Introduction: Bike Safety

Introduction

In Wisconsin a bicycle is defined as: “a vehicle propelled by the feet acting upon pedals and having wheels, any two of which are not less than 14 inches in diameter” (Bike Safety).  A bicycle is also “a legal vehicle whose operator is required to follow all traffic laws.  This means stopping for stop signs and red lights if traveling in the street and riding on the same side of the road as other traffic that is going the same direction” (Bike Safety).  On an average day, just walking from class to class, around 17 bicycle infractions were witnessed.  If an infraction was observed than it was tallied, but there was no effort to search for infractions.  An infraction can be considered anything from: not signaling when turning, not yielding to pedestrians, running a red light when it was safe to complete a stop, or riding a bike on the sidewalk (Municode).  These are only a few of the bicycle traffic laws outlined by the State of Wisconsin that those in the Ordinance of Madison are supposed to follow (Bicycle and In-Line Skate Laws).  If the campus actually enforced these laws, there would be lots of tickets being written up to students everyday, but while those who would be getting the ticket may be upset with the consequence if all the cyclists on campus followed the laws they, the cars and pedestrians on campus would be a lot safer.

In 2009, there were 1,092 recorded bicycle crashes, 9 resulted in deaths, and 1,028 resulted in injury (Final Year Crash Statistics).  While these numbers are for the entire state of WI, if the Madison population was educated about the bike laws they could avoid being in accidents like these.  As mentioned earlier on an average day about 17 bike infractions occur.  These infractions, while only impacting the cyclist, could eventually lead to a bicycle accident involving the cyclist, a pedestrian, a car, or a bus on campus.  After seeing all the infractions that occur on a daily basis, a survey was posted on the ILS website, of which there were seven responses, of these six responders ride bikes on campus.  Of the six who ride a bike, all six said they are familiar with the Wisconsin bike laws, but of those six, two said they were only aware that they should act “as a car” but don’t know the finer details of the laws.  Of these six, when asked if they: ride on the sidewalk, turn without signaling, do not yield to pedestrians, or run lights, every person said they do at least one of the following.  Several said that they only do so to not endanger themselves, other cyclists or cars, and others mentioned they may only do so when in a hurry for a class or work.  While it is understandable to use the sleekness of a bike to avoid the in between class rush to get to another class, if one were to use that excuse in a car to a cop it wouldn’t fly, and it does not fly for a bike either.  But the law does state that a bicycle does not have to make a complete stop if: it does not have enough room to do so, or if it may put the cyclists or others in danger.

Throughout the semester or working on this project, contact was made with 11 different bicycle shops in Madison and all that was asked was what kind of education or information they provide for customers about Madison’s or even Wisconsin’s bike laws, and if they would be for or against more regulation of bike laws either federally, locally or by the state.  Of these 11, only 3 responded back (in order to keep the confidentiality of the shops their names will not be mentioned in this paper).  The first shop to respond was “absolutely against” any further regulation by any form of government agency, and they did not mention as to whether or not they offer any information to their customers.

The second shop follows the Madison registration law, for the most part, and has their customers register their bikes: “It’s the law.  If they are adamantly opposed we do not force the issue.”  So while they try to follow the laws put in place to keep cyclists safe, if the cyclist does not want to be lawful the shop does not force them.  While shop 2 also did not mention if they offer any other information about state laws to their customers, they concluded by saying “We always encourage people to wear helmets, use lights and generally be safe and lawful.”

The third shop was the only shop to suggest that there could be more done at the “city, state and federal level” as a bike shop can only do so much. This bike shop mentioned that they try to educate their customers as much as possible, they offer maps with bike trails that also mentions the “basics of cycling of the road”, and they also register bikes at their shop.  This shop believes that there is more the University can do to educate the student body about safe bicycle practices.  For the state, they suggest that the DMV require some sort of quick test about the rights of cyclists on the road when acquiring or renewing a driver’s license.  Contact was also made with the UW Transportation Services about what kind of education they offer for students who cycle.  The UWTS mentioned that they have several events during the school year where they offer students pamphlets and wallet size cards that outline bike laws, but most of their information is on their website.  Every form of information that they offer is on their website, only a few are printed and only accessible during specific events throughout the year (Bicycle Information).

The information gathered from the survey was then sent out to the UW Transportation Services to see if this information would encourage them to do more pro-active work enforcing or promoting bike laws to students.  So far there has been no response.  Hopefully, before the semester ends, someone will respond and even if the UWTS is not or can not start implementing something maybe, through this project something can be done.  It still seems that the best and only way to get through to students about the bike laws in Madison is just through active promoting, education and information.

References

Bicycle and In-line skate laws. July 2006. http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/safety/vehicle/bicycle/docs/bikelaws.pdf

Bicycle Information. 2010. http://transportation.wisc.edu/transportation/bike.aspx

Bike Safety. May 24, 2010. http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/safety/vehicle/bicycle/index.htm

Final Year Crash Statistics. August 29, 2010. http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/drivers/drivers/traffic/crash/final.htm

Municode: Vehicle Code.http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientID=50000&stateID=49&statename=Wisconsin