Bicycles/Pedestrians

Safety Toolbox: Risks and trends

In this section:

• Pedestrians
• Bicyclists
• Collision maps

 

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Overview: pedstrian collisions

According to the California Highway Patrol's Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS), pedestrians comprised 30 percent of all fatalities for reported collisions in the Bay Area in 2000 with 134 deaths (See Table 1). Statewide, 697 pedestrians died in reported collisions, or 21 percent of all fatalities. In 2000, 4,739 pedestrians were killed and 78,000 injured in traffic collisions in the United States.

Table 1
2000 Reported Collisions and Pedestrian Involvement

County	Pedestrian Fatalities	Pedestrian Injuries	Total Fatalities	Total Injuries	% of Total Fatalities	% of Total Injuries
Alameda	26	701	101	9,334	26%	8%
Contra Costa	14	301	56	4,276	25%	7%
Marin	5	79	12	1,416	42%	6%
Napa	2	34	17	915	12%	4%
San Francisco	33	930	47	4,762	70%	20%
San Mateo	10	267	42	3,719	24%	7%
Santa Clara	33	593	98	9,980	34%	6%
Solano	3	131	32	2,215	9%	6%
Sonoma	8	137	39	2,992	21%	5%
Bay Area	134	3,163	444	39,609	30%	8%
Statewide	697	13,721	3,331	198,348	21%	7%

Source: 2000 Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System

The table illustrates that within the Bay Area, the County of San Francisco had the highest percent of fatalities that were pedestrian related at 70 percent, and the highest percentage of total injuries that were pedestrian related (20 percent). Marin County and Santa Clara County followed, 42 percent and 34 percent respectively. The average percentage of pedestrian-related facilities in the Bay Area is 30 percent.

The Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP) recently reviewed the collision statistics in an attempt to glean a collision rate.  The raw numbers and percentages provide limited information about the relative safety of a given location.  For instance, San Franciscans likely make more trips by walking than residents of other, less dense cities, which may account for the higher number of pedestrian fatalities and injuries in San Francisco County.   STPP's report, entitled Pedestrian Safety in California: Five Years of Progress and Pitfalls, utilizes the SWITRS data, along with census data about how many people walk to work to devise a Pedestrian Danger Index.  Table 2 below shows how the Bay Area counties rank:

Table 2
Pedestrian Danger Index Rank

County	Pedestrian Danger Index	Statewide Rank (out of 35 counties)
Solano	100	1
Contra Costa	86.6	4
San Mateo	85.1	6
Santa Clara	84.6	7
Alameda	75.2	10
San Francisco	56.5	14
Marin	53.8	17
Sonoma	45.4	24
Napa	34.1	31

Source:  STPP

The table indicates that while there may be a higher number of pedestrian-involved collisions in San Francisco County, the likelihood of involvement in a traffic incident while walking is highest in Solano County.

Pedestrian Collision Locations

According to SWITRS, almost 38 percent of pedestrian collisions in California in 2000 occurred while a pedestrian was crossing an intersection in a crosswalk, followed by the 34 percent that occurred when a pedestrian was crossing a roadway, but not within a crosswalk. In total, 72 percent of collisions occurred while crossing the street.

Pedestrian Collisions and Age

In California, children ages 5 to 14 have the highest pedestrian injury rates. In 2000, 3,471 children were injured in pedestrian-related collisions (See Table 3). Although elderly pedestrians are struck less frequently then children, they are more likely to die from their injuries. Adults between the ages of 35 and 54 represent nearly one third of all pedestrian fatalities in the state, with 217 deaths.

Table 3
Pedestrian-Involved Collisions by Age Group
(State of California, 2000)

Age	Pedestrian Fatalities	Pedestrian Injuries	Total Collisions
0-4 years	27	839	866
5-14 years	37	3,471	3,508
15-24 years	63	2,558	2,621
25-34 years	81	1,815	1,896
35-44 years	119	1,921	2,040
45-54 years	98	1,517	1,615
55-64 years	60	925	985
65-74 years	75	681	756
75-84 years	74	520	594
85 and older	37	136	173
Not Stated	18	123	141
Total	689	14,506	15,195

Source: 2000 Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System

Pedestrian Collision Trends

Pedestrian collision trends derived from national and statewide data from 2000 are:

