"On July 25, in celebration of drivers' rights, many cars will use the Left Hand Canyon Road, drive slowly, and many may break down unexpectedly, blocking areas to the cyclists on the return leg of the Sunrise Century. Many cars and safe drivers all working together can send a message to the statehouse to restrict cycling on our roads, which are our only alternatives during family emergencies, commuting and required duties."
This is the kind of nonsense you'd expect from reactionaries in auto-oriented cities, but never Boulder, Colorado. The city was rated "Best for Cycling" by Bicycling Magazine in 2006 (and never outside their top ten), the "Reigning Bike-Friendly Community" by the League of American Bicyclists in 2004, and even the nation's top tri-town by Inside Triathlon last year. Yet that's exactly where the rally to public disobedience appeared in June of last year.
Local news reported things began on June 8th, when a motorist and cyclist got into a high-speed shoving match. An eyewitness told Boulder County Sheriffs that Chris Loven passed cyclist Scott Boulbol dangerously close while traveling westward on Lee Hill Road toward Boulder, a route with a designated bike lane. Boulbol shouted at Loven, who pulled over to the shoulder after completing his pass. Loven resumed travel, blocking Boulbol from the bike lane and bullying him into oncoming cars.
On June 14th, 2008, a cyclist made a left turn onto the left lane of North Foothills Highway. With a garbage truck following close behind, the cyclist attempted to cross the road into the correct lane. The truck ran the cyclist over, dragging him 100 yards before coming to a stop. The cyclist died before reaching the hospital. On the same day, a cyclist was hit by a limousine at an intersection in Boulder. On September 19th, 2008, a motorist failed to look before making a left turn and struck cyclist Matthew Powell, killing him. Within a five-block radius of the accident were two streets with designated bike lanes, two bike-only paths, two schools, and three bicycle shops. And in May, Ironman legend Dave Scott was hit by a vehicle making an illegal U-turn. Designated bike paths were within just a block of the accident.
Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle characterized the Loven incident as "troubling," telling local news that the relationship between area cyclists and motorists has become increasingly antagonistic. Boulder County Sheriff's Commander Rick Brough asserts that law enforcement in the area is doing its absolute best to prevent the next cycling fatality before it happens.
Data is hard to analyze, but patterns indicate the problems. A study by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration found large gaps in reporting trends between law enforcement and medical staff. Even when cyclists and pedestrians received treatment for injuries sustained as a direct result of a motor vehicle collision, law enforcement officers filed official accident reports for only 55% of them. Regarding a May 13th collision between a cyclist and vehicle that left the victim with a broken leg, Brough responded, "I checked our records and the officer that responded to this accident didn't complete a report. The Colorado State Patrol is responsible for investigating these types of accidents and did handle this accident. Sometimes our officers will complete a report to document their observations but in this case didn't." Administrative hiccups occur in other ways. Responding to Bob Mionske's blog on Bicycling.com regarding altercations with law enforcement, Florida police officer and cyclist Mark Wheeler stated the problem with candid humility. "To be honest, the statute book is probably about three inches thick, and the traffic infraction book almost as dense. If you know all those laws word for word you are more of a savant than cop." It is notable that German and Dutch authorities exhibit reporting rates equivalent to those of American law enforcement.
It's grounds for developing a healthy dialogue with those who do their best to protect cyclists. Sarah Huntley, Public Information Officer for the Boulder Police, makes the point clear. "We have made efforts to reach out to cycling advocacy groups when it is clear to us who their leaders are. At other times, we have been unable to determine who is running their organization," she says. The Boulder City Council facilitated the effort in 2007 with the first Boulder Bike Summit. Over 100 people from government, law enforcement, and the cycling community attended. Ideas were documented in an official report. That report was passed to GO Boulder, the city's organization dedicated to transportation infrastructure. GO Boulder took the report and created a vision for the city to become the best cycling city in the country for the next 20 years. The next Bike Summit is tentatively planned for this year.
Cyclists should also remember their individual responsibilities. Less than 15% of cycling accidents involve motor vehicles. In those that do, the biggest culprit is a cyclist riding on the wrong side of the road. Here's another sobering fact—the riders most at risk of dying in a cycling accident are males between the ages of 30 and 55. Both Dave Scott and Scott Boubol fall into that category. While the motorists were found to be the one at fault in both of those accidents, being right doesn't help the two-wheeled parties in these cases. Anecdotes and statistics shouldn't be ignored, lest one risk becoming one—or both. Motorists still have their share of the blame. In 1995, Wayne Pein, a former research associate at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, conducted a study for Bicyclinglife.com by analyzing crash trends in three U.S. cities. Pein found that the majority of crashes occur at or near intersections. Cyclists opposing traffic remained a large contributing factor, but so did driver speed and failure to stop at signals and signs. This corroborates the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), who recorded over 800 motorists killed in 2007 as a result of crashes in which a driver ran through a red light. Huntley emphasizes the need for caution. "The vast majority of crashes occur on a level roadway, during daylight hours, when the road is dry and there are no adverse weather conditions." Staking out a well-known and little-heeded four-way stop in Jamestown, Colorado, just outside of Boulder in June, an officer issued thirteen tickets for failing to stop in less than ninety minutes. Only four motorists were cited. The other nine tickets went to cyclists. More important than the score, however, is the playing field.
The worst enemy to American cyclists and motorists is the very road network they use. In a study published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2003, John Pucher and Lewis Dijkstra found Americans bike or walk only 20% as much as Europeans, though an American cyclist is twelve times more likely to be hit by a car than a German or Dutch cyclist. They concluded that American urban sprawl and high-speed residential routes are the largest threats to American pedestrians and cyclists, creating a landscape that keeps us buckled up in our cars. Boulder's 300-mile network of bikeways is far ahead of most American cities. So how much worse are things in the rest of the country? According to the NHTSA, there were 698 bicycle fatalities and 44,000 injuries in 2007. Colorado was 17th worst in the nation, with 11 fatalities. Florida and California surpassed 100. Overall, the United States ranks 30th of 36 countries in terms of bike fatalities per 100,000 people. We barely beat Slovenia.
Boulder Police are using statistics to their advantage. "The city of Boulder does keep statistical data on all cycling accidents that are reported to us. Our standard practice is to try and identify locations that have a high number of similar bicycle and/or pedestrian related crashes within a time frame and then see if we can find tools to mitigate those crashes," Huntley explains.
According to Huntley, Chief of Boulder Police Mark Beckner "agrees that issues pertaining to motorists and cyclists have been in the news more frequently in recent months. This may be due, in part, to the state law that took effect" [making it mandatory to give a cyclist 3ft. of space when passing]. Commander Brough offers that new laws make it a misdemeanor for throwing objects at cyclists. It doesn't say anything about using the whole vehicle. Meanwhile, Sarah Lavigne of Boulder was charged in the death of Matthew Powell. If she's found guilty it will also be a misdemeanor.
[Ed notes: This article by Jim Gourley originally appeared in print in Bicycle Times issue #5. Illustration by David Biber. Subscriptions make these web reprints possible. Please consider clicking here and subscribing to Bicycle Times.]
