Final Statement

On any given day in Madison one can witness dozens to hundreds of bikes around campus, and other parts of the community.  The large size and bike friendly environment of Madison makes it easy and common for students, and community members throughout Madison to commute via bike.  Madison is not the only city like this in the state or even the country, according to the 2009 American Community survey approximately 57 million people of the population age 16 or older, rode a bicycle at least once during the summer of 2002 (“League of american”, 2000-2011).  There are many reasons why people ride bikes form exercise or recreation, to commuting (“League of american”, 2000-2011).  In Madison, from an on lookers perspective, it appears that most people ride bikes to commute to and from home, class and work.

Another thing that any one can witness on any given day in Madison is traffic violations on bikes.  In Wisconsin and in many states throughout the United States,a bicycle is looked at like a car or any other motor vehicle cyclists need to follow some of the same laws as cars, and some laws specifically for cyclists.  Like cars a cyclist in WI needs to ride on the right side or the street and ride with traffic, cyclist needs to signal when turning, yield to pedestrians and give the right of way.  Aside from regular traffic laws a cyclist also needs to ride on the street not on the sidewalk, a cyclist needs to have a white light in the front and a rear red reflector (“Chapter 12: Vehicle code,” 2009).  Yet many students on campus don’t follow these laws.  So a survey was sent out to see what students from all campus in WI and the midwest know about cyclists laws.  The following results were collected:

Question	Available Responses	Results
Do you Bike in Wisconsin?	YesNo	29/47= 61.7%19/47= 40.4%
Where in WI do you bike?	MadisonMilwaukee I bike but not in WI I don’t bike Other: Specify city	17/43= 39.5%11/43= 25.6% 0=0% 17/43= 39.5% 8
Are you familiar with the WI bike laws?	YesNo	14/46=30.4%32/46= 69.6%

As one can note from the results for these questions, 61.7% of the people who participated in the survey ride a bike in Wisconsin, yet 69.6% are not familiar with Wisconsin bike laws.  One can not assume that all of the people who bike are included in the 69.6% who don’t know the laws, but it would appear that the majority of them are in that percentage.  How can almost 70% of the respondents not know the laws, and almost 62% ride bikes in Wisconsin?  This result is astounding, that is a high percentage of uneducated bikers, who may be putting themselves and others in harms way.

The survey also asked what, or the following, people do when they ride their bikes.  The following displays the results, Figure 1: figures copy

As one may note, the most frequently occurring traffic violation is turning without signaling, followed by riding on the sidewalk.  As mentioned earlier, in many municipalities throughout the United States cyclists are to follow the same laws as a car or other vehicle and signaling would be one the laws a cyclist should follow.  The chart shows that 77% of the respondents break at least one traffic violation when they ride their bike.  This high percentage of unsafe cycling practices is dangerous to the cyclists, the pedestrians, and the other vehicles on the street.

The survey then asked, based on their answer of what traffic violations they participate in, how many times a day they participate in such activities.  The results are as follows: Figure 2

The results demonstrate that out of all the times someone may commit a traffic violation, the number of times they do it per day is generally low: with in 4 times a day.  But even if they do it once a day everyday they are committing the violation 7 times a week.  Since the highest percentage of violations is a failure to signal violation, let us just say that if a cyclist gets pulled over for not signaling they would get a ticket of “not more than $20” (Wisconsin statutes and annotations, 2006).  The next highest is riding on the sidewalk, if someone were to get pulled over for riding on the sidewalk they would get a ticket for “not less than $20 nor more than $40 for the first offense and not less than $50 nor more than $100 for the second or subsequent conviction within a year” (Wisconsin statutes and annotations, 2006).  If this law was enforced, almost every student who rides their bike in Madison would be getting a ticket.  Not a day goes by where at least one student is seen riding their bike on the sidewalk.

This project was created in attempt to educate the Madison population about the Wisconsin laws and the Madison district laws, in hopes of teaching them safer cycling habits to keep themselves, and others safe on the street.  The rest of this paper will go into detail about the Wisconsin bike laws not only cyclists, but car drivers should know, the lack of education in Madison, and where one can go to find information and educate themselves on  Wisconsin laws.

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” (Corsi, 2011).  A bicycle is also a “legal vehicle whose operator is required to follow all traffic laws” (Corsi, 2011).  As mentioned earlier many of the laws for motor vehicles in Wisconsin are similar to those for bicycles in Wisconsin.  These laws include: yielding to pedestrians and other vehicles when they have the right of way, signaling with turning or stopping, riding with traffic on the far right side (if possible) or in the lanes, and bike registration is also enforced (Wisconsin statutes and annotations, 2006).  While doing this project it was evident that many students don’t know the bike laws.  Aside from the survey, during an in class quiz/presentation not many students knew the answers to questions about bike laws; like what the turn and slow down bike signals are, where to ride your bike, what night equipment should be on a bike and so on.  Therefore, not only is there a high percentage of uneducated cyclists riding bikes, but there are uneducated drivers on the streets who put bikers in danger.  One thing that many students missed on the in class quiz was what bike signals are, there were also, 26,998 “failure to obey traffic sign signal” in October 2011 (CVCNTMT, 2011), so it is important to mention the signals.

