Quoted message said:I absolutely agree that we need to stop stereotyping "soccer moms"
I'm beginning to wonder about that one. On my commute this morning, the only three cars that cut me
off were moms with kids in tow...
As for Bicyclist NOT being the problem, I find that to be BS. As a pedestrian, I routinely get run
off the road by bike messengers in chicago, and I see bicyclists cutting stop signs all the time.
This article, which I paste from the March issue of bike traffic from www.biketraffic.org, has some
interesting information on Stopping.
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When I say stop, I mean stop! Jim Nugent, Park Forest
What does it mean to stop? It's getting harder to tell nowadays. In 1979, psychologists studying
drivers' behavior at stop signs noted that 37% came to a full stop, 34% made a rolling stop, and 29%
didn't stop at all. In 1996 3% came to a full stop, another 3% made a rolling stop, while the other
94% just kept on rolling.
In a car-bike accident study researchers looked at 3000 crashes in six states and found that 40%
involved failure to yield the right of way at a sign or signal. Fault was about evenly divided
between the cyclists and the auto drivers. The U.S. Department of Transportation similarly reports
that 33% of bicycle deaths in 2001 occurred at intersections. Cutting car drivers more slack at
signed or signaled intersections just might make your bicycle experience less surgical.
Cars that don't yield or stop at intersections are responsible for about 25% of car-bike accidents.
Even worse, in 60% of these cases police report the cyclist victim was going against traffic on the
wrong side of the street.
A second 25% of car-bike accidents happen between intersections when cars and bikes are pulling onto
the highway. The law says that all vehicles must come to a stop before entering a roadway, but it's
becoming increasingly common to see cars scoot out of gas stations, fast food joints, driveways, and
parking lots at higher and higher speeds. About 2% of these mid-block accidents are caused by cars
backing out; 7% are cars driving out mid-block without stopping; and 13% are caused by cyclists
riding out of driveways without stopping. Of course, younger cyclists make up a good percentage of
that last category. Safety education anyone? Drivers who cut into street traffic without stopping
just don't have the time to see wrong-way cyclists or sidewalk users.
Automobile drivers also like to roll around corners that allow right turns on red. What started out
with "stop, look, and then proceed with caution" has turned into "speed up and race around the
corner in order to beat some oncoming car." About 4% of car-bike accidents occur when cars make a
right turn on red. The blame isn't all on the auto drivers though, four out five bicyclists in these
collisions were riding on the wrong side of the road against traffic. In addition, half of the
cyclists hit were crossing in marked crosswalks.
A few sensible safety steps can improve a cyclist's chance of survival on the streets. The data
suggest that riding in the streets with the flow of traffic lowers your risk of being hit by a motor
vehicle.Riding a bicycle properly can be safer than driving. Use extra care at intersections and
give cars an extra allowance of space just in case they run the signal or roll through the stop
sign. If cars won't stop, maybe cyclists should. And finally, maybe it's time for increased
education and enforcement of stops: at stop signs, as drivers enter roadways, and at lights where
right turns are permitted on red.
Data for this article was gathered from: Federal Highway Administration Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety
Research, www.tfhrc.gov/safety/pedbike/pedbike.htm Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center,
bicyclinginfo.org/bc/perspective.htm