• Most pedestrian fatalities occurred in urban areas (64 percent), at non-intersection locations (78 percent), in normal weather conditions (91 percent), and at night (64 percent).
• More than two-thirds (68 percent) of the 2000 pedestrian fatalities were males. The male pedestrian fatality rate per 100,000 population in the United States was 2.30 - more than double the rate for females, which was 1.07 per 100,000 population.
• October had the highest reported pedestrian collisions in 2000 with 1,381 incidents in California. A total of 79 of those incidents were fatal, 21 more than the years average. The least number of collisions occurred during the summer months of June, July and August, each under 1,100 incidents.

Sources

California Highway Patrol. Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System 2000. 2000 Annual Report of Fatal and Injury Motor Vehicle Traffic Collisions.

United States Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. National Center for Statistics and Analysis Advanced Research Analysis. Traffic Safety Facts 2000: Pedestrians. DOT HS 809 331.

United States Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. National Center for Statistics and Analysis Advanced Research Analysis. Pedestrian Roadway Fatalities. DOT HS 809 456.

Traffic Safety Facts 2001: Pedestrians, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

 

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Overview: bicycle collisions

According to the California Highway Patrol's Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS), in 2000 17 people died and 12,074 people were injured in reported collisions involving bicycles in the Bay Area. These numbers represent four percent of the total fatalities and seven percent of the total injuries, comparable to statewide rates of four percent and six percent respectively (See Table 1). 

 

Table 1
2000 Reported Collisions and Bicyclist Involvement

County	Bicyclist Fatalities	Bicyclist Injuries	Total Fatalities	Total Injuries	% of Total Fatalities	% of Total Injuries
Alameda	6	601	101	9,334	6%	6%
Contra Costa	1	311	56	4,276	2%	7%
Marin	0	160	12	1,416	0%	11%
Napa	0	62	17	915	0%	7%
San Francisco	2	364	47	4,762	4%	8%
San Mateo	4	270	42	3,719	10%	7%
Santa Clara	3	711	98	9,980	3%	7%
Solano	1	121	32	2,215	3%	5%
Sonoma	0	210	39	2,992	0%	7%
Bay Area	17	2,810	444	39,609	4%	7%
Statewide	118	12,074	3,331	198,348	4%	6%

Source: 2000 Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System

As shown in the table above, Alameda County had the highest number of bicycle fatalities and Santa Clara County had the highest number of bicycle injuries. The County of San Mateo had the highest percent of fatalities that were bicycle related at 10 percent, and Marin County the highest percentage of total injuries that were bicycle related at 11 percent.

Nationally, bicycle injuries and fatalities make up a smaller portion of overall collisions than in the Bay Area and California.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that 690 bicyclists were killed and an additional 51,000 were injured in traffic collisions nationally in 2000.  Bicycle deaths accounted for two percent of all traffic fatalities, and made up two percent of all the people injured in traffic collisions during the year. The number of bicycle fatalities in 2000 was 20 percent lower than the 859 fatalities reported in 1990.

While the initial data seems to indicate that bicycling in the Bay Area is less safe than in other places, it is more likely that trips made by bicycle represent a larger portion of all trips in the Bay Area and California than nationwide.  According to the 2000 Census Journey to Work data, the number of people who utilize bicycles to get to work has stayed relatively constant at around one percent in the Bay Area.  Nationwide, the percentage of people bicycling to work is lower, at less than half a percent. 

Not all bicycle injuries are reported since drivers are only required to report a collision when property damage is greater than 500 dollars or if there is a bodily injury (CVC 16000). Plus, many bicycle injuries do not involve motor vehicles. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)  collects data from hospital emergency rooms on products that cause injury. The national injury estimate for bicycles in 2000 was 811,142, almost 16 times the number of bicycle injuries reported in national roadway collision data. Accordingly, bicycle injuries in the Bay Area in 2000 could be as high as 45,000 people.

Why do bicycle collisions occur?

