Alum Creek Road in Columbus is not for everybody.  In fact, most cyclists would agree that it’s not the best road for riding.  It’s narrow, busy, fast, debris and gravel laden and, in 2008, was the road on which cyclist Tracey Corbin was killed.  Brent Nimmo uses Alum Creek when he has to.

In 2010, on “Bike To Work” day no less, Brent was stopped by a cop while riding on Alum Creek Drive and given a ticket for violation Ohio Revised Code Sec. 4511.55 – Ohio’s version of the AFRAP law.  The lessons Brent learned in 2010 helped him immensely a few days ago, when he was stopped again, this time by a State Trooper, for “impeding traffic” on Alum Creek Road.  A bit of a history lesson is needed to help you understand what happened in this most recent stop.

AFRAP 

AFRAP, of course, means, in bike parlance, “As Far Right As Practicable.”  Most states have some form of the AFRAP law.  Ohio’s AFRAP law actually says this:

4511.55 Operating bicycles and motorcycles on roadway.
(A) Every person operating a bicycle upon a roadway shall ride as near to the right side of the roadway as practicable obeying all traffic rules applicable to vehicles and exercising due care when passing a standing vehicle or one proceeding in the same direction.

The word “practicable” is often misinterpreted by folks as “possible” and some cops, and judges, believe bikes must be operated as far to the right as possible.  The law doesn’t say as far right as “possible” though, but as near to the right side of the roadway as practicable. So what does “practicable” mean?

Tickets under 4511.55 have been pretty rare.  Cops usually don’t look at a cyclist and stop her/him for not riding to the right far enough.  Rather, this AFRAP provision historically comes up after a cyclist is hit and is bringing a claim against the errant motorist.  Some insurance lawyer begins to look at the law and stumbles across 4511.55.  In fact, this AFRAP argument pops up in virtually every “bike case” I handle for a cyclist who has been struck by a car!

The word “practicable” is not defined in Ohio law.  I did a search of the Ohio Revised Code this morning… the word shows up in almost 375 different laws.  In many cases it is used to designate a time -X to be done “as soon as practicable” after Y.  Other “practicable” phrases include:

- “to the extent practicable”
- “so far as practicable”
- “whenever practicable”
- “as uniform as practicable”
- “strictest practicable limits”
- ” as the court finds to be equitable and practicable”
- “as close to the roof as practicable”

… and so on and so on and so on and so on…

I have fought many battles over the word “practicable.”  In Ohio, and in most state, the ordinary and usual meaning of a word is what courts look to when trying to figure out what lawmakers meant to say in a law that has a somewhat looseygoosey or ambiguous meaning.  I have always argued that, for 4511.55 purposes, “practicable” means “safe and reasonable.”

Clearly, I argued, the legislature meant for bicycles to use the roadway – they defined bicycles as “vehicles” and wrote several provisions about operating bicycles on the roadway.  Bicycles have been legally ridden on Ohio roads for over 100 years. I then argued that the Ohio legislature, in its infinite wisdom, would NEVER pass a law that mandated that bicycles, or ANY vehicle, be operated in a manner that was unsafe or unreasonable.  So, I argue, the word “practicable” MUST contain rather subjective elements of safety and reasonableness and must NOT mean “as close to the edge of the road as possible…”  Bicycle operators do NOT have to operate bicycles through potholes, over glass and debris or through the gravel-ized remains of the former “edge” of the road surface!

In cases in which the defense argued that my cyclist violated the AFRAP langauge, I have often retained an expert witness to describe why my client’s chosen lane position was “safe and reasonable” given the conditions – road width, gravel, potholes, debris, glass, drop-off, parked cars, etc etc etc.  I argued that “safe and reasonable” was the test for “practicability.”  These experts were often LCI’s or others who have taught safe, “effective” cycling to the masses.

In 2005 or so, the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Bicycle Federation began discussing revisions to Ohio’s Bike Laws and revising 4511.55 came up.  In the end, we decided to push for a section (C) to this law – a section which would begin to explain a bit about what the word “practicable” meant.  The “(C) Section” was adopted into a package of Bike Law reforms which was introduced as House Bill 389.  OBF fought for this law – many of us testified in Columbus and cyclists in Ohio gained MANY benefits when the bill passed, UNANIMOUSLY, and was signed into law in 2006.  The history of the Better Bicycling Bill can be viewed here.

So…. what is this mysterious “C Section?”  Here is is:

“(C) This section does not require a person operating a bicycle to ride at the edge of the roadway when it is unreasonable or unsafe to do so. Conditions that may require riding away from the edge of the roadway include when necessary to avoid fixed or moving objects, parked or moving vehicles, surface hazards, or if it otherwise is unsafe or impracticable to do so, including if the lane is too narrow for the bicycle and an overtaking vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane.”

 As you can tell, the OBF listened and we made sure the C Section adopted the “reasonable and safe” standard to define “practicable” while listing a FEW, but not all, of the conditions that may give rise to a cyclist lawfully NOT riding towards the right edge.  One of the conditions is when the lane is too narrow for a bike and passing vehicle travel safely side by side.

In earlyl 2010 a friend of mine & OSU Law School Class of 1982 classmate, Doug Morgan, represented a Columbus cyclist who had been ticketed for an AFRAP violation of 4511.55 while “taking the lane” on High Street.  Doug’s not a trial lawyer, but did an admirable job winning the “Take The Lane” case by laying the lane out in open court and marking off with a tape measure the various elements. Eventually, the cop writing the ticket had to concede that the lane was “too narrow” to be shared by bus and bike side by side and the court threw out the ticket.

