In 2012, two-thirds or more of fatally injured bicyclists were not wearing helmets, and 28% of riders age 16 and older had blood alcohol concentrations of .08% or higher, the level at which someone is considered impaired.
So more than a quarter of all bicycle-related fatalities were only on their bikes because they were too buzzed to drive home from the bar.
The recommendations at the end of the article are worthwhile, though;
- Building more marked bike lanes.
- Bicycle boulevards that travel through a network of traffic-calmed roads that parallel urban arterials.
- Using bike boxes - a space in a lane before an intersection solely for bikes – that provide bicycle visibility and protection against cars turning right across the bike’s path. So called “right hooks” where cars turn right into the path of a bicycle that has the right of way are one of the most common car-bicycle crashes.
- Build separate bicycle traffic signals with advance green lights for cyclists.
They're all solutions that have been used and worked well in other cities around the world. The marked bike lanes are the easiest to screw up, of course.