Figure 3: From left to right in the image: the right turn signal is the hand and arm extended upward.  The slow or stop signal, is the hang and arm extended downward.  The left turn signal is the hand and arm extended horizontally (Wisconsin statutes and annotations, 2006).  This is important for cyclists as well as motor vehicle drivers be aware of on the road.

It was surprising to find out how many cyclists are unaware of the cycling laws, and attempt was made to figure out why.  Is it a lack of education, or a lack of caring?  During this semester long project, contact was made with 11 different bicycle shops in Madison and they were asked what kind of education or information they provide customers about the bike laws, and if they would support a federally or even state enforced regulation of these bike laws.  Of these 11 initial emails and phone calls, only 3 responses came back, their names will not be mentioned to keep the confidentiality of the shops.

The first shop 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 is 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.  Shop 2 also did not mention if they offer any other information about state laws to their customers, but they concluded in 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 trials that also mentions he “basics of cycling on the road”, and they also register bikes at their shops.  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.

Lastly, contact was made with the University Transportation Services about what kind of education they offer for students who cycle.  The UWTS replied that they have several events during the school year where they offer students information pamphlets and wallet sized cards that outline bike laws, but most of their information is on their website.  Ever form of information that they offer is on their website, only a few are printed and only accessible during specific events throughout the year (Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, 2010).  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.

It is still inconclusive as to whether or not the lack of knowledge of cyclists laws stems from the lack of resources in the community, the uncaring of cyclists, or the general lack of knowledge that they are doing anything wrong.  In 2009 in Madison there are 6,826 bicycle commuters, 26% of which are in college or grad school (American Community Survey, 2010).  Also in Madison there are 107.2 miles of bike lanes and paths, but if students are unaware of the resources they have as cyclists, how can anyone expect to use them.  Generally if one is unaware of resources they have available to them, they won’t know to use them and that was the purpose of this paper.

In Wisconsin in 2009 there were 1,092 recorded bicycle crashes, 9 resulted in deaths and 1,028 resulted in injury (“Final crash year,” 2011).  That means that 94% of bicycle crashes result in an injury and from my survey there are almost 70% of students who are unaware of bicycle laws in WI.  Not all of these students ride bikes, but I’m sure most of them are drivers and all are uneducated about the bike laws.  That would mean that as drivers behind the wheel and as cyclists they are putting other vehicles and cyclists in danger.  If they are uneducated about the laws and especially the signals they won’t know what a signal is when a cyclists uses it, or a cyclists may not use it because they may not know they have to.  This is what can cause many of these accidents, an unaware, inattentive driver or cyclist.

While this paper in no way encompasses all the information about cyclists, and has only a general grasp on the cyclist community, the information in the paper is valuable to both cyclists and motor vehicle drivers.  Any basic knowledge of the laws and the roles of bikes on the road, will hopefully keep cyclists and drivers attentive to their environment when they are on the road.  Driver’s need to watch for bikes like any other car, and both need to watch for pedestrians and follow the law to keep everybody safe.

After reading this paper, if one is interested in learning more about bike safety and bike laws it is suggested that they check out the University Transportation Services website at http://transportation.wisc.edu/, to learn how to register a bike in Madison and find maps on where to bike.  If interested in the Wisconsin laws visit, http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/safety/vehicle/bicycle/docs/bikelaws.pdf.  It would be beneficial to the cycling communities in Wisconsin if everyone was up to date and followed up with the cycling laws.

References

American Community Survey. (2010). 2009 american community survey commuter statistics. Retrieved from http://www.bikeleague.org/resources/reports/acs09_commuter_trends_cities.php

Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. (2010). Bicycling information. Retrieved from http://transportation.wisc.edu/transportation/bike.aspx

Chapter 12: Vehicle code. (2009, August 15). Retrieved from http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientID=50000&stateID=49&statename=Wisconsin

Corsi, L. (2011, May 24). Bicycle safety. Retrieved from http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/safety/vehicle/bicycle/index.htm

CVCNTMT. Wisconsin Department of Transportation. (2011). Traffic convictions entered on driver record file. Retrieved from website: http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/drivers/docs/convictions.pdf

League of american bicyclists: Facts and figures. (2000-2011). Retrieved from http://www.bikeleague.org/media/facts/index.php

Wisconsin Department of Transportation, DMV. (2011).Final crash year statistics: 2010 crash statistics with comparison to prior years. Retrieved from Citations and Withdrawal Section website: http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/drivers/drivers/traffic/crash/final.htm

Wisconsin statutes and annotations. (2006, July). Bicycle and in-line skate laws road sharing responsibilities of bicyclists and motorists, required equipment and parental responsibility. Retrieved from http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/safety/vehicle/bicycle/docs/bikelaws.pdf