a common one. Since the average price of gasoline hit about $3.25 a gallon early this year, bike sales have skyrocketed, the National Bicycle Dealers Association reported. Store owners across the country say two-wheelers are flying out the door faster than they can stock them.

“Gas prices have jacked our business quite a bit,” said Jamie McDonald, owner of Sunrise Cyclery in Minneapolis. “I’ve sold way more racks, way more bags, way more lights, way more fenders and more bikes in general than I ever have before.”

At Wheel Nuts in Alexandria, Va., a suburb of Washington, owner Ron Taylor sounds a common theme — he’s having trouble keeping up with both sales and repairs.

“With all of that business coming in, we’ve actually had to hire additional staff,” Taylor said. “We’re staying here late, trying to meet customers’ demands, trying to get their bikes back to them sooner.”

More bikes mean more accidents

Experts welcome the trend for all of the reasons you might expect: Transportation planners like that fewer cars clog the nation’s highways. Environmental activists like that fewer tons of greenhouse emissions are pumped into the atmosphere every rush hour. Doctors like to see more people pedaling off more pounds.

But in the months since motorists began pedaling in droves, it has become clear that all those cyclists on the streets pose a significant problem: all those cyclists on the streets.

“I believe it’s definitely going to cause some problems, because people don’t know how to share the road with cyclists,” said Kirk Hendricks, director of advocacy for the group Idaho Cycling Enthusiasts. “[Drivers] need to know that we have as much right as an automobile even though we’re not as big.”

There are no nationwide statistics on bicycle-related injuries and deaths for the first half of 2008. But authorities across the country say they are seeing a sharp rise in the number of accidents involving bicyclists.

“Last year in New Jersey 12 bikers, bicyclists, were killed in motor vehicle crashes,” said Pam Fischer, director of the state Division of Highway Traffic Safety. “So far this year — and we’re at the middle of the summer, July 15 — we have already lost 11 bicyclists.”

Fischer said that “in almost every case, the bicycle was doing something that put them at significant risk.”

At least five bicyclists have been killed in Chicago alone this year, leading to lawsuits, organized protests demanding safer bike routes and a set of new ordinances requiring drivers to give cyclists at least a 3-foot-wide berth when passing.

“Most of the crashes that we’ve seen are a result of inattentive driving,” said Rob Sadowsky, executive director of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation.

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The Myth of the Scofflaw Cyclist

[The following is really good, which I quote in full (without hyper links) but for those who are more then the casual reader I will encourage you to visit the original article (link at the end of this article) on the WashCycle site and follow the comments on the article.]

Whenever you read an article about cycling in the city, or a discussion of transportation involving cycling it is highly likely that you'll read a comment like this:

"I will 'share the road' when cyclists start 'obeying the traffic laws.'"

and this

"I always see bikers disobeying traffic signals. They always run red lights going across R Street and Connecticut Ave"

and this

Before encouraging people to cycle and spending millions of pounds of our money in the process, the Government should have down some groundwork to make roads safer for all of us. [WC: Sounds reasonable]

Making cyclists observe a few traffic laws - such as stopping at traffic lights and zebra crossings - would have been a welcome start.[WC: Really? You'd START with cyclists?]

In fact after Alice Swanson's death, many comments on the post, DCist and elsewhere mentioned that something like this was bound to happen because of the illegal manner in which most cyclists ride. Despite the fact that there seems to be no indication that she did anything illegal.

Which leads to what I call "The Myth of the Scofflaw Cyclist".

Now then, I'm not trying to claim that cyclists don't break the law. Let me state clearly and upfront, they do. What I'm saying is that there is nothing unique about the frequency with which cyclists as a class break the law when compared with drivers or pedestrians. And even if cyclists broke the law more flagrantly, that would not negate the need to share the road.

Hello? Kettle? You're Black!

Implicit in all of these types of comments is that drivers (and sometimes pedestrians) constitute the law-abiding sections of society, but these scofflaw cyclists - with their Lycra-clad arrogance (you have to mention arrogance or self-righteousness for it to count) - are a menace to society.

Let's knock that down first.

Many drivers break the law. I would almost be willing to say that every driver breaks the law, but let's stick with many. How?

First of all, they speed.

Driver compliance with speed limits is poor. On average, 7 out of 10 motorists exceeded the posted speed in urban areas. Compliance ranged from 3 to 99 percent. Compliance tended to be worse on low-speed roads, better on roads with prima facie limits, or where the speed limit was based on an engineering study. Better does not mean good compliance; less than 10 percent on [sic] the sites had more than 50-percent obedience with the posted speed

In DC, speed cameras were set up at several locations. They were recording 170 infractions per hour (that's one every 21 seconds for all you poli-sci majors).

And they run red lights

From August 1999 through May 2008, the automated red-light enforcement program has, at 49 locations, resulted in 741,780 notices of infraction.

And stop signs

The overall compliance rate for stop signs was 22.8 per 100 vehicles, ranging from 1.4 per 100 for bicycles to 46.2 per 100 for commuter vans. Compliance increased to 53 per 100 vehicles when pedestrians were present in the crosswalk. [WC: Ok we're both guilty here, but the cars aren't even stopping half the time. More on this below.]

They illegally park

There were 1.67 million parking tickets written last year, up from 1.3 million in 2001, according to statistics provided by the D.C. Department of Public Works (DPW).

They double park and park in the bike lane.

They ignore toll booths

Court records show that among the first cases in Fairfax County last week, five motorists each had fines topping $10,000. A dozen more face penalties higher than $4,000.

They drive drunk and distracted, this being a mere drop in the bucket.

Through October, officers issued 9,484 tickets this year to motorists driving with a cell phone in their hand, according to police statistics.

The number of citations already issued this year is 13 percent more than the 8,358 issued last year. In 2005, police issued 7,523...

and I could go on.

Pedestrians, of course, jaywalk.

My point isn't that two wrongs make a right or that drivers are worse than cyclists. My point is that it's hypocritical to call your neighbor rude, because his loud stereo makes it difficult for you to focus on your backyard chainsaw sculpting.

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Tips if you find yourself in a bicycling accident

Preparing for the worst

The Web site offers a set of tips for bicyclists in accidents. We generally feel the need to add missing information, but they're good enough as is, so we wanted help get the word out:
1. Ride with a cell phone, personal identification, emergency contact, and something to write with.
2. Dial 911: call the police or an ambulance immediately. If you are unable to do so, ask someone to help.
3. Always wait for the police to arrive and file an official accident report. A police report provides documentation detailing the incident, including the identity of witnesses.
4. Get the business card of the officer.
5. Leave your bike in the same state it was after the accident, if possible. It is best if the police see the accident scene undisturbed.
6. Obtain the contact information of any witnesses.
7. Immediately seek medical attention, either at the scene, the emergency room, hospital or doctor's office. When in doubt go to the ER! Give all complaints to the doctor. Medical records are proof that you were injured and document the extent of your injuries.
8. Take photos of injuries and keep a diary of how you feel after the accident.
9. Never negotiate with the driver of the vehicle, regardless of who may be at fault. Get the driver's name and his or her insurance information, along with the names of any passengers.
10. Give no written or recorded statements to anyone.

[I will also add that contacting your local bicycle advocacy organization or your local bike club could be beneficial to your case and possibly help out future bicyclists in similar situations.]

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Study: As gas prices go up, auto deaths drop

By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press Fri Jul 11, 5:59 PM ET

WASHINGTON - High gas prices could turn out to be a lifesaver for some drivers. The authors of a new study say gas prices are causing driving declines that could result in a third fewer auto deaths annually, with the most dramatic drop likely to be among teen drivers.
...

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Traffic Death a Public Loss

At the dawn of the automobile age, traffic deaths were considered public, rather than private, losses, says Peter D. Norton, author of "Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City." He says accident deaths were memorialized as were the casualties of World War I or the victims of a flood.

That changed during the 1920s, as the automobile industry encouraged the notion that pedestrian and biker deaths were bound to occur when those unfortunates entered space the nation had assigned to automobiles.

Last night's public memorial for Alice Swanson, 22, who was killed while riding her bicycle to work in Washington on Tuesday morning, countered that thinking. The fatal accident became a public loss in a shared space.