Now, enter Brent Nimmo – Case 1.  Brent was also cited for an AFRAP violation.  He contacted me about his case and talked to him about 4511.55(C) and Doug Morgan’s elegant defense victory.  I also referred him to The Selz Case and other “impeding traffic” arguments.  Brent did the measurements, took the photos and approached the prosecutor prior to the trial to make his argument.  In light of the cogency of Brent’s argument, the prosecutor elected to THROW OUT the ticket and drop the case.

Brent then went on a crusade to get “Bikes May Use Full Lane” signs put up on Alum Creek Road – including PURCHASING a sign.  The photo in the beginning of this article shows off some of his efforts.  When Brent rides, he has a copy of 4511.55(C) blown up and mounted to his bike like a license plate.  He carries my contact information &  a summary of the Selz case with him… it all came in handy this past week!

This past week Brent was stopped again on Alum Creek Road… this time by an Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper.  He was told he was “impeding traffic.”  Brent has been waiting for such a moment ever since I first told him about Steve Selz… he proudly told the Trooper, “I’m not impeding traffic… I AM TRAFFIC…” and went on the explain the arguments I made in the Selz case, 4511.55(C) and his prior ticket – which he also carries with him.  Brent and the Trooper apparently had a very good conversation about bicycling and the law [Brent asked if the Trooper wanted to talk to his Bike Lawyer] before the Trooper let him go without a ticket.

So… there you go… Prosecutorial Discretion at the street level in action.  I hope the Trooper was truly just concerned for Brent’s safety initially.  Like I said, Alum Creek is not for everybody.  I also hope that the Trooper left with a good understanding of the “impeding traffic” law in Ohio and a better understanding of what cyclists face in Ohio every day!

I think “I AM traffic” makes a good T-Shirt Slogan, eh?

You can listen here.

I took second billing that day – to Pulitzer Prize winner Doris Kearns Goodwin!  I’ll take THAT any day!

Enjoy!

Rapids Road is shown below. According to the crash report the crash occurred 0.4 mile south of Greystone Drive.

Here’s another view from Google Earth:

The motorist who killed Judge Henry was also northbound on Rapids. Kelly Cox was driving a 2008 Chrysler Pacifica – a big, SUV-ish type of vehicle, which is 5,700 pounds and almost 80 inches wide.

The first apparent impact on the police report is a “bike scuff mark” roughly 2 feet, 11 inches off the side of the road. The Judge’s body is marked almost 160 feet north of this point.

After smashing into Judge Henry, the motorist… just drove away.

She went home, dropped off her kids, and returned with her husband.

So what happened? What did the motorist say? Well, below you can read her own statement…

Ummm… OK.. a raccoon… you swerve and you HIT A MAN ON A BIKE… and you keep going. Later in the statement Mrs. Cox told Troopers she THOUGHT SHE HIT A MAILBOX… so she kept going… when the Trooper asked what her step-daughte thought WHEN THE WINDOW EXPLODED, she admitted that her step-daughter said “I think you hit someone…”

So, Kelly Cox is being prosecuted, right?

Ummm… no… not so far as I can tell.

Well… at least Kelly Cox got a TICKET, right?

Ummm… no… not so far as I can tell.

So WHAT’S GOING ON IN GEAUGA COUNTY? Is the investigation “ongoing?” I haven’t read anything in the media about any tickets – or any prosecution…maybe a sharp reader can help me out… I’m sure I’m not the only one wondering why a death CLEARLY CAUSED BY HORRIFIC DRIVING isn’t being prosecuted at this point… even OSHP apparently came out and said Judge Henry was “BLAMELESS“…

I just don’t get it…

Steve Magas

8/20/2011 Follow Up – KELLY COX INDICTED

As many of you know by know, Kelly Cox was indicted this past week on seven separate criminal charges.  The key claim is that she had a blood alcohol level in excess of .28% and was driving drunk, with two kids in the car, at the time she smashed into Judge Henry and killed him.  You can read my about the indictment here.

7/18/2011 — FollowUp

I ordered the complete crash report and OSHP photos. The photos are, in a word, shocking.

The front of car that the motorist thought “hit a mailbox” is shown below.

The road, straight and narrow, is shown here:

After the crash, the officer tried to see where the damage to the back of the Judge’s bicycle lined up with damage to the SUV.

I understand that this woman had children in the car… but how do you smash into a human being and drive away… THAT I will NEVER understand…

UPDATE 2 – Weather

One alert reader took me to task and pointed out that the photos clearly show some rain, so, she argues, the weather was not “clear and dry” as I wrote. In reviewing the police report again, I found this under weather at the time of the crash.

As I indicated, it was clear and dry AT THE TIME OF THE CRASH. The rain came – but not until after the crash.

What about the witnesses, what did THEY see?

Well, here’s what one wrote:

Here’s what another witness said:

So while the reader’s observations about the rain in the photos are correct, clearly they were taken after the, not before. The crash, however, occurred before the storm hit. It was cloudy but not “dark.” It was clear and dry at the time Judge Henry was killed. He was was “visible” to anyone who was paying attention – like the guys cutting the grass – and should have been seen by every motorist on the road.

Who else said “clear and dry?” What would I write that? Well, if you read the motorist’s statement to the trooper you find this exchange:

The reader also claims that the road is “like an extreme rollercoaster, hilly and curvy.” Yet, from what I can tell from the google map, and the OSHP photos, the section of road where this crash occurred was straight, flat and narrow. The word “rollercoaster” does not pop into my mind when I look at this photo:

SMM

We’ve gathered most of the data – police reports, photographs, witness statements and accident reconstruction analysis from most of the 11 fatal crashes.  In the meantime, I continue to watch the Google Alerts for news of 2011′s fatal crashes.  Here’s a brief summary of some of the 2010 data, and a close look at two crashes.

