Another cyclist down

[Tim McNamara]

St. Paul had it's first cycling fatality of 2018, a situation where a
school bus turning left struck a cyclist going straight (this was on
Summit Avenue and the intersection with Snelling Avenue, for those
familiar with the area).

https://www.twincities.com/2018/05/10/bicyclist-killed-in-st-paul-crash-id-minneapolis-grandpa/

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/05/09/bicyclist-dead-witnesses-say-school-bus-involved-in-collision-snelling-summit-avenues

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/05/10/cyclist-killed-bus-crash-avid-outdoorsman

And a commentary by Bob Collins:

https://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2018/05/when-a-bicyclist-dies/

[AMuzi]

Actually paying attention may be too high a standard:

https://nypost.com/2018/05/09/school-bus-driver-accused-of-texting-behind-the-wheel-looking-up-your-mama-jokes/amp/

--
Andrew Muzi
<www.yellowjersey.org/>
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Thu, 10 May 2018 19:47:16 -0500, Tim McNamara
<tim...@bitstream.net> wrote:
(...)

Fun and games with statistics.

The state of Minnesota publishes annual traffic accident statistics,
some which is quite detailed:
<https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/reports-statistics/Pages/crash-facts.aspx>
2015 is the latest data available:
<https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/reports-statistics/Documents/2015-crash-facts.pdf>
The bicycle section starts on Pg 91.

Scrolling down to Table 7.07 on Pg 95, I find
"Contributing Factors in 2015 Bicycle Crashes"

The first thing I noticed is that detailed data was only available for
about half the known accidents in which a bicycle was involved. So,
double all the numbers and percentages. Of the accidents that can be
blamed on the cyclist:
Failure to yield right of way 28.3%
Disregard for traffic control
device (traffic light or stop sign) 16.8%
Non-motorist error 14.9%
Driver inattention or distraction 5.5%
Failure to use lights 4.4%
Improper/Unsafe lane use 3.4%
Vision obscured 2.1%
All the other causes are less than 1%

Lots of interesting conclusion can be drawn for this, but the one that
gets my attention is the "failure to use lights" which probably means
riding without any lights at night. Considering that most accidents
occurred in good weather and peaked around 5PM (Fig 7.01 Pg 92), it's
possible that lack of bicycle lighting might be responsible for most
of the few night time accidents.

Starting on Pg 96 is the section of accidents involving school buses.
Table 8.01 on Pg 97 show about 700 bus crashes per year. Compared to
about 900 bicycle crashes per year and the absence of many adults on
skool buses, I would say that riding a school bus to and from skool is
equally safe as riding a bicycle.

There's probably more that I could squeeze out of the numbers, but a
late dinner beckons.

--
Jeff Liebermann je...@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

[Duane]

In the list of accidents that can be blamed on the cyclist it include
Driver inattention or distraction? WTF?
And how about Vision obscured?

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Fri, 11 May 2018 08:05:22 -0400, Duane <duane...@videotron.ca>
wrote:

>On 11/05/2018 12:28 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>> The state of Minnesota publishes annual traffic accident statistics,
>> some which is quite detailed:
>> <https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/reports-statistics/Pages/crash-facts.aspx>
>> 2015 is the latest data available:
>> <https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/reports-statistics/Documents/2015-crash-facts.pdf>
>> The bicycle section starts on Pg 91.
>>
>> Scrolling down to Table 7.07 on Pg 95, I find
>> "Contributing Factors in 2015 Bicycle Crashes"
>>
>> The first thing I noticed is that detailed data was only available for
>> about half the known accidents in which a bicycle was involved. So,
>> double all the numbers and percentages. Of the accidents that can be
>> blamed on the cyclist:
>> Failure to yield right of way 28.3%
>> Disregard for traffic control
>> device (traffic light or stop sign) 16.8%
>> Non-motorist error 14.9%
>> Driver inattention or distraction 5.5%
>> Failure to use lights 4.4%
>> Improper/Unsafe lane use 3.4%
>> Vision obscured 2.1%
>> All the other causes are less than 1%

(trimmed)

>In the list of accidents that can be blamed on the cyclist it include
>Driver inattention or distraction? WTF?

I would guess(tm) that driver inattention and distraction means that
whomever wrote the report thinks that one "drives" a bicycle rather
than "rides" a bicycle. The same distractions that apply to
automobiles probably apply to bicycles. Talking on a cell phone, text
messaging, watching the scenery instead of the road, eating, wearing
earphones or loud music so the rider can't hear anything, pushing
buttons on the gadgetry, trying to un-jam the chain while moving,
trying to adjust the brakes while moving, adjusting the cleats, etc.
(I think I've been guilty of all the aforementioned except texting and
cleats). Anyway, use your imagination and I'm sure you can add a few
more things that one can do on a bicycle that might result in a crash.

>And how about Vision obscured?

My guess(tm) would be glare from oncoming headlights. Riding in fog,
rain, or smoke. Blinded by the sun when it's low on the horizon and
directly over the road. Dark glasses at night. Cargo bicycle or
bicycle with handlebar basket with too tall junk piled in front of
rider. Blown newspaper lands in face. Desert mirage. Again, vision
obscured probably is based on automobile style vision impairments.

Out of curiosity, I was wondering how things had changed since the
earliest available data in 2004:
<https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ots/reports-statistics/Documents/CRASH-FACTS-2004.pdf>
Table 7.07 Pg 89. This time, there was only data on 1/3 of the 994
accidents so triple the percentages for a bad estimate of reality:

Failure to Yield Right of Way 21.1%
Non-Motorist Error 17.2%
Disregard Traffic Control Device 12.2%
Driver Inattention/Distraction 11.0%
Improper/Unsafe Lane Use 8.7%
Driver Inexperience 2.7%
Vision Obscured 2.3%
Illegal or Unsafe Speed 2.3%
Failure to use Lights 2.3%
Chemical Impairment 1.7%
Improper Turn 1.6%
The rest are less than 1%

Non-motorist error climbed up a notch. However, I can't tell if they
are referring to the bicyclist as a "motorist" or if the crash is the
fault of anyone except an associated automobile, bus, truck, etc
driver. Since the data is for crashes attributable to the bicyclist,
my guess(tm) is that this refers to road hazards, pedestrians walking
in front of bicycles, potholes, overhanging branches, etc. Otherwise,
the numbers are much the same in 2004 as they are in 2015.