There has been no finding of fault in this accident, which police said occurred north of Dupont Circle at the intersection of 20th and R streets NW when a trash truck turned right onto 20th and into the path of Swanson.

R Street is popular with cyclists, because it has a long bike lane, and bicycle safety advocates responded to the accident.

" 'I didn't see them' is too often accepted as an excuse that results in a small fine or no punishment at all," Eric Gilliland, the executive director of the Washington Area Bicyclists Association, said in a statement. "While we cannot comment on the particulars of this case, we expect the Metropolitan Police Department to conduct a thorough examination of this crash and hold the driver fully responsible if he was at fault."

"We can only hope that everyone will learn to slow down, be aware and share the road," he said.

Gilliland and other safety advocates do far more than hope. They work for progress through engineering, education and enforcement, none of which succeeds by itself, and certainly not without the support of a community diminished by all such losses.

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Top 5 Reasons to Claim the Lane (and why it’s safer)

There is a lot of debate as to where a bicycle commuter should position themselves in relation to the road. New bike commuters, especially, are often intimidated by riding in the road and often choose something that isn’t necessarily the safest place. Here are the top two:

* Sidewalk - While the odds of you getting hit from behind diminish greatly, there are other dangers that come into play.
o Drivers are not looking for fast moving objects on the sidewalks so when you come to a cross street there is a good chance you’ll get hit by a turning car.
o Sidewalks are available for pedestrians and, in many states, it’s illegal for bicycles to ride on them.
o You are forced to (and should) go extremely slow. Besides dealing with turning cars and pedestrians, you are riding are surfaces that are not maintained for traffic and often have other obstacles to deal with.

* The extreme right side of the road - In my opinion this is the most dangerous place you can ride. You are risking two dangers:
o Cars will repeatedly try to squeeze by you in the same lane and will almost always come very close to you which, obviously, increases your chance of getting hit.
o The Peek-a-boo bike. Picture two cars approaching. The second car is following closely to the first. As the first car moves to miss you, it is seen by the second car as merely drifting in the lane since the car isn’t moving that much out of the way. The second car doesn’t realize you are in the road until it is to late.

Because of the above dangers and contrary to many people’s “common sense”, the best thing for a bike commuter to do is claim the lane. I ride at least a third of the way into the lane and, around curves, I roll right down the middle.

Here’s the top five reasons why I started claiming the lane (and why you should to):

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DC is moving toward becoming "the most anti-car city in the country,"


...
City officials say that the moves are part of a policy of putting the needs of its residents and businesses before those of suburban commuters and that they are trying to create a walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented metropolis.

Like New York, London, Stockholm and Portland, Ore., District officials said, the city is reclaiming its streets for the people who live there. With billions of dollars invested in the Metro system, there are plenty of ways for commuters to get into the city without bringing exhaust-spewing vehicles with them, officials said.

The city's population practically doubles on workdays because of the influx of federal and other workers. And about 15 million visitors a year come to the city, almost 75 percent by auto, according to AAA.

"This is not about being anti-car, but increasing vehicles into the District is not a sustainable strategy for the city," said Emeka C. Moneme, director of the District Department of Transportation. "We want to encourage transit use, biking and walking."

Improving pedestrian safety is a priority for the city. The District has higher pedestrian death rates than New York, Boston, Seattle, Chicago and Los Angeles, with 2.7 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Pedestrian injuries rose from 586 in 2000 to 725 in 2006. District officials said the city's broad avenues create wide expanses of asphalt that make it difficult or intimidating for pedestrians to cross.
[Note: Baltimore pedestrian death rate is 2.5 and 856 injuries in 2006]
...

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Worldwide Bicycle Accident Survey

The New York Cycle Club, a 1,600+ member organization, located in New York City, is conducting a worldwide bicycle accident survey. The results will be published as part of a cycling risk assessment study that will be made freely available to the public at the conclusion of the survey. It is for education and advocacy purposes. The survey contains dozens of data points and its design is streamlined to have folks get through the survey as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Please consider entering one or more accident survey responses. The more responses, the more meaningful the results will be. Thank you.

Here is the link: <a href="http://www.nycc.org/ras/">http://www.nycc.org/ras/</a>;

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Peter O'Reilly
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