-  There have been 11 bike deaths reported for 2010 – 9 men and 2 women.  Average Age- 43.6.  Median Age – 39. The oldest rider killed was 76, the youngest was 11.  While ODOT recently released a study showing that more than HALF of all bike “crashes” in Ohio involve kids between 5 and 18, fatal crashes typically involve adults.  In 2010, there was only one cyclist killed under the age of 18.

- Of the 11 fatal crashes, five occurred in the dark and four of those crashes were blamed on a lack of lighting or “conspicuity” of the cyclist.

-  There were two hit/run deaths in Columbus – Jeff Stevenson and Trent Music.  Both were struck at night.

- The driver who hit Mr. Music was found shortly after the crash.  Police blamed the cyclist for causing the crash as he was unlit and wearing dark clothes. He had been cited once before for this. From what I have been able to tell, police never cited the driver for leaving the scene of the crash or anything else stemming from this crash.

- The driver who allegedly struck and killed Mr. Stevenson was charged with two felonies a few weeks ago – more than a YEAR after the crash – after DNA evidence on her car matched up with Jeff.  Her case is pending, in a very early stage, before the Franklin County Common Pleas Court.  Her charges do NOT relate to causing the crash but to leaving the scene and “tampering with evidence.”

-  Two cyclists were killed in 2010 deaths while the cyclists, riding on a bike path, were trying to cross a two-lane country road to get back to the bike path on the other side of the road.  One was clearly the rider’s fault… the second I’m not so sure about.

CHAMPAIGN COUNTY BIKE TRAIL CRASH

Thomas Spurgin and his wife were riding north along the bike trail in Champaign County around 7:30 am on September 1, 2010 toward the Hickory Grove Road intersection.  Hickory Grove is a typical Ohio two lane 55 mph country road.  As they approached the Hickory Grove Road intersection, the sun was rising to their right.    Also to their right, within one hundred feet, was a low railroad crossing.

There are “Stop” signs and other signs warning trail users to use caution when crossing Hickory Grove Road.

As I try to “reconstruct” in my mind what happened here, I’m fairly certain that the combination of the terrain, the low overpass and the rising sun, played a role here in obscuring traffic from the east.  Mrs. Spurgin left the trail and entered the roadway with Mr. Spurgin 15-20 feet behind.  As Mrs. Spurgin left the trail and began crossing the road a pick-up truck approached from the east.  The pick-up driver told police he saw Mrs. Spurgin moving left to right in front of him and went left to avoid hitting her.  As he went left, he ended up running into Mr. Spurgin, who was just entering the roadway.  Mr. Spurgin died from his injuries.

Mrs. Spurgin told police that the two riders did not stop at the stop sign.  The truck driver told police he was well within the speed limit – which the police corroborated with an analysis of the skid marks.  They determined that the maximum speed of the pick-up was 46.7 and the minimum speed was 40mph.

To me, this crash occurred as a result of a poor, but somewhat understandable, decision by two riders out for an early morning casual bike trail ride.  Anyone who has ridden on a bike trail is familiar with being lulled into that sense of security.  Approaching the roadway intersections we need to ALWAYS gear up our senses and remember that we lose EVERY confrontation with every motor vehicle.  Here a combination of the rising sun and the low overpass probably made it difficult to see the approaching pick-up truck.  The police stated their conclusion very simply – the bike rider “… was at fault for not stopping at the posted stop sign on the bike path…”  Simply a tragic, and avoidable, crash.

TRUMBULL COUNTY BIKE TRAIL CRASH

The other bike trail crash occurred in Trumbull County.  Lawrence Furniss was riding south on a bike trail and intended to cross T.R. 222, also known as Housel Craft Road.  This is a very similar intersection to the Champaign County crash.  There are Stop signs on the trail as well as signs warning riders to use caution as they cross the roadway.  Mr. Furniss was struck and killed as he attempted to cross Housel Craft Road.  As in the Champaign County case, police blamed the crash on Mr. Furniss’s failure to stop at the stop sign.

Seems all nice and tidy… but… I have doubts about this one.

The motorist was traveling westbound on Housel Craft Road in 2004 Grand Am.  He told police he was going “about 55mph” which, of course, is the posted speed limit.  Unlike the Champaign County case, there is no mention in the crash report of any attempt by the OSHP investigators to determine whether the motorist’s claimed speed was reasonable given the  skid marks, crash damage or other factors.

The sketch, below, comes from the crash report.  As is typical, investigators labeled the skid marks and measured them.  The distance from point A to C, the right tire skid mark, was noted to be 188 feet.  The problem with the report is that there is NO notation of where on the road this skid mark starts – how far east of the point of impact the skid mark starts.  The “RP” point is a telephone pole.  The “O” point is the “concrete edge” of the north side of the road.  Point “O” is 37’6″ north of “RP” but nowhere in the report is there an indication of how far east of the path point “O” is found.  So we don’t know how far away from the crash site the motorist started his skid.

This information is important – maybe critically important – to a proper analysis of what happened here.  From the sketch, which is “NOT TO SCALE” it appears the officer was trying to show that Point A was quite a bit farther from the bike path than point “C” but without the measurements we’ll never know.

What about 188 feet of skid marks?  How do we consider that?  From the report, conditions were optimal for minimizing the stopping distance.  The road was flat- level.  It was 87 degrees and the road was dry.  There is no mention of any review of the motorist’s tires or brakes.  Using a typical skid/speed calculation formula, and using some basic assumptions about the car’s braking efficiency [1.0 - all brakes working] and the drag factor for asphalt [.75], I come up with a speed of roughly 65 mph, not the “about 55mph” stated by the motorist.

In addition to the skid mark evidence, the witness statement provided by the motorist was … interesting… to say the least.  The motorist wrote that he was “…was heading to our campground with my wife & dog & dog was getting car sick in the back seat so I was trying to get there a little quicker. Came up to a bike path and looked either way and saw no one. At the last minute he flew out in front of me and I immediately slammed the brakes on.”

