KSTP report on cyclists breaking the law
OK, I didn't see the report. I don't even know if we get KSTP down here in the boonedocks that is Rochester. But I heard about it through the blog chatter.
Well isn't it interesting that someone should do some research on the claims that the reporter makes in the report. Listen to this:Police told McNaney that "about half the time a bike is involved in a crash, it's the cyclists fault." Garwood says that number is bunk and sent a list of 2006 bike incidents to KSTP. "If you look through it, you will see that 120 of the 200 crashes (or 60%) for which fault can be determined were caused by drivers, while only 80 (or 40%) were caused by cyclists," Garwood wrote. "It is a clear indication that driver error and violation of law is a significantly greater threat to bicyclist safety than bicyclist error and violation of law. I expect KSTP to correct this misstatement of fact on the air."
Also caught on tape by KSTP? Two cars failed to make a complete stop at the same stop sign that KSTP filmed bikers ignoring. McNaney failed to acknowledge those violations.
Follow this link to read the whole thing.
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Thursday 05/01/2008 | 02:46 pm
Brian on Friday 05/02/2008 | 09:22 am
First off, I am a cyclist, racer, and commuter. I also don't get KSTP and didn't see the report either.
Having said that, I would say that for a police officer to say that bicyclists are responsible about half of the time is pretty close to saying that they are responsible 40% of the time. 40% is "about half".
Like you I also live in Rochester, and I have seen enough local cyclist violations to think that they surely are responsible a significant amount of the time. The two fatalities I can think of involved running a stop sign and having two cyclists crash into each other in the middle of a windy road, setting up a fatal truck crash.
On the other hand I have also been cut off by the right hand hook or by people turning in front of me enough times to know that motorists often don't see us and some accidents are not the cyclist's fault at all. So there are two sides of the coin.
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