The Citi Bike Story No One’s Talking About: Only 3 Injuries in 500,000 Rides
Citi Bike launched more than a month ago, and there have been no deaths or serious injuries. Unless this first month was a total outlier, Citi Bike won’t result in a significant increase in bike fatalities in NYC, let alone the doubling or tripling predicted by John Pucher.
As the AP glossed over quickly, only three minor injuries have resulted after more than 500,000 rides. It’s too early to extrapolate what the Citi Bike safety record will be over the course of an entire year, but it’s safe to say the injury rate on Citi Bike so far is much lower than the overall bike injury rate in NYC. …
A few Citi Bike injuries in quick succession could change these early results, but it seems like New York is experiencing the same pattern observed in Boston, Washington, London, and other bike-share cities. Bike-share riders are less likely to be injured in traffic crashes than people riding their own bikes.
On the other hand, in London:
Danny Williams, cycle campaigner and author of the Cyclists in the City blog, looks at the latest set of government casualty statistics:
In Copenhagen the number of journeys by bike grew by 50% between 1995 and 2010, yet the risk of cycle casualties dropped four-fold in the same period. …. On 27 June, Transport for London released figures showing the total number of people seriously injured or killed on bikes on London’s roads last year was up 60% (yes, 60%) on the long term average 2005-2009.
Across the UK as a whole, the risk of serious injury on a bike grew 5%, faster than the growth in bike use. This puts well and truly paid to the idea that more cyclists on the roads equals safer roads. Yet, in other countries where cycling has increased, the rate of people killed or injured on bikes has decreased. Why is the UK bucking that trend?
It is certainly well worthwhile to click that link on the bottom and read why UK in general and London in particular is doing so badly. They are not building safe routes for cycles – or pedestrians. And the UK government (conservative of course) has no plans to change that. It is going to expand the road network for cars.
what stephen said :-)not much better here though. i am still waiting for our bike share by the end of the year. fingers crossed we’ll solve the “redonkulous” helmet thing (i doubt it but hope springs eternal)