Hmmm….

So the driver was distracted by a dog puking in the back seat.

And the driver was trying to get to his campsite “…a little quicker…” at the time of the crash, but claims to have been traveling the speed limit ["...about 55 mph..."]

The motorist claims to have been on the look-out at the bike path – looking both ways and seeing “no one” —  until this bike rider came flying out in front of him? Where was this cyclist? Was he invisible?  Can you see why the measurements are so critical?  How far from the intersection did this guy START braking?  Why did he lay down 188 feet of skid marks if he was going “about 55 mph?”

Most accident reconstructionists will testify that a typical “perception/reaction” time is 1.5 to 2.0 seconds.  This “P/R” time is critical to understanding crashes.  These experts tell us that human beings do not react instantaneously to danger – there is a bit of a time delay as the image of danger is “perceived” by the eyes/brain and some “reaction” is begun.  During this 1.5 – 2.0 seconds of P/R time a motorist, for example, just keeps moving toward the danger at speed.

In this case, at 60 mph, the motorist is traveling 88 feet per second.  Thus, if it took the motorist 2.0 seconds to perceive the cyclist and react, by hitting the brakes, the car would have traveled 176 feet before skidding even STARTED.  Again, that distance from the start of the skid to the point of impact is critical.

The car broadsided the cyclist. This much is obvious from the photos taken at the scene.  The rider did not strike the side of the car.  So this idea that the cyclist just appeared after not being visible just doesn’t make sense.

This motorist’s story, and the physical evidence, raises many more questions, to me, than it answers.  In fact, to me it says the motorist was both distracted AND speeding – two factors that are highly indicative of causing a crash.

Here’s a shot of the view the motorist had as he approached the bike trail.  Given the limitations of cameras, depth of focus, perspective and the like, it is difficult to tell “how far” something is from something else in the photo… those measurements would have been very helpful in analyzing this crash.

Maybe what happened was just “obvious” to officers at the scene?  I don’t know… but, to me, the report and photographs make it less than clear to me that this crash was 100% the fault of the cyclist…

Steve Magas
The Bike Lawyer

ODOT, Ohio’s Department of Transportation, does a lot of statistical stuff, along with the Ohio Department of Public Safety – ODPS.  ODOT had a Press Release about the dangers of cycling and  walking the other day which is interesting.  The key points:

-  FORTY PERCENT of all Pedestrian & Cycling Crash incidents involve KIDS – Folks age 5-18!

- Between 2006 and 2010, more than 23,297 crashes were pedestrian and bicycle-related resulting in 552 fatalities and 20,478 injuries (3,699 serious injuries).

This was surprising to me.  I have all the crash data in Ohio for all bicycle crashes from 2005 to 2010.  Unfortunately, the data I have is not searchable, as in a spreadsheet.  Rather, it was provided to me in 250 page PDF files.

ODOT submitted four charts of data. The first, below, shows ALL the bicycle and pedestrian crashes for five years, broken down by month.  The 10,212 “bike” crashes is consistent with the data I have which shows an average of around 2,000 crashes per year.

The second chart, below, shows the pedestrian & bike crashes involving kids aged 5 to 18.  The chart highlights what you and I might think, “Oh Yea, that makes sense…” – the fact that kid-crashes go up when school goes out.

The third chart shows the results of the second chart in a timeline manner.  The Kid Crashes – both bike and pedestrian.

The fourth chart shows the total pedestrian and bike crashes.  The pedestrian crashes are  certainly linear – they actually go UP a bit in the fall – my guess is that there is a correlation between the earlier darkness of the fall.  The total bike crashes match the kid-crashes – a “Bell” curve showing a rise in the summer “riding” months…

What fascinated me about this ODOT data review was this concept that Kid “Crashes” actually make up HALF of all bike crashes.  When I see that I feel MUCH better about being an adult rider in Ohio.  I “feel” like my odds of being in a crash on the roadway just got cut in HALF.

Fatal crashes are very different from just crashes.  Ohio has an average of 15-16 cyclists killed on Ohio’s roads each year.  The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety [IIHS], an auto insurance sponsored research group known primarily its auto crash testing, also keeps bicycle crash data – fatal crash data.  IIHS data reflects the following with regard to cyclist deaths in the United States.

As you can see, the demographics of bike crashes have completely Flip Flopped in the past 35 years.  In 1975, there were 1003 cyclist fatalities.  67% of those were under the age of 16.  Of the 1003 fatalities, 323 were over the age of 16.

By 2009, cyclist deaths have dropped significantly to 630.  However, while ODOT says 50% of all the “crashes” involve kids under 18, only 13% of the fatalities [85 out of 630] involved kids and 87% of deaths were of people over the age of 16.  This means that while cyclist deaths dropped almost 40%, the number ADULT cyclists killed in 2009 [545] was significantly GREATER than the number killed in 1975 [323].

According to NHTSA’s 2008 Report the average age of cyclists killed in the U.S. was 41 in 2008, UP from 32 in 1998.  The average age of cyclists INJURED has also gone up – from 24 in 1998 to 31 in 2008.

Bottom line – ODOT has tossed out some interesting math this week. I’m still waiting to receive the underlying data.  For now, though, it seems like an adult cyclist in Ohio can “feel” like the roads became LESS dangerous to him/her than they might have “felt” last week!

Good Luck and Good Riding!
Steve Magas, The Bike Lawyer

Here’s an expanded, and annotated, version of what I sent in… my views on why Cyclist/Motorist Tensions that have escalated in Columbus during and following the Ed Miller trial – the man accused of being drunk when he ran into, and killed, a well-known Columbus cyclist, ride leader and advocate, Steve Barbour.  The trial recently ended in a mistrial as jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict.

