I am filled with self-loathing since I bike AND drive.

As a non-car and non-bike owning pedestrian I would have to say that BOTH cyclists and drivers tend to be unobservant assholes...

Drivers: Keep up the excellent work. UR doing it right.

Only 52 thousand in 80 years? C'mon drivers, you could kill a lot more than that if you were really trying harder.

Seriously, 52,000? Do you have any idea how many people die in car crashes every year?

Dan, this is a silly post. I haven't hit a cyclist with a car, so I'm not "the problem." It's true that cyclists do get hit. Pedestrians get hit. People in other cars get hit. Cars are dangerous vehicles in general because their speed + weight = force. Putting someone behind the wheel of that force, someone who should not be, is an issue.

At the same time, it's silly to have two completely different forms of transportation (safety measures, speed, stopping force, weight, etc.) share the same road. There are far more car-car accidents then there are car-cycle accidents. Most of the car-car accidents are not fatal. It's like one person jousting with a lance, and the other, a Q-Tip.

it's because drivers can afford to be oblivious assholes, they drive around in big protective contraptions, and if they hit things, they will probably live. while bikers, are more likely to pay much closer attention because their lives literally depend on it. hence, the statistic noted in this article.

Of course, the world would be a much easier place for everyone, peds, drivers, bikers, motorcyclists, if we would just take a minute to pull our heads out or our collective asses and pay some fucking attention and stop being completely, totally self-absorbed. just sayin........

@7 Thanks for offering to create entirely separate road systems for bicyclists, pedestrians, skateboarders etc. I hope you can rebuild all my favorite destinations on them so I can get there on my bike. Alternatively, you could just fucking pay attention and slow down.

Thanks for the post, Dan. I have a feeling that actual facts won't sway the opinions of those who feel that ALL or MOST or the MAJORITY of cyclists are horrible people who should be killed immediately. But maybe these numbers will at least cheer up the miserable haters.

@1 Napoleon, that was awesome. Please comment more often.

But, Dan, those are Canadian drivers... !

It's the guys on skateboards that are the problem, right?

Baltimore has got to be one of the most treacherous places to ride. We have some of the rudest, most oblivious drivers around.

If all the bicyclists here were as polite and law abiding as the Canadian bicyclists, I'm sure they wouldn't be responsible for getting run over. But, they aren't polite and law abiding.

@16,

Funny. I could say the same thing about drivers.

I'm a pedestrian by the way, not a bicyclist.

@16, yeah those rude nasty bicyclists. Damn, everyday I see Specialized Rockhoppers running those SUV's right off the road constantly!

Sure, 52,000 is nothing compared to the total number of car drivers/passengers killed in auto-only accidents, but what I'd like to see is a statistic that compares deaths/injuries-per-mile-traveled on bicycles vs. deaths/injuries-per-mile-traveled in automobiles

I don't ride a bicycle because everyone I know who is an everyday bike commuter has sustained significant injuries — dislocated shoulders, broken arms, or worse — but I don't personally know anyone who has suffered major injuries from a car accident.

Sorry but I doubt something like actual facts will help. Bias blaming cyclists is possibly even worse than men insisting women are worse drivers than men. Despite every fucking piece of reality to the contrary.

I wish automobiles would go away and that we would all simply use eco-friendly forms of public transportation or walk or bike all the time. Since that isn't likely to happen any time soon, though, I think the practical approach should be public awareness. The United States is not, and has not been for many decades, a bicycle-friendly place to live. Blame whomever you want for that reality, but it is nevertheless our lot (for now). Therefore, the reasonable, civilized thing for all of us to do--regardless of which type of pedal we are pushing--is to be mindful of the fact that we have to share the road. That requires being thoughtful and careful, regardless of your mode of transportation. I try very hard to do this when I'm behind the wheel of a car, but I can't say the same for the occasional bicyclist who assumes s/he does not have to (a) abide by traffic signals or stop signs; (b) obey the speed limit in residential areas the same way auto drivers do; (c) avoid weaving through traffic, especially when it's congested; and (d) exercise the same amount of caution they expect auto drivers to. I was once berated by a cyclist who ASSUMED I was not paying attention when I opened my car door, when in fact I had seen him in the sideview mirror and took his approach into account. Arguing with him was pointless--he had already made up his mind that he was the good guy and I was the idiot. That sort of attitude, from either side, isn't going to get us anywhere. Given the relative agility and low profile of bikes, he could have appeared almost out of nowhere, even after I had glanced in my mirror. The responsibility for avoiding accidents is shared by all.

