Good evening, Tomorrow I'll be interviewed about Max's Challenge and cyclist/pedestrian safety and rights at 9:15 AM. I'm hoping to have Max there, I'll definitely have Christian (our German exchange student) there to talk about what every German schoolchild knows about sharing roads safely.
Tune in, it should be interesting. I'm already encouraged by the positive tone that was shown Friday when they discussed it briefly. Thanks to everyone who has supported the educational effort - most especially the ones who do it by riding every day showing what biking can do for the community. I hope this is the beginning of getting bike safety and courtesy taught in the schools.
Nick Hein
---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: "Jim Rye" Jim.Rye@mail.wvu.edu Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:07:30 -0400
Outstanding, Nick. Great STATS!!!!!!!!! Oh, I understand there may be even better "country case stories" available from Denmark and Holland.
"director" director@positivespin.org 8/23/2008 10:24 PM >>>
A recent Dominion Post editorial declared the danger of driving on the roads by anyone, at anytime, for any reason. Safety is dependent on human behavior - not cars or roads or bike lanes. Educating drivers and cyclists is what will improve safety by motivating everyone to be part of a cooperative road-using community. Safety is our common cause and we should be using common experience to achieve it. Common *sense* is helpful, but not complete since our senses are fallible. Many cities all over the world have already made this change and their experience is available to us from numerous sources.
The summary is this * Incidents between motor vehicles and bicyclists traveling the same direction make up only .5% of crashes. Bike lanes increase accident rates by causing confusion about who should operate where and how * particularly at intersections. Streets with bike lanes have greater crash rates than those without. When cyclists ride on sidewalks, crash rates are 2 times as high as for those who share the road safely. Bike lanes attempt to reduce crashes for parallel traffic, with the effect of causing more crashes for crossing and turning traffic. Bicyclists fare best when they act, and are treated, as operators of vehicles. If a bicycle is moving slowly, it should be treated like any other slow vehicle. Overtaking vehicles should wait until it is safe to pass, or the cyclist should pull over when it is safe to do so.
We currently have an exchange student staying in our home from Bergisch-Gladbach Germany, where It is nearly as hilly as here. He tells us that German school children are required to take a full-day bicycle safety class at age 8. They are tested and issued a license when they pass the test, which everyone does. Liability laws dictate that motorists are always assumed to be at fault unless flagrant violation by the cyclist can be proven. Only the most affluent European cities and neighborhoods have bike lanes or bike paths. In most cities and on most routes cyclists share the road with motor vehicles. In these places the safety and traffic flow is the best anywhere in the world. Morgantown can be one of those places if we adopt the education, discipline and cooperation they have. Then everyone (motorists and cyclists alike) will be able to get where they need to go * on any road, for any reason at any time of day or year, safely and enjoyably.
Nick Hein director@positivespin.org
Major points
Painting bike lanes doubles accidents in cities at intersections
Riding on sidewalks quadruples accident rates in cities at
intersections, driveways, merge ramps
Shoulders are not part of the roadway
Sidepaths are not described or defined
Delay by slow vehicles is not prescribed in any definite terms
Riding 2 abreast is legal
I cycling is unsafe it is because motorists are breaking the law
Drive at or below the speed limit.
It is illegal to ride a bicycle anywhere except in the road way (ie
NOT on sidewalks)
- Bicyclists fare best when they act and are treated as operators of
vehicles.
- It is the Morgantown Bicycle Board's mission statement that
"Bicyclists be able to ride anywhere, anytime for any reason safely and enjoyably".
- I moved to Morgantown from Seattle, a large city where they have put
bike lanes in places where they caused confusion at least and fatalities at worst.
- Common sense was used in the Netherlands and Denmark
The Netherlands and Denmark, which have achieved the highest rates of cycle usage combined with the best records for safety in the world, used to give their segregated cycle path networks primary importance in gaining these twin goals. However, the largest study ever undertaken into the safety of Danish cycle facilities has found that actual safety has decreased as a result.[25] More recently, Shared Space redesigns of urban streets in those and other countries have achieved significant improvements in actual safety (as well as congestion and quality of life) by replacing segregated facilities with integrated space.
Contrary to what was expressed on this page as "Common Sense", segregated bike ways (bike lanes) actually increase accident rates.
The editorial brings about an excellent opportunity to dispel some pervasive myths about the safety of cycling on roadway with motor vehicles.
