andyt andyt:
Maybe I need a refresher course on rules for bikes as well. What special rules apply except ride single file and ride as far to the right as is safe to do so? I can't think of any. Other than that it's the same rules as cars.
You are basically right. With bicycles it is the errors of ignoring some the other rules like stop signs, yields, walking a bike through a crosswalk, etc. I lifted the following exerpt from a 5 year ALberta study concerning reported bicycle crashes.
$1:
Over the five-year period, 2004 - 2008, there were 3828 collisions involving 3847 bicycles. Approximately three quarters (75.5%) of the collisions resulted in either death or injury. A total of 30 people were killed and 2926 were injured in collisions involving a bicycle over the five years (Table 1).Of bicyclists involved in casualty collisions, 5.0% had consumed alcohol prior to the collision (Table 10).
......
Bicyclists aged 35 to 44 (8.7%) and 45 to 54 (8.5%) had the highest proportion of alcohol consumption per age category (Table 11).
Almost two thirds (62.6%) of bicyclists in casualty crashes made an improper action. The most common errors included disobeying a traffic signal (10.9%) and failing to yield the right of way at an uncontrolled intersection (6.8%) (Table 12).
Over one third (40.3%) of the drivers of other vehicles involved in casualty collisions with bicycles committed a driver error that contributed to the collision. The most common errors made by the drivers of other vehicles involved in collisions with bicycles included failing to yield
the right of way to pedestrians (7.6%) and making a left turn across the path of another vehicle or a bicycle (6.8%) (Table 13).
An intersection-related traffic control device was present for 33.5% of the bicyclists involved in collisions (Table 14).
An intersection-related traffic control device was present for 48.2% of the other drivers involved in a collision with a bicycle (Table 15).
Almost one third (30.0%) of the bicyclists who were killed were aged 35-44.
In this study 60% of the time the bicycle rider made an improper action and 40% it was another vehicle. Both bicyclists and auto drivers need to share the responsiblity for improving road safety. So targeting soley drivers of powered vehicles for refresher tests is only part of the problem. Any vehicle operator using public roadways needs to be aware of the rules and the consequences.(well if we had enforcement)
Another stat buried in the study was that 98% of bicycle collisions occur in urban areas. I was expecting more than 2% to happen on the highway system. The most fatality collisions were Friday and Saturday while injury incidents has weekdays with Wednesday being the worst. This may be a stretch, but the weekday injury collisions could be related to urban work commuting and the weekend fatality could be on higher speed roadways.
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