As a driver and a cyclist, I can agree that drivers need to take precautions to avoid harming bicyclists because of the size and weight disparity.

On the other hand, I'm sorry I didn't do serious damage to the bicyclist who blew through a stop sign yesterday as I was trying to make a legal left turn at the intersection. He was clearly daring me to hit him.

Most bicycle riders are law-abiding, courteous and cautious. Other cyclists are too stupid or too anarchistic to be on the road and will pay the cost of their stupdity. (True of drivers and pedestrians, too, of course.)

@11 Thanks for not actually reading anything I said.

Especially that part about the fact that I haven't hit anyone on a bicycle. Or considering "bike lanes" and "sidewalks" instead of "completely separate road systems." I'm glad you're on a bicycle because I'd hate to see someone lacking these reasoning skills behind the wheel of something heftier.

Maybe you should just fucking pay attention, slow down, and read what I typed before you open your holier-than-thou-best-person-ever-cyclist mouth? Hmm?

No, no. Let's just yell at all the good drivers. That'll show us.

The primary threat to cyclists from drivers is the illusion of control. Drivers assume that because 99.99% of the time they don't have an accident, that they understand the variables involved in driving. Thus they make rights at red lights without stopping, roll through stop signs, change lanes without looking, drive too fast in residential areas, tail gate, and so on. Most of these aren't that big of a deal when dealing with other motorists, as they cause fender benders and whatnot, but can kill a cyclist in a heartbeat.

Of course cyclists suffer from the illusion of control too, which leads them to do all the stupid things they do.

As a fellow non-driving cyclist, I have to say that in my experience, drivers get the most confused when I actually am following the law and behaving like a vehicle. Drivers *expect* cyclists to do what the fuck ever and mostly act like pedestrians because most other cyclists I share the road with do.

This confirms my own belief that there would be less accidents if bike riders and auto drivers just followed all the rules of the road. Niether has the right to breeze through stop signs or yield signs.

Share the road, share the rules.

25 - Every time I try to sit and wait my turn at a stop light, some fucking asshole in a 'Merican made truck creeps up on my ass, then honks his horn if I don't sidle off to the edge or creep through the other cars like he thinks I should.

if all else fails in Slogland and hits are low, post something about Critical Mass/cyclist rights/evil car drivers...

yes, Dan and EVERYONE of those fatalities was the SOLE responsiblity of the car drivers...I'm positive that NONE of those poor cyclists had ANY culpability in the accidents...NONE! Not a single one!

Yawn.

obey the speed limit in residential areas the same way auto drivers do

First, it's hilarious that you think auto drivers obey residential speed limits. Second, how exactly are bicyclists to be expected to obey the speed limit? Ever notice how many stop signs there are in residential areas? How is a bicyclist supposed to do better than 10 mph if he/she is following all the other rules of the road?

Funny this should get posted a week after I T-boned a car on my bicycle. He pulled out of a stop sign across my path, well after I initially saw him. He claimed he didn't see me and the cop agreed -- no fault assigned. This was the second time I was ever in a serious bicycle accident and in both times I was relying on other people to do what they're supposed to. Generally, I am not a law abiding bicyclist. I run red lights, stop signs, and the like, when I have a clear sight line. I've never had a close call doing any of those things. Every single one of my close calls and the two accidents I mentioned were the result of cars or pedestrians not paying attention. This is not to say I haven't lost concentration -- of course I have. But I've been cycling in a variety of places around the US and my own stats support the claim made in the article.

As a motorcyclist, things are a little better, because I don't have the same kind of closing speeds from other vehicles overtaking me from behind and I'm able to wear better protective gear. But I've seen plenty of people look right at me and proceed to take over my lane as though I was invisible.

The problem is lack of driver education. It's too easy to get a license in this country. It's as simple as that. And it will never change because no one wants to be bothered to learn to drive properly. I could go on...

52,000 over 80 years is 650/year. That's a rounding error. More people than that drown in their bathtubs. If that number is correct, it's a excellent argument that we needn't spend one more dime making the roads safer for bicyclists.

**Ahem** - BULLSHIT. The study in question reaches no such conclusion.

For one thing, the study applies a typology of accident scenarios, but DOES NOTclassify collisions by fault.

