Articles Posted in Bicycle Accidents

Bicyclist deaths in traffic accidents rose in 2012 (the most recent year for which data is available) both in absolute numbers and as a fraction of the nation’s overall road and highway death toll, according to a new report released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

As a table on the first page of the report shows, the total number of traffic-related fatalities fell by more than 20% over the last decade, from 42,884 nationwide in 2003 to 33,561 in 2012. During that same time period, however, the number of bicyclists killed on America’s roads rose from 629 to 726 – an increase of almost 20 percent. As a portion of overall traffic-related deaths that represented an increase from 1.5 percent to 2.2 percent – a small portion of the overall number, but a dramatic increase proportionately speaking.

At a time when people across the country are becoming more aware of the health and environmental benefits of cycling these are worrying numbers. It is good to see that tougher enforcement and better public education have brought the overall traffic death rate down so dramatically (indeed, in the 1970s and 80s it was well over 50,000 per year). At the same time it is alarming to see the rate of bicycle accidents and fatalities rise – especially in an era when one might hope that more bikes on our streets would lead to greater awareness and caution among drivers.

A story posted this week by Atlanta television station WSB has a surprising – and good – connection to Portland. The station announced that it is sending one of its anchors to Portland to examine Tri-Met’s streetcar system “to learn how (Portland) handles streetcar safety.”

According to the report, tests of a new streetcar system in Atlanta may begin as early as this month but Atlanta “streetcar leaders told (WSB) a public awareness campaign is needed to avoid hundreds of accidents or even deaths.” The announcement followed word of a streetcar-related death in Philadelphia last week, according to WSB. Atlanta is a city that has long had a reputation for skepticism regarding public transportation. Though many Portlanders sometimes have an up-and-down relationship with Tri-Met, it is good to be reminded of the fact that Portland has long been one of the country’s leaders in green energy and innovative public transportation.

The article notes that Portland’s streetcar system, at 14.7 miles, is far more extensive than what Atlanta soon plans to launch The Georgia system will initially involve only 2.7 miles of track, according to WSB.

Last week the New York Times carried an op-ed piece on the subject of urban cycling, particularly bike commuting, that managed to be thoughtful, funny and harrowing all at the same time. Topped by the provocative headline: “Is it OK to kill cyclists?” the article cites numerous recent instances of fatal bike accidents from around the country in which bike riders were killed by drivers who then were subject to only the lightest of punishments.

A 24-year-old riding inside a bike lane in San Francisco was killed by a truck making a right turn and police issued no citation. A Seattle area teenager who ran over and killed a cyclist in 2011 was “issued only a $42 ticket for an ‘unsafe lane change’ because the kid hadn’t been drunk and, as (the police) saw it, had not been driving recklessly.” As the article rightly points out: “Laws in most states do give bicyclists full access to the road, but very few roads are designed to accommodate bicycles, and the speed and mass differentials – bikes sometimes slow traffic, only cyclists have much to fear from a crash – make sharing the road difficult to absorb at an emotional level.”

The writer cites a friend who advised him that the best survival strategy was to assume “that every driver was ‘a mouth-breathing drug addict with a murderous hatred for cyclists.’” On one level that is not necessarily bad advice, but the tragedy is that in this day and age it is even necessary. With cycling now, as the article notes, $6 billion industry and an outdoor activity whose popularity is surpassed only by running this is a subject that resonates far beyond the our own streets in legendarily bike-friendly Portland – a fact made clear that even here we suffer several fatal Oregon bike and car crashes every year.

A recent report from NPR highlights how social media usage can become a factor in reckless and negligent driving cases. According to a report on the radio network’s website, “an 18-year-old California man stands accused of murder after law enforcement officials upgraded charges against him based on tweets and driving history.”

The accident at the center of this story took place in early June in northern California. The man was allegedly driving at more than 80 miles per hour in a 40 mph zone when he lost control of the car and hit a middle-aged couple who were riding in a marked “bike lane alongside Foothill Road, police say, in an area that is marked by a golf course and by large houses with swimming pools.” In other words: a residential area rather than a highway. The woman in the couple was killed in the accident and her husband was injured.

Citing reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle, NPR reports that the suspect stopped at the scene and “spoke with police” though he declined to give a formal statement. Last month he was arrested “on felony charges of vehicular manslaughter and reckless driving” but this was upgraded to murder, and the suspect’s bail revoked, after police took a closer look at his driving habits.