Steve Magas, The Bike Lawyer

UNDERSTANDING CYCLIST/MOTORIST TENSIONS

By Steven M. Magas, The Bike Lawyer

The death of cyclist Steve Barbour in 2009, the recent trial of Ed Miller, and the 2010 deaths of Columbus cyclists Jeff Stevenson & Trent Music, have created a palpable tension between motorists and cyclists in central Ohio.  A war of words has erupted in the Columbus Dispatch.

Cyclists are rightfully angry that one of their most cautious and beloved brethren was killed and then blamed for causing his own death. Motorists argue that cyclists drive carelessly, should “pay for” using the roads though licenses and taxes and should not be allowed on certain roads in the first place.

Let’s step back –  take stock – and address some of these concerns.

Why Are Cyclists Allowed On The Roads?

As Walt Whitman proclaimed “O Public Road!”

The roads in Ohio, and throughout the U.S., are PUBLIC ways open for the public to exercise a constitutional right to travel.  Bicycles were on the roads before cars existed.  Bicycle operators are included as legitimate, legal road users in the traffic laws and rules of the road in all 50 states.  Under Ohio law, bicycles may use EVERY non-freeway road and may not be banned from the roadway.

Motorists argue that bicycles go “slow” – as do big trucks, farm equipment and Amish buggies.  However, on all but higher speed country roads, cyclists can actually travel at average speeds approaching motor vehicle speeds.  Today’s impatient motorists must understand that “traffic” is a brightly colored cloth which includes the movement of vehicles of all types and speeds of vehicles.

Do Cyclists, or Motorists,  “Pay For” The Roads?

Many, if not most, cyclists are licensed motor vehicle operator owners and pay the same “fees” as everyone else.  However, public roads, like public buildings, public sidewalks and pubic schools, are open to everyone regardless of income.

Roads are not a private club with a steep initiation fee and monthly dues.  Those who drive Big Trucks or gas hogs,  paying higher “fees” and “taxes” and buying more gas, do NOT get bigger or more rights than those operating smaller vehicles.  People driving VW Bugs or Mini Coopers or bicycles are not required to surrender their legal right of way to those driving a Ford Subdivision [or whatever the new humongo vehicle is called these days]!

Paying for the MAINTENANCE of roads is even more important. A single 40-ton semi, which weighs 40 times more than a one-ton car, does 9,600 times more damage to the roads than the car.   A bike rider does not compare – the bike+rider unit does virtually NO damage with  skinny tires, light frame and rider.  Yet, big trucks are not paying their “fair share” to maintain roads – at least according to a recent Dispatch editorial.  Under this analysis, bicycle operators should get a REFUND for not damaging roads…

Why Aren’t Cyclists Licensed?

We demand that people be licensed to be allowed to do dangerous things – things that put the lives of others at risk. A cyclist is a risk to her/himself but not a realistic risk to others.  A bicycle operator who goes “rogue” is not going to drive through a crowd of people and kill them.

Licensed motorists kill at the rate of 30,000+ per year in this country.  NHTSA was recently touting the latest figures for 2010, which dropped to “the lowest rate in history.” 33,808 people were killed in 2009 and “only” 32,788 were killed in 2010.  As far as I have been able to determine unlicensed cyclists killed ZERO people last year.

Drivers licenses were not issued in the U.S. until

Are Cyclists Driving Recklessly?

The short answer – no.

I am working on a report of EVERY cycling fatality in Ohio in 2010.  Part of my research included getting reports from the Ohio Department of Public Safety which list every CRASH involving a bicycle from 2005-2010.

There were only TEN cycling deaths out of 1,809 crashes in Ohio in 2010.  By comparison, 500,000 Ohio drivers were involved in over 300,000 crashes in 2009 leading to 935 deaths – that’s an average of 822 car crashes, and more than 2 motorist deaths, every day!

242 bike crashes occurred in Franklin County in 2010. Of those, 110 police reports listed the cyclist as the “unit in error.”   This roughly 50/50 breakdown on “fault” is consistent with national figures.

One Key Point needs to be inserted among the numbers here – one I firmly believe –> Cycling today in Ohio is SAFE.

Don’t let statistics prevent you from dusting off that bike and getting out there to enjoy Ohio’s roads and trails.  According to bike guru Ken Kifer, cycling is six times safer than LIVING! However, being aware of how accidents happen can help you “see” ahead and plan ahead. Knowledge is power and, here, it is the power to ride safely and effectively!  [Ironically, Ken Kifer was killed while riding - by a drunk driver who is now serving 20 years in prison for murder as the result killing him!]

“SEE” is actually an acronmym borrowed from the motorcycle literature.  It means “Scan/Search – Evaluate – Execute” – three steps new motorcyclists are taught to use constantly in Motorcycle Safety Foundation training classes.  These steps should be used by cyclists on the roadway as well.  ”Search” ahead – 10 to 12 seconds ahead – and determine what potential risks are upcoming.  Complex intersections, pedestrians, narrowing lanes, right turn lanes, freeway on-ramps, crosswalks, dog walkers, debris or potholes, parked cars…  ”Evaluate” those risks and develop a plan to deal with them as you approach.  ”Execute” that plan far enough ahead to keep the risk from blossoming into a full blown conundrum!

Rising Cyclist Tensions

I took a closer look at one Columbus street – High Street – where 25 bike crashes occurred in 2010.  High Street is a long, flat, urban thoroughfare that stretches from one end of Columbus to the other.  Downtown High Street is chock full of great shops, food establishments and cyclists.  Of the 25 bike crashes in 2010, the cyclist was faulted in only FIVE while sixteen listed the motorist as being at fault.

“Right of way” violations by motorists on High Street were the overwhelming proximate cause of these crashes – i.e., the cyclist possessed the “right of way” under the law and that right of way was not respected by the motor vehicle operator either through an improper turn, passing maneuver, “ACDA” violation or other invasion of the cyclist’s right of way.

