You may have seen the front page article in Sunday’s Lincoln Journal Star about the spike in deaths for those outside of vehicles. While it focuses on the spike in pedestrian deaths, we are vulnerable road users, too. From the article: “Lincoln Transportation and Utilities department is working on a local initiative, “Safe Streets Lincoln” under the national Vision Zero campaign. The goal is to eliminate all roadway fatalities and reduce serious injuries by 60% by 2045. The department believes roadway deaths are preventable and that street design should account for human error. Roberto Partida, transportation planner for LTU, said their analysis for the initiative has revealed some of the dangers for those outside of motor vehicles. Pedestrians are nearly three times more likely to be involved in a crash resulting in serious injuries or death, Partida said. Bicyclists are six times.” (emphasis mine) The article goes on to remind us of safe practices when out walking, and reminds motorists to look to their right even when turning right and focused only on the oncoming traffic on their left. The dreaded right hook. It happens too often.
The Omaha World Herald also included related news on Sunday with “Cities across US failing to curb traffic deaths”. There it states that even with Vision Zero initiatives, traffic fatalities in the U.S. are up 20% over the last decade. “The United States is in the middle of a road safety emergency,” David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, testified during a house Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing this summer. Out of 29 high-income countries, America ranks at the bottom in road safety, Harkey said. “This spike is not – I repeat, is not – a global trend. The U.S. is an outlier.”
I don’t want to dissuade anyone reading this from riding bikes. Cities in Europe and a few places in the U.S. have had success with Vision Zero. Lincoln has a grant to implement Vision Zero changes through the Safe Streets Lincoln initiative. Many of you weighed in on the survey last July. It’s a complex problem. One thing for sure though is that the more bikes motorists see, the more they see us. As in they expect to encounter us and we’re not a surprise. Strength in numbers.
