Bacciagalupe

There may be a few threads that touch on this already, but for the truly lazy here's a link to the report just released on bike fatalities and injuries in NYC fron 1996 - 2005. Highlights include:

• 92% of fatalities involved motor vehicles
• 89% of crashes happened at intersections
• Only one fatal crash occurred in a bike lane
• Riders were not wearing helmets in 97% of fatalities
• 74% of fatal crashes involved a head injury
• 49% of injuries were strictly head injuries
• Cyclists were only 6% of all transportation deaths
• most fatalities (38%) occured between 3pm - 8pm
• Who's responsible?
42% = cyclist only at fault
20% = vehicle only at fault
36% = both bike & vehicle
• What is the cyclist doing wrong?
38% = disregarding traffic laws
20% = not paying attention
• And last but not least, 11 pedestrians killed by cyclists during the entire period. C'mon people, you're not trying hard enough!


Of course, NYC is a unique urban environment, and factors in play in NYC are unlikely to apply in, for example, suburban or rural environments. But it definitely seems like for those of us who play in traffic, the rational course of action is to wear a helmet, obey traffic laws, pay attention, be extra careful when riding behind large vehicles, and stick to bike lanes where possible.

Have fun with the report....

Helmet Head

What percentage of road miles have bike lanes in NYC? The lack of bike lane fatalities could be simply because there are so few bike lanes, not because cyclists are any safer in the bike lanes.

genec

They may not be safer... but it sure appears as though BL are not as deadly as some "experts" believe

Blue Order

You mean bike/car accidents happen where bicyclists are found? Just like SBHikes and I have been saying?

Bacciagalupe

I didn't see a specific stat on that -- but I do believe it's a small percentage. A very very rough guess, based on the NYC bike map, is 5% or less.

The report isolates a few "hot spots" for bike fatalities. I believe that only one of them has on-street bike lanes (Bergen Ave in Brooklyn).

Also FYI, at least 4 of the major MUP's run around the perimiters of the boroughs, and as a result have minimal interaction with vehicular traffic. For the period covered by the report, I only see 3 fatalities on those routes, although I believe there was one (maybe two?) well-publicized deaths on the West Side Greenway. (Guy riding at night, no lights, no helmet, struck by a sanitation vehicle).

joejack951

For those accidents that happened at intersections, since the bike lane ends at the intersection like all pavement stripes do, are those accidents not considered "bike lane accidents" even though they occurred on a bike laned road? Something tells me that those intersection accidents are treated as a seperate entity and the bike lane is disregarded as a factor.

LittleBigMan

Not to muddy the waters, but I clicked in the underlined link and got only a pdf cover page. So after a little Googling, I found this interesting document:

https://www.nysgtsc.state.ny.us/media/ShareTheRoad.pdf

"A bicycle or in-line skating path is separate from a roadway, and a bicyclist or in-line skater may use either. In some cases, a roadway may be safer than a nearby bicycle or in-line skating path, as well as more convenient."

"Bicyclists and in-line skaters may travel two abreast on a shoulder, lane or path intended for bicycling and skating use only if there is sufficient space. However, they must be single file when passing parked or moving vehicles, pedestrians and other bicyclists or in-line skaters."

"Never assume bicyclists will position themselves on the road as far to the right as possible. Experienced bicyclists often ride in the center of the traffic lane as much as three to four feet from the curb or row of parked cars. This allows them room, and time, to avoid road hazards. It also helps them to be noticed more easily by other bicyclists, pedestrians, in-line skaters and non-motorized scooter operators, and motorists."

"Be aware that when the road is too narrow for cars and bikes to ride safely side-by-side, bicyclists and in-line skaters should ride in or near the center of the lane to discourage motorists from trying to pass them."

I never knew in-line skaters had the same rights as vehicle operators. Fine with me! But I'd bet most motorists would lose a lot of money betting on this one. Then, this is New York State, not Georgia...

Hambone

Is the accident you site the one a few months ago? The one with the doctor who was riding home from dinner with his wife? I never read he had no light. He was struck by an NYPD tow truck (not Sanitation.) It is a well lit area and short of a spinning volunteer fireman light on top of his head, I bet lighting would not have done much to change things.

That death highlights how critically one must read these reports.

The NYPD declared that the tow truck driver was not at fault. Based on the traffic patterns and the rules of the road, there is no way that accident happened without the NYPD driver having been at fault! Either 100% at fault or shared culpability.

Hambone

Isn't the more important question how many rider miles are in bike lanes versus on the general road?

I'm new to the A&S forum but have seent his question a few times.

We don't have huge percentage of bike lanes but NYC has BL routes to much of the city. My commute is 14 miles each way (from Brooklyn to Harlem) and I could do 99% of it on BLs. ("Could" because I prefer hillier Riverside Drive to the Greenway Path.)