In many of these High Street crashes the motorist simply failed to “see” the cyclist.  As I have written many times, this is not an excuse but an admission of liability.  Judging by the actions of the downtown traffic cops in Columbus, motorists are being ticketed for these right of way violations.

Hit and run drivers continue to plague cyclists – as well as pedestrians, motorcyclists and other vehicle operators.  Hit/run drivers kill four people in the U.S. every day.

In Columbus, Jeff Stevenson and Trent Music were both killed by hit and run drivers.  Maybe you saw a white “ghost bike” marking the scene of Jeff’s death on Sawmill Road last summer?  Hit & run deaths take a huge emotional toll on the cycling community – similar to how an unsolved murder rattles the neighborhood where it occurs.

Steve Donaldson is an Arizona cyclist who started “CARD” – Cyclists Against Reckless Driving – with a mission of promoting and encouraging safe cycling, reducing crashes, and educating and informing the masses.  Steve started CARD’s Facebook page a year or so ago for the purpose of publicizing bicycle crash cases he finds during daily web searches.   CARD’s page has amassed more than 10,000 followers who follow the tragedies around the country. While at times morbid, this page serves as a very in-your-face reminder to cyclists that stuff happens on the roads every day  and hit/run incidents seem to be an epidemic these days.

How do we move forward?

The key is education – understanding the law as well as where the emotion on each “side” of this issue comes from.

Motorists need to understand and accept that:

-       Ohio cyclists may ride on virtually EVERY non-freeway chunk of asphalt in Ohio – even the ones viewed by some as “dangerous.”

-       A cyclist riding lawfully on the roadway has EXACTLY THE SAME “right of way” as any other driver. Bigger vehicles don’t get bigger rights!

-       “Failure to Yield” to a cyclist’s right of way is one of the primary causes of car/bike crashes in Columbus, in Franklin County, in Ohio and in the U.S.

-       Ohio law allows cyclists to ride two abreast.  One rider may use the FULL LANE where needed for safe riding.

-       Passing at safe distance is critical.

Cyclists need to understand and accept that:

-       With the right to use the roads comes responsibility.  Cyclists must follow the rules of the road just as any vehicle operator must.

-       Traffic rules must be followed.  Stopping at red lights and stop signs is mandatory and an effective way to demonstrate that you ARE “traffic” and not simply playing in traffic.

-       Riding visibly, and predictably, is better for riders AND motorists.

Millions of Ohio bicycle riders will safely ride tens of millions of miles this year.  With gas prices over $4.00/gallon and rising, we will see more utilitarian riders to go along with the commuters, recreational riders, mom & dads, fitness buffs, racers and kids on the roads.

To quote Sgt. Phil Esterhaus: “Let’s Be Careful Out There.”

Florida, Texas and California continue to be the Big Three, leading the US year after year in cycling deaths. In 2009, there were 630 fatalities in the US. FL, CA & TX had 107, 99 and 48, or 40%.
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811386.pdf Florida alone had 17% of all cycling deaths.

I would like to hear from Floridian cyclists and bike safety folks as to what they think is going on down there… up here in OH, we tend to stereotypically picture FL drivers as old, retired folks driving big cars – or tourists – driving on relatively flat roads. Are drivers just that bad – too easy to get distracted? Are cyclists not cycling safely? Are the roads just too long and straight and boring and fast and motorists “zone out?” Is drunk driving a bigger problem in FL than elsewhere? Is distracted driving a bigger issue? Are there simply a limited number of roads with a much higher traffic density and higher level of drivers whose best driving days are, perhaps, in the rear view mirror?  Where’s RAY LAHOOD on this one then?

No answers here. But, to respond to those who feel that courts are “too clogged” for more “criminal negligence” crimes, the LEO’s and Courts are NOT overburdened by car crashes at all. Adding to the penalty choices available to judges for people who kill or maim with their cars simply adds options to cases already in the system.

The reason nothing happens to these drivers is that the Legislatures have failed, almost uniformly in this country, to recognize that driving a car carelessly is the equivalent of waving a loaded gun around carelessly. The results are just as predictable, and just as deadly – moreso with cars, actually, since they are bigger than bullets and more likely to be in close proximity to MANY living, breathing humans than a guy with a gun, who tends to be around 1 or 2.

Legislatures treat driving a car like a god-given, inalienable right found in the 2nd Amendment – thou shalt be entitled to bear arms and drive a car – often at the same time. Legislatures have laws in place for those rare instances when someone INTENTIONALLY kills, but very few laws with any teeth when someone CARELESSLY kills or maims with a car.

In Kentucky, Russel Swigart is serving TEN YEARS in prison for intentionally killing two cats during a burglary.  In Ohio, a judge gave Erv Blackston  SIX DAYS of COMMUNITY SERVICE for killing Michelle Kazlauski in a deathtrap of a pick-up truck with jeri-rigged brakes!  I’m not saying killing cats isn’t horrible… it’s just that the sentences are askew.  Legislatures treat careless killings of innocent people, killings that cause a lifetime of pain and, often, financial loss for grieving families,  as “slap on the wrist” crimes while treating intentional crimes against animals as deserving of severe punishment – crimes in which the “victim” loses a pet, not a parent.  If Mr. Swigart had run down the cat’s OWNER instead of killing the cat, his sentence, in Ohio anyway, could have been far less than 10 years!

In Ohio, when I testified in favor of a law upping the potential penalty to include stiffer fines and longer license suspensions [but NO jail time] when a “minor” right of way violation resulted in death I was told by an old friend on the Ohio Senate’s Law Committee that “We Don’t Want To CRIMINALIZE NEGLIGENCE.” That law is still percolating in committee and we’ll try again this year facing the same uphill battle for passage.

