A list of people killed while riding a bicycle in San Francisco

A list of people killed while riding a bicycle in San Francisco(medium.com)

20 points by traughber 12 years ago | 8 comments

With some facts and notes I've collected. Please comment or email me if you have something to add.

caseyf7 12 years ago |

Thank you for bringing attention to this. So many young people move here and don't realize SF is one of the most dangerous cities for bikers and pedestrians. I see way too many people riding without helmets. Protected bike lanes would help and I would love to see them convert a few streets into bicycle/pedestrian only.

traughber 12 years ago |

I've added some results from studies on bike lanes and paths (see bottom of the post). Please pass along any feedback you have.

PhantomGremlin 12 years ago |

Building protected bike lanes is probably a smart thing to do.

However, it doesn't solve the problem of arrogant bike riders who believe that the rules of the road don't apply to them. There's an idiot in my neighborhood who insists on blowing thru the local stop sign at about 20 MPH. Much worse, he's taught his young daughter to blow thru the stop sign right behind him.

So what's the percentage of bike riders who get into accidents mainly because of their own stupidity? Is it 1%, is it 10%, is it 90%? I think it's a fairly big number, at least 20%.

I'm not trying to troll here. I'm trying to make the point that quite a few bike riders are dangerous. How do we protect bike riders but also protect the rest of us against that stupid minority?

ceras 12 years ago | |

As a bike commuter, I agree many bikers are not careful enough. But I also know that all close accidents I've ever had were due to drivers simply not paying attention to me (or not caring about my presence). Cars turning left into me when I have right of way; cars making right turns into me without seeing me; cars that drift into the bike lane when they shouldn't (ie, not to make a right turn); cars turning right onto my road that drive into the bike lane before stopping to look left; and many more.

It's easy to see the mistakes bikers make while in cars, but I think they pale in comparison to the mistakes drivers make, which are far more dangerous.

traughber 12 years ago | | |

People driving cars and people riding bikes are sometimes careless, take shortcuts, and break the rules. We do a lot to deter that behavior (citations, education, public awareness campaigns) but there is always going to be some degree of that no matter how hard we try to avoid it.

What we can do, however, is better design our streets so that this behavior from both people in cars, or bikes, or pedestrians doesn't end in serious injury or death as often as it does today.

PhantomGremlin 12 years ago | | |

There's only one way to get drivers to pay attention. But you won't like it:

You must get this message across in Drivers Ed class. That's really the only chance you have to influence the majority of drivers.

Unfortunately for bike riders, you then need to wait 50 years for all the inattentive drivers who didn't learn good habits in Drivers Ed to retire and move to Arizona or Florida.

Other than that, I can't see how you get drivers to pay attention. It just won't happen. Stuff like protected bike lanes is simpler.

But even nicer would be streets without any motor vehicles. Imagine Manhattan with the full length of Broadway reserved exclusively for bikes, pedestrians, pedicabs, etc.