Takeaways from the 2020 Cycling Death Project: Bicycle Safety Tips Cyclists Need to Know #safetytips

There are some really interesting takeaways from where the cycling crashes happened in 2020 which cyclists should understand because it could affect the choices they make when they ride. These bicycle safety tips could save your life. In this study they had one segment on where these crashes occurred in terms of suburban, urban, and rural. And surprisingly, they were pretty evenly divided. They pointed out some reasons why. For instance, crashes occur in rural settings because they typically don't have shoulders or bike paths. They lack the type of infrastructure that you'd find in a more urban setting where there's stop signs and signals and all the things that go with intersections. Also, drivers are not necessarily looking for cyclists in rural settings. So, if you're a cyclist this is something to keep in mind.

Another interesting thing the study pointed out is that most crashes occurred on arterial roads. The data was 65% of the fatal crashes across the country occurred on an arterial road. So what is an arterial road? Typically speaking, it's usually a road in a high volume, urban or suburban setting. It's the road that takes all the feeder roads and takes them towards the major interstate or highway. Arterial roads are roads with a high amount of traffic where there are stop signs and stoplights. Typically, they are in commercial areas where you've got multiple places where cars enter and exit driveways onto the road. Speed limits tend to be at least 30 or 35 and many times 45 miles an hour. And one of the things they mentioned was the unprotected left turn lane. This is a situation where the driver is waiting at the center break and they are making a left turn at an intersection. In this type of scenario the driver is hyper-focused on cars and not cyclists coming against where they want to turn. Again, this is something cyclists should be aware of when riding on these types of roads.

And then the final thing they pointed out is that there was a definite spike in bike sales. Of course, we all know that bike shops were sold out in 2020 during the spike of the pandemic. In the United States, in the latter part of 2020, there was $4.9 billion in bike sales. With that being said, this also reflected in cycling crashes. Unfortunately, when you look at the data for crashes nationwide, they definitely spike in the late spring and summer of 2020 when the cases were going up because more people and motorcycles were on the road. With the COVID crisis, so many people who were new to cycling or hadn't done it in awhile were purchasing bikes and starting to ride. Jim thinks this affected the increase in cycling accidents.

#cyclingdeaths #cyclingsafety #cyclingfatalities #cyclist #cyclists #cycling

[prodivesandiego]

Very interesting program with great takeaways on which roads and potential hazards when riding on and in choosing the paths to takes from A to B! Obviously Your VISIBILITY is paramount when considering ANY PATH, but these points presented are invaluable advice and should be of great consideration when deciding and choosing safest passage!

[joelamb]

As if I needed more motivation to stick to the back roads lol