I say it’s HIGH TIME we DO criminalize negligence, at least when the negligence relates to activities where there is a very high risk that someone will be killed or maimed due to negligence. If someone carelessly drives a lawn mower or mishandles a power tool, the odds of death to others are small. If someone carelessly drives a 2 ton vehicle through a red light because they are fiddling with the radio dial, are “zoned out” due to a pending divorce or are texting or putting on make-up or reading the paper or downloading a fax, or adding a “Contact,” on their smartphone, the odds are HIGH that someone will be killed or maimed…

Stiff criminal penalties DO have an impact on behavior… these are not “accidents” caused by a act of God, they are preventable crashes caused by the careless lack of attention of someone engaged in a potentially dangerous behavior.

More on this theme to follow…

From D.C. comes an interesting post – the author makes a case for changing “the rules” for riding bikes, questioning why we need to follow the same rules as giant two ton behemoths.  Unspecified “changes” need to be made to the rules.  Bikes shouldn’t have to follow the same rules.

“…These updated rules should provide better clarity about situations that didn’t really exist 10 years ago. For example, vehicles turning right when there’s a bike lane. Is the person driving supposed to wait for the bike? Or is the person on the bike supposed to overtake the car as the driver waits in the bike lane to turn right? What if someone double-parked their car in a bike lane, what is the correct action for the cyclist?…”

Many of the following comments militantly argue against rules at all – criticizing the “Law & Order Brigade” of cyclists who think we need to have some rules to control the orderly flow of rules on the rules…

“… the L&OB are not unlike the Vehicular Cycling (VC) folks who actively quashed the growth of cycling in the United States for the past 30 years. It is possible that VC folks, having been exposed and discredited, have merely shifted their pro-driving rhetoric to one of making cyclists obey laws which nobody else obeys, in order to make cycling as inconvenient as possible…. “

Below is the post I added to the conversation…

— — — —

WHY FOLLOW THE RULES?

Interesting approach – don’t treat bikes like vehicles.  In an era where there are MANY in politics looking for any excuse to kick us OFF the roads, the easiest would be for them to say, “Look, they don’t want to follow the rules.”

As an avid cyclist, a lawyer who has handled 250+ “bike cases” in which cyclists have been hurt or killed, someone who has researched bike crashes and drafted legislation, and someone who has written “bike laws” with the best interests of cyclists at heart and tried to work them through “the system,” I see the author’s approach here as naive and idealistic – creating a sort of Bike Utopia, where everyone sees and appreciates the merits and benefits of cycling and allows cyclists to use the roadways without really needing to follow “the rules” – so, what, they’re not so much “rules” really, eh?  They’re actually more like guidelines?

Roadways are public ways – designed to allow the public to move about the country in an orderly fashion.  Rules are needed to insure this orderly flow of “traffic.”  Traffic is a brightly woven cloth with threads of many colors – the dark, smokey, polluted greys and blacks of cars, trucks and busses, and the bright, vibrant hues of bicycles, trikes, recumbents, fixies, 29-ers, hard and soft tails, and “kid” bikes.  The rules for moving all this traffic around safely must take ALL types of traffic in mind – from Amish buggies to slow moving farm equipment to bikes to 4-wheelers to 18-wheelers… Maybe life for cyclists is better in D.C. and has evolved to that Utopian place where rules are no longer needed and folks can just LOOK and be safe – not so here.

The “law” generally divides the world into two parts – the part “On” the road and the part not on the road.  If you want to drive a vehicle on the road, you need to follow the rules.  For bicycle operators, this means some very basic stuff- stopping at red lights and stop signs – not driving drunk – etc etc etc.  While the merits of particular rules can be debated, the reality is that rules are needed to make traveling in traffic “predictable” and safe.

I’m currently doing a detailed study of EVERY fatal bike crash in Ohio over the past two years – a study I hope to continue each year.  I’ll be releasing a detailed report in time, hopefully, for Bike Month.  This study involves obtaining and independently reviewing and analyzing the crash reports, witness statements, photographs, accident reconstruction analysis and any other publicly available documents of each deadly crash to see if the police “got it right” when detailing the “cause” of the crash.  Ohio’s cycling fatalities usually are in the 10-20 range, so, to me, this type of detailed study was “do-able” and the numbers are really too small to use statistically.

Of the 9 fatalities in Ohio in 2010, 2 involved cyclists who ran stop signs at bike path/roadway intersections.  One involved an older man who was riding at night, without a light, in dark clothes, while very drunk… [funny thing, from my reading of the police reports, the latter rider may have been the LEAST culpable of the three...in terms of accident causation!  He was riding well to the right, possibly off the road and on the berm, when he was rear-ended by a hit/run driver.  Police did a rather shabby investigation, though, as far as accident reconstruction probably, I suspect, because he was drunk, and it was night, and he had no light so Voila, he was "invisible" and the hit/run motorist couldn't "see" him...given where he was struck, and where the debris scattered, the motorist was clearly, to me, off the roadway when she clobbered him...but that's another story]

People writing about “injuries” in this thread have picked up a very valid point.  “Injury” cases are much harder to classify and track.  Injuries range from skull fractures and TBI’s to road rash.  However, virtually every fatal crash generates a very detailed report, which makes for a better independent study.  For any analysis of bike crashes leading to “injuries” we are stuck with big numbers, statistics based on a possibly faulty street-level analysis leading to hurried conclusions noted with an “X”  in the “fault” box of a police report by a beat cop who may have better things to do …

So how does this help us look at the “Idaho Stop” and “let’s not follow the rules” arguments? First, anyone who has been involved in cycling advocacy for more than 5 minutes knows that selling a change of the rules is very very tough no matter WHAT the change is… if the change is “we’re gonna let cyclists slide through stop signs” I can guarantee you that you will never get the votes in Ohio’s legislature to get that through.  There is no sense in wasting what little political capital we have on dead issues with no chance of passing.