Although they may refer to the actions of only one party, these labels are not intended to assign fault. Indeed, it is possible that a cyclist could have been wholly or partially at fault in a “Drive Out…” collision (if he or she rode off the sidewalk into a crosswalk and collided with a vehicle that had moved into the crosswalk area after stopping, for example), and vice versa.

For another, Project Freeride's interpretation of the study (which Freakonomics - and Dan - should have reviewed more carefully) did not list all the scenario categories. Cyclist-initiated ("ride out") contacts comprised 20% of the classified incidents under study.

The study also notes that ~30% of involved cyclists

were cycling on the sidewalk immediately prior to their collisions, making this the most frequent "possible contributing factor."

Finally, of the FATAL incidents under study, 30% were "ride out" scenarios and 20% were "Other" (Not classifiable according to the collision typology), though "Other" made up only 4% of all collisions.

@19-I've been a daily bike commuter for a decade and have never had a major injury.

I know many people who've had serious injuries in car accidents.

Bicyclists are worse than Hitler.

There, I said what everyone was thinking.

Cars are still by far the #1 cause of death for people under 45. Like I've said before, our #1 priority as citizens and for the government should be to reduce the deaths of young people. By that measure, car drivers are our #1 social problem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Causes…

...And who funded this study? Who is putting out this study? Bikers. Who would it be biased towards? Bikers. Who would it be biased against? Drivers.

I mean, if you can invalidate studies by asking who funded them...

Slog is messing up that link. Right click, open in new tab or window.

@36: WRONG.

Cars are our God-given right as Americans.

The Fat people with dementia are killing the skinny ones who peddle their asses all over town -watch out!!!

it's just too bad that most people are stupid.

(in a car, on a bike, in life and on this comments thread).

@7 - velocity and mass = momentum. Force would be the result when you ran over someone in your car and decelerated.

@25 - Being passed on the right is legal due to SMC. Passing on the right is legal, given sufficient space to do so. Also, Seattle does not define a minimum lane width by statute, so a 'lane' exists wherever there is sufficient space to drive. And bikes are allowed to operate on the roadway (car traffic lane + shoulder) where cars are generally restricted from operating on the shoulder. Therefore, filtering forward is usually legal.

The same logic makes it legal for cars to pass cyclists without having to cross the centerline every time.

I was driving down eastlake less the ten minutes ago and at a red light on Lynn no less then *8* bicyclists flew through the red light, weaving out from behind a bus while dozens of cars waited legally at the light.

That's all I'm gonna say.

1. I used to ride my bike to work when I lived in NYC. Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge on a bike is one of the greatest things ever. As a result, if, while driving, I see someone using a bike for transportation, I give them plenty of room and make extra sure that my actions are signaled.

2. If you want to see me go frothing and incoherent, mention those goddamn boomer assholes on their Canondale bikes wearing those ridiculous fucking outfits as they navigated the narrow, twisting back roads of Bucks County, Pennsylvania when I lived there. What the fuck is it with boomers? They can't just take a goddamn bike ride, it has to be THE BEST and they have to be THE MOST COMPETITIVE. If one of them went under my wheels, I would not even slow down and I'd be smiling for the rest of the day.

As the more vulnerable person in the equation (a cyclist on a street with cars), the burden is on YOU to watch out for cars that could hit you and react accordingly. Fuck right of way -- in an accident, you lose. No matter what the law says, it's on you if you don't want to win a spiritual Darwin award.

By the way, I've been struck by cars twice -- once as a pedestrian and once as a bicyclist. My damn fault.

I've been on both sides of the street on this one. When I was a cyclist, I had to be extra careful every time I went on the road, because I knew I was a lot less visible. When I went back to driving, I had a lot more caution when bikes were on the road.

I've seen plenty of cars who thought they owned the road and I've had a few close calls. But I've also seen cyclists who were just as bad as their four-wheeled neighbors. Problem is, when the two get together the cyclist always loses.

I can't say I'm surprised about the 90 percent figure. Looking at my own behavior, I am a far worse driver when I'm behind the wheel than when I'm behind the handlebars. Just goes to show how dangerous cars are, and how much we take them for granted.

So how do you cure "clumsy or inattentive driving?" Maybe have a more stringent licensing policy? Make public transit more available/attractive/affordable? I don't think the insurance companies ca really do anything about it.

