Dead Right

Spectator

By Stephen Tuttle | April 9, 2022

The unpleasant death throes of winter notwithstanding, the bicycling season is about to start in earnest. Yes, we all know some people cycle year-round, but most of us wait until the snow is off the ground.

The health and economic advantages of biking are now well-known and have been oft reported. Regular biking, like other forms of low-impact exercise, can reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and diabetes. There is even some evidence it can reduce the incidence of or eliminate depression, though that likely has as much to do with being outdoors as it does to being on a bike.

There are obvious economic benefits that accompany those health improvements; fewer medical interventions and fewer prescription meds saves money for the individual and the healthcare system in general.

Communities that encourage biking and create biker-friendly trails and lanes also realize some economic benefits. Bicycles create less road deterioration and less need for surface parking or parking decks. They also benefit everyone by producing no toxic emissions, and bicycle manufacturing has a reasonably small carbon footprint.

In 2014, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) conducted some fairly detailed research on both bicycle usage and its economic impact. Presumably, the economic numbers have increased in the last eight years, but in 2014, the overall economic impact of bicycling was $668 million, including $63 million in retail revenue and $38 million from bike-specific events.

At the time, MDOT found that 39 percent of households included someone who had used a bike for transportation, 28 percent included people who commuted by bike at least twice a week, and 4 percent who had participated in a bike-related event or race or had taken a bike-oriented vacation.

Traverse City and this region are especially bike-friendly with the TART and other trails and dedicated bike lanes adjacent to major roads. In Traverse City proper, bikers can even legally use sidewalks except in the downtown and Old Town areas. Cyclists are not allowed on limited access highways like an interstate but can otherwise ride on any local or state highway unless otherwise prohibited by local ordinance.

That’s the good news about biking and its positive impact on both riders and the communities in which they ride. But the interface and interaction between cyclists and motor vehicles is too often less than positive.

Cyclists and vehicle drivers function under the same traffic rules. The main exception is that cyclists, who must travel with the flow of traffic and not against it, are required to stay as far to the right as is practical but can ride two abreast when there is no other option. Like drivers, cyclists must stop at stop signs, stop at red lights, signal when turning, and obey all other traffic control signals and signage including speed limits.

Vehicle operators, on the other hand, are required to share the road with cyclists and must, by law, provide a minimum of three feet of clearance when passing those riders.

Neither the cyclists nor the drivers always follow those rules. The Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning keeps track of the unfortunate result when one or the other ignores them. In 2020, they recorded 1,235 bike-vehicle accidents in Michigan that resulted in 933 injuries and 38 fatalities. Men accounted for 36 of those fatalities and most of the injuries. All of the reported injuries and deaths were suffered by the cyclists.

Both sides in these incidents like to blame the other. Cyclists claim drivers either don’t see them or just don’t respect their right to be on the same road. Drivers claim cyclists ignore traffic rules and tend to swerve and veer in front of them unexpectedly.

My personal observation, especially on the cross-town TART route, is that cyclists violated traffic regulations far more than drivers. It seemed the brighter their uniforms, the more likely they were to blast through stop signs and red lights. Once, in the company of the sheriff, I watched a large group of kids—in Norte colors—led by an adult casually cruise through a three-way stop intersection without so much as slowing down.

Still, most data—and it’s plenty sketchy locally, statewide, and nationally—indicates drivers are more often responsible for accidents with cyclists.

Aside from an approved helmet, a cyclist’s best equipment is vigilance. If drivers aren’t paying attention, then cyclists have to. Don’t count on drivers stopping even if they’re supposed to. Don’t count on them giving you room, so move a little farther right. Don’t assume they won’t open that car door.

Fair or not, cyclists have to assume an extra level of responsibility. No bicycle has ever won a collision with a motor vehicle. That it was someone else’s fault is little consolation when you’re dead right.