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The number of Minneapolis residents who bike to work increased last year, but not without a cost. Biking-related fatalities have more than doubled since 2007.
The number of Minneapolis residents who said they bike to work went up almost 50 percent between 2006 and 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
But Nathan Bowie, spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said this year there have already been nine bicycling fatalities statewide this year — last year there were just four.
Greg Kassmir, data manager for Hennepin County Medical Center, said up until July the hospital admitted 88 bicyclists needing treatment for crashes. The hospital treated 115 biking injuries for all of 2007, but this year’s number is expected to exceed that when data for the final two months of summer are calculated.
Additionally, all of the fatalities at HCMC were people who were not wearing a helmet.
Katherine Lust, associate program director at Boynton Health Service, said a huge issue with bicycling safety on campus is that student bikers aren’t wearing helmets.
Mary Sienko, University Parking and Transportation Services spokeswoman , said programs have been developed to get more students to wear appropriate biking gear.
In 2005, Parking and Transportation Services created the Helmets and Headlights Program, which sold 5,765 helmets and headlights between 2005 and 2007, Sienko said.
However, some students still aren’t wearing helmets.
A 2007 Boynton survey found that among students who ride bikes, 57.9 percent said they don’t use a helmet, Lust said.
Dr. Andrew Topliff, who works in urgent care at Boynton , said he sees a variety of bicycling-related injuries almost every day, including road rash and fractures. He has also seen several fatalities. All of them had significant head injuries.
“You are at a disadvantage if you meet up with a car and you are on a bike,” he said. “It’s just that simple.”
Topliff added that he has seen aggressive biking practices around campus.
“People aren’t paying attention to traffic rules,” he said. “Cutting through traffic or holding onto a vehicle are obviously very dangerous practices.”
University police Deputy Chief Chuck Miner said the police get a lot of complaints that bicyclists are not obeying traffic laws.
“Cyclists could be using more caution when they are riding around,” he said.
One area where Miner has noticed safety issues is on University Avenue .
Along University there are one-way bike lanes that go in the same direction as the motor vehicles, Miner said.
“We have been getting complaints that bicyclists are going the wrong way down these lanes, which causes safety hazards,” he said. “Some bikers have the mentality that the laws don’t apply to them, and that is not true. They must obey all the same traffic control devices that motorists must obey.”
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Keep to the side
Bikers need to watch where they are going. Police need to enforce traffic laws which apply to everyone, bikers too. You can't just run red lights or cut people off.
Car Drivers Need to pay attention too!
I bike to work every day from Loring Park to Elliot Park. I've seen a lot of people driving cars run red lights all the time, even minutes after the light has turned red. Car drivers need to give bikers more space when passing them. Bikers have a right to use the full lane, but I always use less than half a lane. I don't want to get side-swiped on the left and I don't want to get "doored" on the right!
Cars need only to watch other cars
The only reason there are biker fatalities is because the bikers are reckless. Not once in the history of mankind has a car ever disobeyed traffic laws. If nobody walked or rode bikes anymore, the world would be a better place, because bikers ask to get hit and cars are great.
Drivers should be better informed...
I would commute daily into downtown via a few different bike paths, but always winding up taking Hennepin Avenue to Sixth Street from Dunwoody area. I have had a woman honking behind me while I'm in the bike lane, and then swerved around me, passing me in the opposing direction bike lane. This is extreme, but I've also had people repeatedly cut me off (on Sixth especially), resulting in me once smashing into the back of a box truck who was illegally turning right. I wasn't hurt, and yes, I was wearing a helmet.
As a result, I've moved to Summit Ave in St. Paul and am much more aware of the cyclists, especially the college students between Macalester and St. Thomas. I will wait to open my car door into a bike lane, and always keep a lookout for cyclists in the right turn lanes. So many times though, I've shook my head (or honked my horn, depending on how crabby I was during the day) when a cyclist disobeyed not only traffic laws, but basic common-sense practices.
There are so many that are great commuters, cycling and auto, but there are many bad or inconsiderate commuters as well. Can there be more resources/advocacy for cyclists AND motorists to know how to behave throughout the metro area?
Cyclists: please obey traffic laws
As a driver who respects biking commuters, and as a hospital administrator, I am concerned about the rise in accidents and fatalities among biking commuters.
I estimate that twice per week, I see a bicyclist decide to blatently ride through a red light after looking briefly both ways to see if a car is coming. Clearly, they feel they are not beholden to the traffic laws to the same extent that an automobile driver is. Please be aware, bicyclists, that that is really dangerous in the long run (and commuters expose themselves day after day). 1 in 1000 times, or 1 in 2000 times, you will simply not see an oncoming car--no human being is perfect, hence, statistically, there will be some small percentage of oncoming cars you will not see. The consequences are likely to be serious if not fatal.
I don't want to be a driver who injures or--God forbid kills--a cyclist, even if the cyclist is "at fault". Please cyclists, obey the traffic rules. The argument that drivers also break traffic rules is, as everyone knows, completely irrelevant.
Car Drivers: Please obey traffic laws!
As a bicyclist who respects driving commuters, and as a concerned citizen, I am afraid about the rise in accidents and fatalities among biking commuters. But hey, how many car-related fatalities are there EVERY DAY?
I estimate that on my daily commute I witness 20 + times PER DAY car drivers that decide to blatantly break various traffic laws, including but not limited to: running red lights, speeding, right turns on reds (sometimes into the path of bicyclists and peds), not yielding when required, rolling through stop signs without a complete stop (most common), driving aggressively, failing to signal for turns/lane changes, failing to provide a minimum 3 foot distance from bikes when passing. Clearly, they feel they are not beholden to the traffic laws to the same extent that other law abiding bicyclists are. Please be aware, car drivers, that that is really dangerous in the long run (and commuters expose themselves day after day). 1 in 1000 times, or 1 in 2000 times, you will simply not see an oncoming bike--no human being is perfect, hence, statistically, there will be some small percentage of oncoming bikes you will not see. The consequences are likely to be serious if not fatal.
I don't want to be a cyclist who pisses off or--God forbid inconveniences--an impatient, road-raging car driver, even if the driver is "at fault". Please, car drivers, obey the traffic rules. The argument that cyclists also break traffic rules is, as everyone knows, completely irrelevant.
I rest my case.
What's hilarious are the
What's hilarious are the idiot bikers who want all the protections of those who drive cars yet don't follow the rules of biking. I can't count how many times that bikers feel as if they have the right of way over everyone in public. Bikers on campus rarely stop at stop signs and they blow through red lights like a waterfall through a chain link fence.
Fuck 'em.
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