The causes of bicycle collisions are varied.  A major review of more than 3,000 bicycle collisions in the states of California, Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Utah in the early 1990's revealed some general trends.  Motorists failing to yield right-of-way to cyclists accounted for around 22 percent of all collisions.  These collisions represent situations where a motorist ran a red light or stop sign.  Cyclists committing similar infractions (failing to stop at a stop sign or yield right-of-way at an uncontrolled intersection) account for about 17 percent of all collisions.  According to these statistics, stop sign and red-light running by either motorists or cyclists accounts for almost 40 percent of all collisions analyzed.

A major factor in the degree of collision severity for cyclists is helmet use.  The Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute (BHSI) collects data on helmet use. In the Bay Area in 2000, nine of the 16 reported deaths (56 percent) were bicyclists not wearing helmets. The statewide and national rates are much higher ñ almost 80 percent of the bicyclists killed in reported collisions in the State of California did not wear helmets and nationally, the rate rose to 90 percent.   California has the strictest  helmet laws in the nation.  All riders under 18 are required to wear a helmet.

Who is involved in bicycle collisions?

In California in 2000, the highest numbers of bicycle injuries occurred in the five to 14 year age group. (See Table 2) Although adult bicyclists are struck less frequently than children, they are more likely to die from their injuries. The majority of bicycle fatalities occurred in adults between the ages of 35 and 54, with 45 deaths, nearly 40 percent of all bicycle fatalities in the state.

 

Table 2
Bicyclist-Involved Collisions by Age Group
(State of California, 2000)

Age	Bicyclist Fatalities	Bicyclist Injuries	Total Collisions
0-4 years	0	14	14
5-14 years	21	3,210	3,231
15-24 years	9	2,945	2,954
25-34 years	9	1,907	1,916
35-44 years	23	1,904	1,927
45-54 years	22	1,212	1,234
55-64 years	8	505	513
65-74 years	10	207	217
75-84 years	8	117	125
85 and older	3	22	25
Not Stated	3	102	105
Total	116	12,145	12,261

Source: 2000 Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System

The CPSC reported that over half of the national injury estimate occurred to bicyclists between the ages of five and 14 years.

Nationally, responsibility for serious collisions between bicycles and motor vehicles corresponds directly to a bicycle rider's age (responsibility refers to collision initiation, not necessarily legal culpability). Young riders most often are responsible for their collisions, and then probable responsibility decreases with age. Older riders more often are not responsible for their collisions.

General Conclusions and Trends

A compilation of national data collected in 2001 yields the following findings about bicycle collision locations, times of day, gender, month of year, and alcohol involvement:

• Bicycle fatalities occurred more frequently in urban areas (56 percent), at non-intersection locations (32 percent).
• 51 percent of bicycle deaths occurred on major roads, and 32 percent occurred on local roads.
• 41 percent of bicycle deaths among children younger than 16 and 26 percent of adult (age 16 and older) bicycle deaths occur on minor roads. Adult bicyclists are more likely than children to be killed on major roads (54 percent compared with 44 percent)
• 78 percent of bicycle fatalities occur for riders over the age of 16; however bicycle deaths per million people are highest among males 14 and 15 years old.
• About nine times as many bicycle deaths are males compared with females. At every age, more male than female bicyclists are killed.
• Bicycle deaths are most likely to occur in summer and fall. Deaths are most likely to occur on Fridays. The peak time is 6-9 pm.
• 24 percent of bicyclists killed in 2001 had a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of 0.08 or greater, indicating that they were legally drunk.

Many of these findings correlate with bicycle use. For example, it is likely that more collisions occur in the summer because that is the time of year when more people are outside riding their bikes. However, some clear conclusions can be drawn:

• Males are involved in disproportionately large numbers of fatal and injury bicycle collisions.
• Children are vulnerable, even when riding on local streets.
  

Sources

California Highway Patrol. Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System 2000. 2000 Annual Report of Fatal and Injury Motor Vehicle Traffic Collisions.

California Department of Motor Vehicles. 2003 California Vehicle Code.

U.S. Product Consumer Safety Commission. National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) On-line. NEISS Estimate Query Builder.

Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Types of the Early 1990's, Publication No. FHWA-RD-95-163, W.H. Hunter, J.C. Stutts, W.E. Pein, and C.L. Cox, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC, June, 1996.

Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute. A Compendium of Statistics from Various Sources.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Fatality Facts: Bicycles

Fatality Facts: Bicycles, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety