What We Are Doing Now Isn’t Working

Tuesday, June 7th, 2016 in Kalamazoo was a proverbial plane crash in the world of bicycling. The tragic loss of numerous lives in the blink of an eye shook the country and made people question their own safety when riding a bike. But soon our collective attention will switch to a new headline and I fear that nothing will change to avoid the next bicyclist fatality. The people who died were avid cyclists, and for those of us who can easily picture our own faces up at the top of the news article next to theirs, it is our duty to do what we can to make our roads safer for all bicyclists so this does not happen again.

Two days after the crash, I was in Kalamazoo to facilitate a meeting devoted to improving pedestrian and bicycle safety in the region. It is a standing meeting convened by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to open lines of communication between those who build and manage our roadways with advocates and community stakeholders. One of meeting regulars knew someone who lost her life in that crash, she was also a key player in a project that we had discussed at our last meeting. We of course spent time discussing the crash, but that was not the only bad news discussed that day. At the end of the meeting we looked at the recently released crash data from 2015 for MDOT’s Southwest Region, and the picture that data showed was as troubling as the crash two days prior. We went from one fatal bicycle crash in 2014 to five fatal bicycle crashes in 2015.

The crash that happened in Kalamazoo has been described as an anomaly. We simply do not see crashes like this where so many people lose their life at once. But it was not an anomaly in that the person driving the motor vehicle killed the person riding the bike. That is always the case, but when it happens one life at a time, it does not make it past the local news. There is a reason we register vehicles, license drivers and require automobile insurance, the consequences of using motor vehicles irresponsibly are often fatal.

I have looked at data over the past twelve years in Michigan and yet to find a case where a person walking or a person riding a bicycle caused the death of a person driving a motor vehicle. Granted that is an obvious point, but let that sink in for a moment. The mobility of people who drive comes at the expense of the lives of people who walk and ride their bike. Many of the people who walk and bike do so out of necessity due to their age, financial circumstance, physical or cognitive abilities. And that, I think we can all agree, is simply not acceptable. No one should die simply because they don’t drive a car.

So what do we do? First, we ALL make a commitment to seeing everyone else on the road as people regardless of how they are getting around and we work to understand each other and share our roads safety. We can do that today – we have recently put together what we think are the key things to know for people who walk, bike and drive on WalkBike.Info/Central.

Second, as a society, we agree to prioritize the safety of the most vulnerable users in the design, funding and enforcement of our roadways. Currently, pedestrians and bicyclists are given the scraps of road rights-of-way and funding. We have made great strides in automobile safety, it is now time to focus our attention to the other users of the roadway.

Third, and I have become convinced that this is key, we embrace self-driving cars and smart car technology. We humans have not proven ourselves worthy to operate motor vehicles safely. Think I’m wrong? Tell that to the family and friends of the 38,000 people each year that die on our nation’s roads, 15% of which are pedestrians and bicyclists. In Michigan, 17% of the fatal and incapacitating injuries are people who were walking or riding a bike. In some Michigan cities, people on foot and bike account for 30 to 40% of the total number of traffic fatalities. And remember this, a smart car would not have let an impaired driver get behind the wheel and plow through a pack of bicyclists killing five of them.

We can make it safe for all people to use our roadways, but nothing will change unless we decide it is finally time and make the commitments necessary to bring about real change. History has taught us that great tragedy can be a catalyst for positive change. And change is necessary, for what we are doing now, just isn’t working.

–  Norm