I looked a this report when it came out (last week nationally.) I sort of see the report as "good news/bad news" with regard to the actual data.
Good news: They are actually bringing up the issue, which is sorely under-studied and under-reported. As the narrative says, we need much better data about how, why, when, and where bicycle crashes happen. As well, this is one of the few studies that have been done nationally in the last decade or so. (Try Googling "bicycle crash type," and there isn't much. Here's<http://katana.hsrc.unc.edu/cms/downloads/PedBikeCrashTypes.pdf>sort of the gold standard, and it's from 1996.) There were comprehensive analyses of bicycle crashes previously, but none that have happened since the transportation-bicycling boom in the last decade. Bad news: The data is very, very spotty. FARS is far from reliable for things like traffic injuries and fatalities, for reasons I won't go into. The report acknowledges this. There really is no good source for bicycle crash statistics that will give an accurate picture of how, when, why, and where these crashes happen. As we probably all know from personal experience, we may not know immediately that we are hurt. We show up at urgent care or the emergency room hours later, and the injury information is often not reported as part of a bike crash. Even if it is reported as part of a bike crash, the medical personnel are less interested in documenting the conditions under which the crash occurred than treating our injuries. My other concern about this report is that the media has consistently reported that the NUMBER of fatal crashes from urban, rear-end crashes is very high. That might give casual readers the idea that getting hit from behind in an urban area is a common crash type. The truth is that hit-from-the-rear crashes are fairly rare in urban areas., They are far more common in rural area with much less traffic. But there are a lot of people in urban areas, and that means a lot of exposure. The RATE of crashes -- based on number of miles traveled, number of hours on road, or even number of people biking that type of roadway -- for urban area, hit-from-behind crashes is very low. Also, being hit from behind is responsible for a large number of FATAL crashes. One reason for this is that when this type of crash happens, the car is often going very fast. I would guess, although I don't think it is in the report, that the majority of the fatalities resulting from being hit from behind were on high-speed roadways, not the typical low-speed urban street that many bicyclists use. I'm just worried that the casual reader might conclude that being hit from behind is a common occurrence on urban roadways, which is not the case. The most common crash type for adult cyclists remains a failure to yield by a motorist at an intersection. Fortunately, most of these crashes, as with most bicycle crashes of all types, are not fatal or even incapacitating. I'm glad they wrote the report. I'm glad that the media is picking it up across the country. I'm hopeful that this will lead to more and better analysis of what we can do to prevent bicycle crashes. I'm just worried that bad data might lead to incorrect conclusions on the part of the general public. Robbie Webber Transportation Policy Analyst 608-263-9984 (o) 608-225-0002 (c) [email protected] All opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer or any other group with which I am affiliated. On Tue, May 27, 2014 at 7:52 AM, Meiers, Steve <[email protected]>wrote: > > > > http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/writers/steven_elbow/report-looks-at-how-and-why-bicyclists-die/article_c511e8d2-b8a1-5eb2-89a0-c9fca2554435.htmlbicycli > > Steve Meiers > > Safety educator > > (608) 267-1102 > > Box 2986 > > Madison WI 53701 > > [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org > >
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