2011 Bicycle Crash Statistics

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  • July 14, 2011 at 10:36 pm #928109
    CCrew
    Participant

    January 01 1234 BREVARD CT / RICHMOND HWY Bicyclist at fault Drunk in public

    LOL. What a way to start the year :)

    July 15, 2011 at 1:13 am #928118
    RESTONTODC
    Participant

    There is one Reckless driving. Can you get a Reckless driving for riding bike? Should it be Reckless riding?

    July 15, 2011 at 3:56 pm #928132
    acc
    Participant

    WTOP reported on these statistics this morning around 6:30. They made three points.
    1. Reportable bike crashes/incidents are substantially up compared to last year. (Well, maybe we are doing a better job at reporting these events.)

    2. There were no fatalities.

    3. Cyclists were at fault 60% of the time.

    To be picky, the fault rate is more evenly divided when you examine only the cases were charges were filed.

    The last category will reinforce the public’s negative attitude towards cyclists. That’s unfortunate.

    Happy trails from someone who is always at fault,
    ann

    July 15, 2011 at 5:20 pm #928134
    Greenbelt
    Participant

    My job is statistics — these didn’t look very reliable to me, and could potentially be misleading. I wonder how many of the cyclists at fault were children? Do we know anything about reporting rates or what the criteria were for a report? (I was in a wreck with another bike earlier this year, but we decided not to call police or file a report. If we had, would that have been categorized as a “cyclist at fault”? Since the statistics are being reported as if all crashes were car-bike, with bikes reportedly at fault more than half of the time, these bike-bike statistics should be thrown out.) Also, if a report was made, but no charges were brought, should the “at fault” determination in that case (presumbably by the cop writing the report) be disregarded for statistics?

    July 15, 2011 at 5:34 pm #928135
    acc
    Participant

    Exactly. You rock.
    I immediately threw out the collisions where no charges were filed, what could I possibly glean from them?
    I only glanced at the locations but several pop up more than once. One of them is configured in a similar way to the Lynn Street/Lee Highway Intersection of Idiocy in Arlington.

    I’m with you, these numbers are incomplete at best, reinforce negative stereotypes, and except for the list of locations, not useful.

    I love numbers as long as somebody else does the actual math,

    ann

    July 15, 2011 at 5:38 pm #928136
    Tim Kelley
    Participant

    72% of statistics are made up on the spot, but only 16% of people know that…

    July 15, 2011 at 6:04 pm #928137
    acc
    Participant

    Tim, you rock too.
    And I’m not just saying that because you give me free swag.:D

    I’m guessing some of these were reported because 911 was called. And I’m further guessing 911 was called because the cyclist was bleeding (something I try to avoid).

    It’s too bad that the numbers were collected in this manner, tracking bike accidents could be very useful.

    Gotta check out how Spartacus is doing in the Not-So-Free Clinic, he needed some same day surgery,
    ann

    July 15, 2011 at 11:02 pm #928140
    SteveTheTech
    Participant

    @CCrew 5837 wrote:

    January 01 1234 BREVARD CT / RICHMOND HWY Bicyclist at fault Drunk in public
    LOL. What a way to start the year :)

    I lol’d and pointed that out to my wife. I bet you a beer he wasn’t wearing a helmet and had at least one other dui.

    @RESTONTODC 5846 wrote:

    There is one Reckless driving. Can you get a Reckless driving for riding bike? Should it be Reckless riding?

    I am sure VA has a way for a cyclist to get a reckless ticket. You don’t have to have health insurance but to the pillary if you are driving over 85 on the highway…
    http://www.drivinglaws.org/resources/traffic-tickets/traffic-laws/reckless-driving-virginia-misdemeanor.htm according to this part scam looking site they can get you for just about anything if the officer feels inclined. We have all seen people who have rightfully earned this reward but the guy on a bike must have really done something epic and probably something very dangerous.

    Hopefully we all do our very best to ensure our own personal safety while riding on the streets and crossing points and the safety of our family and friends.

    July 17, 2011 at 5:56 pm #928163
    Allen Muchnick
    Participant

    The Arlington County Police Department, of course, maintains the data on all bicycle crashes (i.e., bicycle-motor vehicle crashes) that it reports to the Commonwealth of Virginia. The real questions are why ACPD doesn’t post this bicycle crash data on the Web and why Arlington’s bicycle program staff and/or the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee aren’t insisting that this happen.

    July 21, 2011 at 7:20 pm #928430
    invisiblehand
    Participant

    @acc 5865 wrote:

    I’m with you, these numbers are incomplete at best, reinforce negative stereotypes, and except for the list of locations, not useful.

    All cycling statistics need a good model to interpret the data in order to identify effects. Otherwise, one can interpret them in a myriad of ways to come to virtually any conclusion. General skepticism is good. Selectively being skeptical — this is not an accusation — is not so good.

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