The bike-friendly San Francisco Bay area has found itself in a period of public introspection after a Santa Clara police officer fell asleep at the wheel in his cruiser and killed Matt Peterson and Kristianna Gough, two dedicated bike racers. Gough was training for the Pre Olympic time trials.
Bay area bicycle fatalities increased 28 percent over the past decade. This, despite the fact that the actual number of automobile-bicycle collisions is down. One problem is that cyclists are blamed for the accidents nearly twice as often as drivers. In the city that gave birth to the defiant Critical Mass bike protest, drivers will attest to the arrogance of cyclists--who run lights and blast through stop signs.
Yet another problem is that even though the City has added bicycle lanes over the years, many of these lanes are along the busiest, most dangerous thoroughfares in San Francisco. Inadvertently, they are luring cyclists into danger.
New York City Transportation Dept. planners have been consulting with Danish urban designer Jan Gehl on a plan for the city's first-ever physically separated bike lane in Manhattan. Unlike the typical on-street bike lane where cyclists mix with motor vehicle traffic, this new design will create an exclusive path for bicycles. Copenhagen has used these lanes for years and has seen its fatality rates plummet. Motorists won't be happy to see traffic lanes converted to bicycle-only thoroughfares, yet these would reduce emissions and noise and would encourage more people to bike to work. It's an idea that San Francisco and other congested metropolitan areas should consider as well.
Sources: San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, New York Times, Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Photo: Richard Massoner licensed through Creative Commons