Ummmm...Dan, get a clue. Bad drivers exist, and for the good, courteous drivers, they're in the same boat as the bad cyclists. I complain about stupid drivers proportionately to the amount that I complain about stupid cyclists (that is, more, because there are more cars than bikes), and I also complain about stupid pedestrians. On my way home today, I saw 3 stupid cyclists (the one guy gets a partial pass for apologizing to the driver, but that's canceled out by the douche who yelled at the driver when HE clearly did the dumb, illegal thing...passing the driver on the turning side in a dedicated turn-only lane when the turn signal was green and the driver was properly signaling his intention to turn..no bike lane in play), probably 10 or 15 stupid drivers, and LOTS of stupid pedestrians (ummmm...if you're jaywalking, and you almost get hit, it's YOU'RE fault! They dumbed the damn signs down to flashing people and hands and you STILL can't figure it out???). You know what I commented on on Facebook? The 4 or 5 drivers I saw wearing HEADPHONES (not even just one, TWO) while driving. See, proportionate. Yes, the majority of car-on-bike accidents are the car's fault. Fine, it's a fact and you're highlighting it. But, stupid, irresponsible cyclists exist. The fact that responsible, courteous drivers complain about them is also just a fact of life. If someone complains about cyclists, ask them how they feel about drivers, and what their driving record is. If they have few tickets and accidents, and also think most drivers are douches, they're just commenting on what sticks out...the dumb ones. I don't even NOTICE the courteous, responsible cyclists, because they don't affect me in any way (and I've had 1 ticket on a technicality in the last 10 years (couldn't see the no turn on red sign because of trees growing over it, and still did it safely) and NO accidents for the last 12 years, and of the 3 that I've had EVER only 1 was my fault and I was 17 at the time).

Actually, I have one story about courteous, responsible cyclists. Several years ago when I lived in a rural area, I was driving home one day when I encountered the university cycling club (I had encountered them on other occasions, and they were courteous and responsible then, too, but it doesn't stick out). They were all in the shoulder and signaling a left turn. So I slowed to a near stop to allow them to turn. The lead cyclist began waving me past, and we exchanged courtesy waves as I passed him. Why would they do this? I was on a high-speed, two-lane, curvy, hilly rural highway, and they realized, as I did later, that having me stop to let them make their turn (which they had the right-of-way to do), would put both me and them at more risk than just letting me pass and THEN making their turn. That's ALSO what courteous drivers do...we give up our right-of-way when it's easy or reduces the risk of an accident. That and following the law in every case that it puts them or drivers or pedestrians at risk isn't asking too much of cyclists, is it?

If you were serious about this Dan, your paper would stop receiving advertising dollars from automobile companies.

But you're not, and you wont.

@23...can you please come ride your bike in DC? Because I've been hit by *3* cyclists as a pedestrian in my life, and 0 cars. I'm sorry...you're harder to see when I'm crossing the street on a walk signal (and all the secret service SUVs are parked along the curb), and I didn't come equipped with rear-view mirrors to see you coming up behind me on the SIDEWALK (that little painting of a bicycle with a NO sign over it means you're not allowed to ride there), and they didn't install see-around-the-corner mirrors and traffic lights on blind SIDEWALK corners so that I could see you coming when I passed the building. See...irresponsible people ruin it for everyone. And it HURTS to get hit by a bicycle!

I also almost got hit by a car today because he pushed the turn arrow too far and both almost caused a crash with the cars AND almost hit me and other pedestrians. Just being fair.

Here is is the Washington state law that @44 refers to declaring it legal for bicyclists to use the right lane edge or sholder to pass cars stopped at a light.

It's funny that cars get so indignant at that activity, considering they probably passed the bicyclist earlier in the same fashion, without questioning whether they themselves broke a law. (Which, of course, they haven't.)

Of course, the law doesn't say they can run lights, etc., like almost every Seattle bicyclist does. But in some cases, folks, the rules of the road are actually different for bicyclists. Please educate yourselves.

I hate cyclists... as a pedestrian. This is because I've been hit by bikes while on foot before. It's very unpleasant, and when a cyclist passes within a baby's breath of my ass, it doesn't exactly endear them to me.

Cars, at least when they're paying attention, always give me a wide berth.

Drivers.

In Toronto.

It even said so in the study itself, Dan.

Get a larger sample before you make blanket statements.

@35
Au contraire!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2231/2514…

(Not a real war poster, it's been modified.)

