You can argue whether Arizona is becoming a safer place to ride, but if new recommendations from the Arizona Department of Transportation get put into place, you’ll have to admit that something positive is finally getting done for bike safety.
The report shares some interesting discoveries, including that half of all crashes occur when bikes travel counter to the traffic, and that fewer than a quarter occur after dusk. At the same time, the state suggests that state and local governments can do more to protect riders.
ADOT is weeks away from finalizing its first bike-safety plan after completing a one-year analysis of crashes on and around state highways. The $198,000 study reached some eye-raising findings about crash trends, including that half occurred when a bike traveled counter to traffic and fewer than a quarter happened at night or dusk.
Only one in eight bike injuries happen on or around a state highway, state data show, but city bicycle coordinators and bike activists say the findings are consistent with what they see on roads and streets.
The ADOT plan recommends:
- Installation of 4-foot wide shoulders on all highway projects
Great idea and long overdue. Lets just hope the shoulders are paved and not just loose gravel. (Yeah, like that’s going to happen!)
- New “wrong way” signs on bike lanes
I personally haven’t experienced much of a problem with wrong way riders, have you? But I do admit, these signs can’t hurt. They assume, of course, that the dummy riding in the wrong direction knows how to read, or cares what it says.
