Troubling increase in motor vehicle-vs.-bicycle crashes emphasizes basics of driving safety

A popular, and appropriate, public initiative urges motorists to “Start Seeing Motorcycles.” Clearly, the message needs to extend to bicycles, as well.

For motorcycles, the phrase is repeated on bumper stickers, yard signs and social media posts, and was the theme of a joint campaign during May by the Illinois governor’s office, Department of Transportation and State Police to draw attention to safety issues involving motorcycles, which accounted for 11% of fatalities in Illinois last year. Underlying this important message is the recognition that, not merely less conspicuous than other traffic with which they share the road, motorcycles also fall victim to bad habits too common among drivers of all vehicles – notably excessive speed and distracted driving.

Those factors are among the leading sources of speculation regarding worrisome increases in motor vehicle crashes with bicycles since 2021 in Illinois. Combined with an explosion of bicycling since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, these behaviors contributed to an 8% increase in collisions last year over 2021, as our transportation and projects senior writer Marni Pyke reported Monday.

A recent spate of bicycle-crash fatalities in the suburbs – two within eight days of each other in Batavia and others in Schaumburg and Deerfield – naturally intensifies concerns and emphasizes the need for greater awareness and safer driving.

The warnings are not limited to motorists, of course. Bicyclists also have a responsibility to recognize their vulnerability, adhere to the same rules of the road expected of other traffic and pay close attention to the conditions around them. But authorities note that driver speed and inattention seem more consistent factors behind collisions than bicyclists’ negligence.

Noting that one of the fatalities in her town involved a bicyclist in a crosswalk, Batavia Alderman Leah Leman added a special concern for motorists’ disregard for crosswalk safety laws. Leman recounted seeing one instance in which numerous vehicles ignored a bicyclist at a crosswalk and “just blew through.”

Pyke notes that many communities are stepping up speed enforcement at sites that are especially dangerous for bicyclists, and tools are available, such as the state’s Vulnerable Road User Tool, to help increase everyone’s safety awareness. In addition, lawmakers are starting to pay more attention to the problem. The bicycling advocacy group Ride Illinois tracked at least nine bills that received attention in the last General Assembly session. Not all passed, but clearly policymakers recognize there are legislative and roadway-design components to making the roads safer for bicyclists.

From bicycles to motorcycles and cars to 15-ton semi-trucks hauling 30 tons of cargo, Illinois’ roadways accommodate a wide variety of vehicles. That diversity alone should emphasize to users the challenge and necessity of paying close attention, especially keeping watch for fellow travelers whose size and structure require more attention to see and offer less protection in a collision.

So, yes, it’s important to start seeing bicycles, as well as motorcycles. And, if we really contemplate the chief causes of the problems – speed and distraction – it’s clear we also have to do more to just start seeing each other, whatever the vehicle type.

The Daily Herald

https://www.dailyherald.com/discuss/20230613/daily-herald-opinion-troubling-increase-in-motor-vehicle-vs-bicycle-crashes-emphasizes-basics-of-driving-safety