State Police Report: Bicyclist Deaths Up 57 Percent Last Year

As someone who rides a bicycle into work every day, these statistics are more than a little disconcerting, especially since Kent County had the most bicycle deaths of any county in the state in 2015

A Michigan State Police report released earlier this year indicate that 34 bicyclists lost their lives on state roads in 2015, the highest of any year since the MSP began a separate category for bicyclists in 1997. The death toll also marked a 57 percent increase over 2014.

Kent County had five bicycle fatalities last year, the highest of any county in the state. Kent cyclists suffered 138 injuries in 2015, trailing only metro Detroit counties Oakland and Wayne.

These statistics were from 2015, so they to take into account the five deaths recently in Kalamazoo when a drunk driver ran over a group of nine cyclists on an evening ride.

In a proactive response to these figures, the City of Grand Rapids recently launched a program to educate cyclists and motorists about bicycling laws. The program included a survey taken by both drivers and cyclists to find out their awareness of certain laws. The city also has implemented a new law requiring motorists to keep at least five feet from cyclists.

Melody Kindraka, a spokeswoman for the Office of Highway Safety Planning, told MLive.com that traffic deaths overall, which had been trending downward in Michigan, jumped 10 percent from 2014 to 2015.

Kindraka also told MLive that her department was investigating the sudden spike in bicycle deaths. A recent multi-year study on pedestrian and bicycle accidents in Michigan revealed the following:

More than 40 percent of bike riders involved in accidents were on a sidewalk prior to the crash, suggesting a correlation between riding on the sidewalk and a failure by either the cyclist or the motor vehicle driver to yield or to disregard of a traffic signal or sign.
Approximately 93 percent of crashes occurred on streets without a dedicated bike lane.
The most common risk factors involved in bicyclist accidents were failing to yield or disregarding a traffic control (58 percent), motorist overtaking bicyclist or bicyclist overtaking motorist (27 percent), loss of control or turning error (6 percent), and bicyclists riding the wrong way (5 percent).

I still feel fairly safe on Grand Rapids roads, as most of my commute gives me my own bike lane. After several crashes over the years, I also ride very defensively and have incorporated the motto, 'They don't see you and they won't stop for you.' This means I find myself stopping unnecessarily many times during my commute, but it also means I'm still alive.