Response to Dominion Post editorial, 19 Aug 2008
In a recent Dominion Post editorial the statement was made *....driving on practically any road by anyone, at anytime for any reason can be about the most dangerous thing most of us do on a daily basis.* This statement seems to give permission to motorists who flagrantly violate laws and safety so the rest of us are terrorized into cowering in our (90% inefficient, 80% oversized) cars or bicycling on a separated lane or path to feel safe. If it's unsafe for anyone on the roads it's because someone else is acting inappropriately. Safety is dependent on human behavior, not cars or roads or paint stripes. Education and enforcement is what will improve safety by motivating everyone to be part of a cooperative road-using community.
Safety is our common cause and we should be using common experience to achieve it. Common *sense* is helpful, but not complete since our senses are fallible. Experience is available to us in all types of cities * size, terrain, weather, populations * from historical sources. The summary is this * bike lanes increase accident rates by causing confusion about who should operate where and how. Streets with bike lanes have twice the crash rate of those without. When cyclists ride on sidewalks, crash rates are 4 times as high as for those who share the road safely. Incidents between motor vehicles and bicyclists traveling the same direction make up only .5% of crashes. Bike lanes attempt to reduce crashes for parallel traffic, with the effect of causing more crashes for crossing and turning traffic. *Separate but equal* isn't any better for vehicle separation than it was for racial separation. Bicyclists fare best when they act, and are treated, as operators of vehicles * and federal law requires it.
Clearly there is a gap here in Morgantown when it comes to planning and education for cycling safety and transportation efficiency. It's not really hard to understand why. Participation in bicycling has taken great leaps locally thanks to rising gas prices, health awareness and new trails. Cyclists don't want to stop when the trail does. We haven't given motorists OR cyclists the education or motivation they need to use our roads cooperatively. Myself and another avid cyclist teach a nationally certified course that does. Graduates of this course typically experience an 80% decline in crashes.
We currently have an exchange student staying in our home who tells says that European school children are required to take a full-day bicycle safety class at age 8. They are tested and issued a license when they pass the test and no one is allowed to fail. Liability laws dictate that the motorist is always assumed to be at fault unless he/she can prove that the cyclist flagrantly broke a law. In spite of what you may have seen, only the most affluent European cities and neighborhoods have bike lanes or bike paths. In most cities and on most routes cyclists share the road with motor vehicles. In these places the safety and traffic flow is the best anywhere in the world. Morgantown can be one of those places. When we do what it takes (and not less), everyone (motorists and cyclists alike) will be able to get where they need to go
- on any road, for any reason at any time of day or year, safely and
enjoyably.
Anyone interested in references for statistics used in this article may contact Nick Hein at director@positivespin.org.
Major points
Painting bike lanes doubles accidents in cities at intersections
Riding on sidewalks quadruples accident rates in cities at
intersections, driveways, merge ramps
Shoulders are not part of the roadway
Sidepaths are not described or defined
Delay by slow vehicles is not prescribed in any definite terms
Riding 2 abreast is legal
I cycling is unsafe it is because motorists are breaking the law
Drive at or below the speed limit.
It is illegal to ride a bicycle anywhere except in the road way (ie
NOT on sidewalks)
- Bicyclists fare best when they act and are treated as operators of
vehicles.
- It is the Morgantown Bicycle Board's mission statement that
"Bicyclists be able to ride anywhere, anytime for any reason safely and enjoyably".
- I moved to Morgantown from Seattle, a large city where they have put
bike lanes in places where they caused confusion at least and fatalities at worst.
- Common sense was used in the Netherlands and Denmark
The Netherlands and Denmark, which have achieved the highest rates of cycle usage combined with the best records for safety in the world, used to give their segregated cycle path networks primary importance in gaining these twin goals. However, the largest study ever undertaken into the safety of Danish cycle facilities has found that actual safety has decreased as a result.[25] More recently, Shared Space redesigns of urban streets in those and other countries have achieved significant improvements in actual safety (as well as congestion and quality of life) by replacing segregated facilities with integrated space.
Contrary to what was expressed on this page as "Common Sense", segregated bike ways (bike lanes) actually increase accident rates.
The editorial brings about an excellent opportunity to dispel some pervasive myths about the safety of cycling on roadway with motor vehicles.
-- Nick Hein Director, Positive Spin Morgantown, WV ph 304-276-0213 --
Bikeboard mailing list Bikeboard@cheat.org http://cheat.org/mailman/listinfo/bikeboard
-- Nick Hein Director, Positive Spin Morgantown, WV ph 304-276-0213 --