I heard a news report the other day that pedestrian and bicyclist road-injury & death rates are rising rapidly. Several reasons, more folks doing those activities b/c of Covid for example. Another risk factor was more SUV’s and trucks on the road, which apparently cause more severe injuries. So is anyone to blame? Should the vehicle manufacturers be required to add safety features to protect pedestrians &bicyclists? Or is the increase caused by the pedestrians & bicyclists themselves, b/c they aren’t using common sense safety precautions?
I’ve been a frequent neighborhood road-bicyclist during the Covid era. My own experience is that while there are indeed some unsafe vehicle-drivers to worry about, most vehicle-drivers are pretty courteous and polite to cyclists, and the biggest safety problem is other bicyclists, who are probably the most unsafe group of road users.
I live in one of the most dangerous areas for cycists. Fatalities are common.
If it occurs between midnight and 4 am, you can count on drugs and alcohol being involved for the car and/or bike.
Since I see car drivers illegally diddling on their phones and bikers doing the same, I’d guess that is a contributor in the daytime. Yes, cyclists diddling on the phones…illegal, too, but I see it all the time.
And then there are the new move ins… retirees or just new to the state… that buy bikes to enjoy the sunshine. They haven’t ridden since childhood and have no idea how to ride safely in traffic. The list of bad behavior is too long to list. I see this stupid behavior often, too.
That would be my theory.
My PHEV emits an electronic tone at speeds of less than 22 mph, in order to alert blind people, and the volume of that noise is actually louder when I am backing-up. And yet, despite that electronic tone and my back-up lights, I have recently had both pedestrians and cyclists walking directly in back of my vehicle while I am slowly backing-up in parking lots.
Luckily, the vehicle’s cross-traffic automatic braking system causes the brakes to stop the vehicle before I can even see these totally-oblivious cretans who are mindlessly flinging themselves into the path of vehicles that have both visual and auditory warnings.
I don’t bike on busy roads myself, too risky imo. But even in the neighborhood I see bicyclists blow through stop signs, even red lights, without even slowing down. This next one may seem hard to believe, but for some reason there’s a bevy of pedestrians who think it is a good idea to walk in the middle of the street, rather than on the sidewalk. ??? Go figure.
And, let’s not forget about the cyclists who don’t have any lighting–front or rear–on their bike. A couple of days ago, when it was very overcast and gloomy–just in time–I saw an older cyclist who was wearing black clothing and a black helmet, and his bike had no lighting. The forward collision avoidance system detected him a second or so before I was able to see him–luckily for him.
I was able to avoid him, but his luck could run out–especially since most of the roads in this area are one lane in each direction, with no shoulder, and older vehicles don’t have any way of detecting cyclists and pedestrians.
The craziest thing I see is highways, where folks are doing 80mph +, with a little BIKE LANE right on the edge of the road! (wtf!?!)
No barrier to protect the cyclists whatsoever.
Are the people who did this insane?
Anyone who would ride a bicycle there would also have to be insane.
This nation as a whole has done little to nothing to promote bicycle transportation as a viable means of commuting. We need protective barriers, raised bike ways above car traffic and separated bicycle only roadways.
We could have had most of this coast to coast easily with the billions sent overseas instead.
But is it because most of the shoulder is littered with debris, this happens often when the rumble strips are placed idiotically 1-2 feet to the right of the fog line. This makes the rumble strips ineffective and also causes debris to collect to the right side of them, making all of the pavement to the right of the rumble strips useless to road cyclists.
There’s no one cause to highlight regarding increase in pedestrian and bicycle accidents. Often it takes a failure on the part of both parties to result in a collision- same as with car to car collisions.
A lot has been done to cars to make them safer. Look at the weird (to me) hood shape of the Mustang car for example. I recall reading it was designed that way to address pedestrian impact injuries. Here’s another design feature I didn’t know about until very recently-
I’m conflicted with noise makers for cars. I understand the issue with making virtually silent cars more noticeable but fear the same ridiculous decibel levels they have for back up alarms that can be heard 1/4 mile away will become more commonplace.
That’s something that seems like it could be addressed by local gov’t authorities, presuming they are concerned at all about the rising cyclist accident & death rate. Good comment.
The noise makers on most newer Hybrids and EV’s are loud enough to be audible if you’re close by but you may not understand which vehicle is making that sound. I’ve heard enough of them to be aware of a vehicle either backing up or approaching but it’s nowhere near as intrusive as car alarms.
If you’re driving a car or riding your bike/walking you need to be aware of what’s going on around you. I’ve seen fellow cyclists blow the stop sign that I was waiting at for cross traffic to clear and luckily the driver slammed on the brakes. This is one of those T instersections where there’s an apartment complex blocking the view until you’re at the intersection.
Heh heh. I saw a biker down there extend their right arm to make a right turn and their left arm to make a left turn. They maybe were gone that day in grade school. I never missed a day. Usually they stayed in the compound though where they would be protected.
+1
Additionally, they cease making noise once you hit 22 mph… or at least that’s the way that it works on my PHEV.
The first time that my neighbor saw my new car, I was driving down the street, and he was doing yard work in front of his house. He immediately came over to tell me that it sounded like I already needed new brake pads on my new car.
When I explained to him that safety regulations mandate that type of noise-making device on cars operating in EV mode, it was new information for him, but he found it interesting because he is already on the waiting list for an E-vette.
