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Bicycle Crashes
Bicycle crashes result from a wide variety of circumstances, including solo falls, conflicts with vehicles and collisions with other objects. Crashes involving motor vehicles are the most deadly.
Bicycle Crash Risk
Bicycle use is considered risky because cyclists must share road space with large, heavy cars and trucks that are traveling at high speeds. Angry and aggressive drivers, seemingly ubiquitous in urban areas, make the situation even worse. Statistics confirm that road cycling is dangerous: this mode of travel represents 2% of all traffic deaths, but less than 1% of all trips in the United States [1]. Of cyclists killed or injured in the United States in recent years, over 80% are male, and their average age is 38. There were 733 bicyclists killed nationwide in 2006 [1].
Surveys consistently “find that the perceived danger of cycling is one of the major deterrents to increased bicycle use” [2]. As a result, most Americans are hesitant to use a bicycle for transportation. This fear may be exaggerated: an article in Grist magazine pointed out that the health risks of a sedentary lifestyle exceed the risks of road cycling [3]. In addition, cyclists almost never kill or injure others, and therefore are not a threat to other road users [3].
Improving streets for cyclists, along with driver education and law enforcement, is the key to both reducing bicycle crashes and encouraging bicycle use. In Portland, a city where bicycling is increasing, the crash rate has actually dropped more than 70% [3], likely a result of increased bicycle safety efforts by the city and increased public awareness of bicycle rules.
The Most Deadly Types of Collisions
Collisions with motor vehicles were the most likely to cause fatal injuries.
A study [5] by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center examined different types of bicycle/vehicle collisions, looking specifically at precipitating factors that could be prevented. The following numbers are compiled from a sample of bicycle-vehicle crashes from 6 states, and they assume that the circumstances of each crash were recorded correctly.
4.3% The bicyclist turned left in front of a passing vehicle.
3.9% The motorist was overtaking the bicyclist, cause of the accident unclear.
2.7% The bicyclist was struck while traveling on the wrong (left) side of the road.
1.4% The bicyclist, on the wrong side, turned right in front of a vehicle.
1.3% The motorist was overtaking the bicyclist and failed to see him.
1.2% The bicyclist lost control and swerved into the path of the vehicle.
.8% The bicyclist made a normal left turn but ignored on-coming traffic.
.6% The motorist lost control of the car and struck the bicyclist.
.5% The motorist struck a play vehicle (big wheel, bike with training wheels).
Taken together, these most deadly collisions accounted for 21.8% of the total number of bike-motor vehicle collisions in the study.
The details behind some of these crashes reveal the need for better bicycle accommodations on American roadways, as well as improved driver education. They also show that bicyclists who follow the rules are less likely to be involved in crashes. (Although without special facilities, bicyclists are left to fend for themselves). For example, crashes involving bicyclists who turned left in front of a passing vehicle (crossing a lane of traffic moving in the same direction) usually occurred at a midblock location that had no special road treatment.
Do Bicyclists Cause Most of Their Own Accidents?
The book The Art of Urban Cycling by Robert Hurst provides evidence that “as many as half of car-bike crashes are the cyclist's fault: the cyclist ran a stop sign, made an illegal turn, rode against traffic, or otherwise broke the law.” [3] Furthermore, a large 1996 survey of American bicyclists found that more than three-quarters of crashes were solo falls [4]. In the most common crash situations, the bicyclist was found to be riding against traffic or on the sidewalk nearly two-thirds of the time [5].
In the Tan study discussed above, motorists were implicated in about 20% of all car-bike crashes examined [5]. However, in the case of the deadly right-hook collisions, motorists were overtaking the bicyclist 75% of the time, while the bicycle was overtaking the car only 11% of the time [5].
The pedestrian and cyclist advocacy group Right of Way reviewed cyclist fatalities between 1995 and 1998. After reconstructing the crash circumstances, they found that: “although police blame cyclists for three-fourths (75%) of cyclist fatalities, in fact driver error was the principle cause in 57-66% of recent fatal bicycle crashes and at least a contributing cause in 78-85%”. [6] The main types of driver misconduct were found to be aggressive passing, turning into a cyclist’s path, speeding, and running red lights/stop signs. The authors found little mention of cyclist misconduct in the police reports, even though the police insist that cyclist error causes most crash fatalities.
Given these findings, data on bicycle crashes in the United States should be taken with a grain of salt, until a fair, systematic method for reporting and recording crash details is mandated by law.
Still, even in other countries where cycling is more mainstream, cyclists are implicated in the majority of crashes. A bike box study for Transport for London found that cyclists were at fault in 49% of car-bike conflicts, while motorists behavior was citied in 24% of conflicts [7].
Reducing the Crash Rate: Better Facilities Needed
Bicycle crash culpability would not be a raging debate if there were simply better facilities for bicyclists (and pedestrians) in the United States. “Pedestrian and bicyclist safety has been central to transportation and land-use planning in Europe”[2], while “pedestrian and bicyclists injuries and death are a serious health problem that the United States has largely ignored” [2].
Streets with bike lanes have been found to have “a significantly lower crash rate than either major or minor streets without any bicycle facilities” [4,8].
Lower speed limits are needed to make urban cycling safer. Car speed is the most important contributing factor in bicycle crashes and fatalities [2, 5]. In northern Europe and Germany, most residential streets have a speed limit of 15 miles per hour; arterials are only 30mph [2]. It is also more difficult to get a driver’s license in Europe. Reducing speed limits and even raising the driving age to 18 would help to reduce bicycle fatalities in the United States.
ALSO ON THE LIVABLE STREETS NETWORK
REFERENCES
Each source is referred to by the same number every time it is cited. Please keep citation style consistent.
[1] Bicycle Crash Facts. Pedestrian and Bicycling Information Center.
[2] Pucher, John and Lewis Dijkstra, 2000. Making Walking and Cycling Safer: Lessons from Europe. Transportation Quarterly, Volume 54, No. 3.
[3] Durning, Alan. Safe streets: Not pedaling can kill you. Grist. October 9, 2007.
[4] Moritz, William E, 1998. Adult Bicyclists in the United States – Characteristics and Riding Experience in 1996. Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting.
[5] Tan, Carol. Crash-Type Manual for Bicyclists. Highway Safety Research Center, University of North Carolina.
[6] Komanoff, Charles and Michael J. Smith. NYC Bicycle Fatalities: Who’s Responsible? (pdf) for Right of Way, May 2000.
[7] Advanced Stop Line Variations Research Study – Research Findings. Atkins services commissioned by Transport for London. May 2005.
[8] Safety Benefits of Bike Lanes. Department of Community Development, Cambridge, MA.
PICTURE REFERENCES
Pictures are cited in the order they appear above. Please keep citation style consistent.
[1] Bike Accident painting. From Mo's Photostream on Flickr.
[2]