In my experience as a cyclist, cars are usually better behaved towards me when they don't see me, in which case they act predictably.

The collisions I've had on a bicycle were pretty clearly faultless; I'm going down MLK at 440 MPH; a driver poorly executes the first leg of a three-pointer, blocking my path.

The near collisions I can attest to drivers, often due to not signaling on the presumption that the street was empty (even though one is expected to signal regardless of visible traffic). Still, when I'm pretending to be a shadow, I can't really blame them.

I've had more than a few cars deliberately run me off the road, or refuse to give me any berth. It's for that reason, and since few are willing to treat me as a fellow car, that I refuse to treat them as a fellow bicycle.

In traffic, we're all bastards, and we're all saints.

Um, that's only 40 mph. I'm not on my rocketbike.

@63 how big of a sampling do you suggest Gomez?

With a population of 5.5 million, Toronto is the 5th largest city in North America after, Mexico City, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. That's a pretty bug sampling.

@68 Don't be a dumbass.

68. How about other cities? Like, several of them?

I was a bike messenger for a couple of years in SF, and I was actually consistently impressed with how considerate most drivers were about cyclists. Don't give me any of that "well, San Francisco is different" hooey, as I passed and was passed by hundreds of thousands of drivers, many if not most of whom were not from SF. I don't mean to lessen the significance of car-bicycle accidents, but let's remember that the drivers who hits cyclists are in a statistically small minority.

The thing is, I did not learn how to drive until after I worked as a bike messenger. Once I learned how to drive, I realized how very easy it is not to hit a cyclist. It's a two step process:
1) pay attention
2) pretend you care about the person on the bike

On a side note, when you are the a cyclist who is the first vehicle at a red light (in a town where it is legal for a car to turn right on red), scooch a little to your left!

The stats for accidents in either auto-auto or auto-cycle would be alot lower if people would actually learn how to drive. I took myself off the road because I'm a bad driver. Too many people feel that they are entitled to drive because their licenses get renewed without any form of testing. Fill out the paperwork, get the plastic with picture. And I feel that I can say this as I was in a auto-cycle accident. A construction driver passed me too fast. The crosswind from his MUCH larger truck blew me off my bike and broke my arm.

Oh I completely agree with Roger That. I almost hit bicyclists several times before I started biking to work myself. Now I really notice them in my periphery. I think it's hard for car drivers to see bicyclists UNTIL they have been one. It's not that they're from different cultures so much as that driving is usually a robotic activity and it takes training in various road & defensive driving situations to do well in them. I had no idea how effortlessly motorcycles could accelerate from 0 to 70 or decelerate at traffic stops either until I rode one. Why get caught up in a blame and mentality conversation when the issue is more related to neurology and drivers' education?

Woops, that was KungFuJew's comment that I agreed with!

@6: It's usually between 30K and 40K deaths per year in America. The carnage of our wars pales in comparison.

Okay then. There's the law that says you can. But like my mother once told me when I was almost hit by a car (as a pedestrian)whenI told her I had the right of way, "You'll be just as dead as if you were wrong."

@41 As a bike commuter who runs as many red lights as I can (I stop and look first, mind you, I'm not stupid) I'm quite surprised at how many of my fellow bike commuters actually wait at the stoplights. Like, most of them. Many of them even wait behind the stinky cars! BTW, that's the number one reason I filter through to the other side of the crosswalk - car exhaust is disgusting and I don't want to stand there huffing and puffing after climbing Pike sucking down gas or diesel fumes.

Canadian cyclists are probably more likely to be hit by cars. I know that in my city, cyclists can be ticketed for cycling on paths, because they are apparently a hazard to pedestrians.

I have never read a news report that reads 'man seriously injured after being hit by bicycle.' On the flip-side, I've read a bunch of local 'cyclist killed/injured/in critical condition after hit and run incident' articles just this summer. A few weeks ago, a van side-swiped six cyclists at once, panicked , and drove off. One of the cyclists died, and two others are still in bad shape, one of them paralyzed. This happened a few blocks away from my house.

I've always felt that putting an unprotected human being on a tiny metal frame and telling them that they have to ride on the road with fast moving objects that can forget that they're there and crush them like bugs without warning was a bit of a stupid move. It sounds like a recipe for disaster, and pretty much guarantees that I will never bike anywhere down town, because I value my life at least a little.