Really Great Bicycle Safety Document

[Nanci]

http://www.dot.state.fl.us/safety/pe...6ed12_2005.pdf

This was apparently written for law enforcement use.

Nanci

[yellow]

Thanks for posting this. It's always good to read stuff like this (and this one is easy to read) to remind and refresh the mind. It's easy to read and understand. Kudos to them for that.

I was surprised at the statistic that 70% of bicycle-related accidents are the fault of cyclists. But then I thought about it...in urban areas like where I live, I suspect that many cyclists involved in accidents are not "recreational cyclists" (I use it as a generic term for folks who ride just 'cause they want to) but folks that use a bike for transportation. While I regualrly see what appear to be recreational cyclists blatantly disregard the law and common sense safety stuff, these aren't the folks you typically see riding the wrong way on the street or riding erratically (swerving) because they are trying to stay OUT of traffic. There is a certain element of comfort that the non-recreational cyclist often doesn't seem to possess. But heck! I don't know if the majority of the 70% are the recreational cyclists or folks using their bikes as transportation. That would be an interesting statistic.

It boils down to education (and that includes continuing education for experienced riders). I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here, but experienced riders should provides examples of safe riding every time we on the road. It doesn't matter what language you speak if you speak with your actions!

[SadieKate]

I can't get the document to load at the moment (don't ask), so I have a question. The 70% statistic -- does it count only road and urban settings or does this take into account mountain bikers?

Last time I had a hard trail crash it was the fault of that darn root which jumped out in front of me. It should have seen me smoking down that hill and gotten out of the way. Uh-huh. You bet.

[Grog]

I was surprised at the statistic that 70% of bicycle-related accidents are the fault of cyclists.

Have you gals noticed that whenever there is a bike accident, cyclist killed, and no witness, it's always the cyclist that swerved into the car lane or appeared out of nowhere?

Also please notice that it doesn't say that 70% of the cyclists were responsible for the accidents: they say that 70% of the cyclists had violated a traffic rule, and 45% of the motorists had violated the traffic rule. So there is at least shared responsibility on a great number of accidents. Moreover, a motorist can be violating no traffic rule by opening his car door after "looking" (yeah right), but may still cause a cyclist to crash quite heavily. When there's no context provided, I tend to have little trust of bike-car accident stats provided by the police....

However, it's true that countless numbers of cyclists are acting stupidly on their bike, recreational and non-recreational. I think the "think and act like a vehicle" is the most important rule.

[SadieKate]

However, it's true that countless numbers of cyclists are acting stupidly on their bike, recreational and non-recreational. I think the "think and act like a vehicle" is the most important rule.

I think what I am going to call the "bike path culture" for lack of any other term to use is frequently the cyclist's downfall. For some reason, many riders on bike paths or closed roads (like a school campus) completely loose all commonsense. They swerve, they turn in front of other cylists, they don't signal, they don't look at or for anything which might be an obstacle including other cyclists. I could go on and on. You know that they wouldn't be driving so haphardzardly all over the road. But many of these people are taught from childhood that the bike path is only a playground, not a transportation thoroughfare. I am constantly surprised by the number of adults who neither know that cyclists are usually subject to the same laws as cars or commonsense would dictate that you behave the same way, even on a bike path. It just seems obviousl that slower riders should stay to the right and at least look before turning.

Don't even get me started on the pedestrians who stroll down the bike path in our town when there is a sidewalk 3 feet away. Again, I think they are used to treating a bike path through a greenbelt as a playground so they don't understand that some people are using the path as a means to get from point A to point B. Grrr for the soccer parents who congregate on it as the viewpoint from the sidelines. None of these people would do the same in the street.

If we as a culture would teach our children think and act like vehicles on the bike path, it might translate in the long run to better riders and drivers out on the road.

[Nanci]

Less than one in 700 bicycle injuries is fatal.

Only about 30% of bicycling injuries treated in emergency rooms involve collision with a motor vehicle.

Nanci