DCCommuter

That's exactly what I thought when I read the stats claiming that cyclists were at fault in a majority of accidents. Keep this in mind: for the most part, when a cyclist is killed by a car, there are two witnesses. One of them, the cyclist, is dead. The other, the motorist, probably didn't see the cyclist or he wouldn't have hit him. The motorist also has an interest in describing the accident in terms that limits his liability -- I've seen lots of accidents reported where the driver says something along the lines of I was driving along and the cyclist swerved in front of my. Right. And the cops only get the driver's story if he sticks around -- according to an earlier study, in roughly 30% of fatal accidents in NYC the driver is never identified.

So I would be leary of any report that purports to analyze the circumstances of accidents. I don't buy the bike lane usage numbers in this report either for the same reason.

Stacy

Interesting discussion about this on NYC Public Radio Brian Lehrer's radio show entitled Wheeling and Dealing
with Noah Budnick, of Transportation Alternatives and Iris Weinshall , New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner - on the city's effort to make biking in New York safe


https://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2006/09/14

DCCommuter

Here are some stats from the body of the report:
53% of fatalities on arterial (4 lane or more lanes)
40% on local streets
7% on limited access highways (where cycling is prohibited)

89% of fatalities at intersections
11% midblock

If you assume that the midblock fatalities include the limited access highways, which by definition have no intersections, the conclusion is that virtually all fatalities on city streets happen at intersections.

DCCommuter

Here's what the report says:

Bacciagalupe

Yep, that's the one. I've been there at night, it did not strike me as particularly "well-lit," certainly not well enough to replace lights. Cyclists at night without lights are damned near invisible.

Unfortunately I can't find the article that mentioned lights and I may be wrong on that point. I see few people who ride with lights but without a helmet, though, so I think that's a reasonable induction.


...? The report does not cover 2006, so I'm not really sure how that's relevant. Since that individual was not wearing a helmet, died from head injuries, was male, there were not dozens of deaths on that Greenway in 2006 etc., I do not see how that single incident produces a concise critique of a multi-year statistical analysis of the available crash data.


...? There are cyclist-only traffic lights on those intersections of the Greenway. If the cyclist runs a red light and gets hit, it's exclusively the cyclists' fault, as they are the one who violated the traffic laws. In the same fashion, if you're in a car, you run a red light and get hit by another car, you are 100% at fault. Being on a bike does not alter that allocation of responsibility.


Dead people do not qualify as "witnesses." In the incident on the Greenway, there were two witnesses -- the driver and another cyclist.


Anyone who's in an accident of any sort is highly likely to describe the accident to their advantage. Riding a bicycle does not magically increase the integrity of one's statements or one's ability to process an event in a more objective fashion.

I can't even tell you the number of times I've seen cyclists engaged in unsafe behavior: running lights and stop signs, wrong-way cycling, no helmet, no lights at night, etc. So in NYC, that 46% figure sounds like it's in the right ballpark to me....

Bruce Rosar

BTW, vehicle operators in most (all?) states don't have rights just because they're vehicle operators. Everyone has an equal right to travel the public's ways (including the roads) just by virtue of being a member of the public.

Traveling while operating a heavy vehicle (i.e., car, truck, etc.) is limited by the government because of the extraordinary danger that poses to other members of the public and their property. In contrast, human powered travel (whether on wheels or feet) rarely (never?) poses that much danger to others.

Stacy

More likely the report is referring to Keith Alexander Bonanno, 41, who lost control and hit his head on the guardrail, while riding on the Shore Parkway Greenway, in Brooklyn, in 2005.

The Shore Parkway has recently been restored and repaved.
https://www.transalt.org/press/media/2006/428.html

Hambone

I printed and read the whole thing last night.

I'll clear up a few things I said which were wrong or unclear.

About several references to the doctor who was killed by the NYPD tow truck on the greenway. I was clearing up the inaccuracies of the post to which I was replying. I was not suggesting that that accident was covered in the report.

And I was addressing the fact that the NYPD has yet to say their driver bore any responsibility for the death.

The tow truck was driving parallel to the path. I could be wrong but I believe the lights for the truck and the lights for the cyclist are the same.

Furthermore, there are signs there saying that motor vehicles crossing the path are obligated to yield to bicycles and pedestrians. The driver did not yield.

Even furthermore, in NYS enforcing one's right of way is not a defense for having caused an accident.

How do you address this: in fatal crashes the cyclist is solely at fault 42% (not 46% -- I'm not quibbling over the 4% just being accurate.)

When the motorist doesn't kill the cyclist but only hurts them real bad and the cyclist is able to actually give their impression, the cyclist is solely at fault 13% of the time. (The report made the point several posters here made that when a motor vehicle operator strikes and kills a cyclist, there is one fewer witnesses for the cyclist.)

Having read the whole thing I found it a much better report than I thought it would be.

Hambone

In ten years not one cyclist was killed by a cab?

I find that hard to believe?