Michigan saw a troubling 20% increase in bicycle accidents during 2024, with over 1,700 cyclists involved in crashes and 29 fatalities, according to new statistics released by Michigan State Police.
Dobbs stressed that road safety requires cooperation from both drivers and cyclists.
They always say this, but let’s have a look at the data and see if this is the right conclusion.
That linked PDF shows the number of motor vehicle collisions, broken down by scenario and counterparty type (eg none, another car, a bus, train, a pedestrian, a bicyclist). Of this data, the “bicycle involved” section is most germane, and I’ve copied the relevant section here.
2023 2024 Bicycle Involved Crashes 1480 1773 Total Bicyclists 1487 1790 Bicycle Involved Fatal Crashes 24 29 Bicyclist Fatalities 24 29 These four lines warrant explanation as to what they’re measuring. The first line counts the number of motor vehicle collisions where a bicycle was somehow part of the collision. The second line is the total number of people riding on bicycles and were in a collision counted by the first line.
The third line counts the number of motor vehicle collisions that involved a bicycle and which also killed at least one person (not necessary a motorist or bicyclist or passenger). The fourth line is the total number of bicycle riders killed in collisions that the third line counted.
Lines one and two will different because some bicycle collisions may involve a tandem bicycle (eg adult and child riding together).
But let’s focus on that fourth line: out of 29 fatal motor-vehicle collisions involving bikes, it was always the bicyclist (all 29 of them) that dies. It’s never the motorist that dies and the bicyclists lives. We know this because if it did happen, line four would be smaller than line three.
So when it’s always the bicyclist that dies in a fatal collision, it beggars the question: does this asymmetry mean that it’s fair to request equal “cooperation” from both motorists and bicyclists?
Heck no!
Vehicle drivers: try your hardest not to use your phone while driving.
Bicyclists: try your hardest not to die.
I often cannot find the best way to distill my own writing into a TL;DR, so I’m glad you’ve done it for me. I don’t think I could have done it better. Thanks!
it was always the bicyclist (all 29 of them) that dies. It’s never the motorist that dies and the bicyclists lives
And thank God media reports always mention that the driver was not injured after killing a cyclist or pedestrian with their oversized, single occupant SUVs. /s 😒
What % includes cars
Sadly, the dataset released only counted motor vehicles collisions, with a section for motor vehicle collisions that also involved a bicycle.
This release of data sheds no light about the number of bicycle collisions that don’t involve a motor vehicle. For example, a bicycle crash with a mail box, with a pedestrian, or with wildlife, we don’t have those particular numbers.
[speculation begins now]
And that’s a shame, because unlike motor vehicles collisions which are reported on standardized forms issued by each state’s highway patrol – because auto insurance companies and FHWA want well-organized data – there’s little inspiration to collect data for all other forms of collisions. Some states and local police departments might not even take such reports, meaning chronic underreporting of collisions due to badly-designed bike trails, due to sidewalk conflicts because no bike lanes, or with parked cars in private parking lots.
A lack of good data means no good conclusions can be drawn. We must demand better data to have any hope of finding and fixing actual problems. All the same, there’s one conclusion we’ve known yet fail to acknowledge: cars kill bicyclists. And the exact scenario doesn’t even matter, since if the car wasn’t there, those bicyclists likely wouldn’t have died. See my other comment.