Further, I see the “Idaho Stop” as potential suicide in big cities.  You can say what you want about people being smart enough to not pull out in front of cars, it happens all the time under CURRENT “stop” laws… it’s a bit like watching a punch press… you think you’ve got it timed so you can stick your hand in there and not get clobbered but the odds of you getting stuck… at some point over time.. are pretty good without rules and guards to protect you – 1:1 maybe – even though you KNOW it would be stupid to let that thing smash your hand and you KNOW you can time it so you can stick your hand in without getting smashed – over time, stuff happens… people get tired or in a hurry or they are having too much fun to pay attention, they don’t “see” what there is to be seen, perception/reaction times suffer… Following “stop sign” rules and other rules keep you safe while participating in the very serious business of moving about the country!

Finally, if we want “respect” from motorists, we have to earn it on EVERY ride. I’ve written for many years that every cyclist is an Ambassador for Cycling on EVERY ride.  The meter that measures public perception of cyclists ticks ever slow slightly Positive or Negative with every encounter a motorist has with a cyclist.  When I take a “bike case” to trial, I try to gauge the feelings of jurors about cyclists on the roadway – almost all have negative views based on negative experiences.  This negativity crops up in lawmakers in the form of a “parens patriae” approach – we need to take care of them and keep them safe…how?  By getting them off the road of course!  Not following the road rules just juices up THAT theory.

We’ve been fighting the battle to stay ON the roads for more than 100 years…In May, 1896 [yes, that's EIGHTEEN Ninety Six], early cycling advocate JB Potter had to remind New York City’s Park’s Commissioner that he lacked the authority to kick bikes off the roads and relegate them to “cycle paths.”  He did so by pointing to a law which then allowed cyclists to use EVERY roadway “…open to the free use of persons using carriages drawn by horses…”  The “car” wasn’t even on the legal radar yet.  Let’s not give “them” more ammo in 2011 to justify arguments in favor of kicking us OFF the roads…

Let’s be careful out there!

Steve Magas

The Bike Lawyer

www.OhioBikeLawyer.com

[co-author of "Bicycling and the Law"]

My project to review every cycling death in Ohio is well under way, and I’ve already found a significant error in the numbers generated by the Ohio Department of Public Safety!  Their report says cyclists were involved in 11 fatal crashes, but my research says 9 cyclists were killed.  Get this… WE’RE BOTH RIGHT… read on to see why!

At the end of 2010 I announced a project to review and report on EVERY fatal bicycle crash in Ohio.

My plan for the project looks something like this:

1.  Obtain report containing a summary of ALL Ohio bicycle crashes from Ohio Department of Public Safety.

2.  Review the 200+ page report and locate each case where the “DEATH” column contains a number greater than zero.

3.  Obtain the complete official police crash reports for every fatal bicycle crash.

4.  Obtain the official police photographs from every fatal bicycle crash.

5.  Review the police report, witness statements, photographs, accident reconstruction records and all other data with an eye toward determining if the “official” conclusions as to “fault” and who caused the crash make sense.

6.  Determine if any criminal or traffic matters arose out of the crash and, if so, determine what happened.

7.  Review medial reports of the crash to determine how bicycle crashes are being portrayed.

8.  Write a report outlining the facts of each crash and any findings or conclusions.

9.  Publish the report.

10.  Shoot for a release date of May 1 [traditional start of "Bike Month"] or for the Ride of Silence.

So, I started.  Step One was easy.  The folks from ODPS, Lindsay Kolmanc from the prior administration and Dustyn Fox from the Kasich administration, have been great.  Since I don’t currently have the skill to manipulate the various statistical report generators ODPS offers, Lindsay was kind enough to correspond with me via email and send me PDF files containing reports of EVERY bicycle crash in 2010… and 2009… and 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2005!  WOW… Dustyn provided a very quick response on his first day on the job, hooking me up with folks who gave me updated reports for 2010.

Each of these reports contains more than 200 pages.  The first 180 or so is a county-by-county breakdown of every crash in Ohio in which the “bicycle” or “pedalcycle” box on the crash report was checked.

Here’s a summary of the basic crash/fatality data in Ohio from 2006 to 2010.  During those 6 years, there were more than 12,000 crashes in which a bicycle was listed as a vehicle, and an average of 15.7 fatal crashes and just over 2,000 crashes per year.  If you were in a bike crash, your odds of being injured were high – 80+%, but your risk of death was relatively low – less than 1%.  

Since we don’t really have any numbers to estimate “usage” we cannot really estimate your risk of actually having a crash on any given day, or ride.  We know there are millions of riders in Ohio, who ride tens of millions of miles, so the odds are very very small.  According to IIHS statistics some one out of four cyclists killed on the road is legally DRUNK – so if you don’t drink and ride your odds go down dramatically!

In 2010, there were 1809 crashes involving bicycles/pedalcycles.  There is one line of data for  for each crash.    That one line contains a WEALTH of information, 24 separate bits of data, as shown below.  Given the six years of reports reflecting over 12,000 “bike crashes,” that means there are over 288,000 bits of data in those reports.  If one had the ability to catalog that data into a useable tool, one could get a VERY close look at bicycle crashes in Ohio – including a summary of “fault.”  However, such a report would PRESUME that the police “got it right” when checking the “fault” box on the police report – a presumption that I, for one, am not comfortable with.

Since I did not want to do a 288,000 data point statistical study, the key section I started with was the DEATHS column.  For all but 11 of the 1809 total “crashes” involving bicycles in 2010, the “DEATHS” column had a zero.  However, those 11 fatal crashes were the ones I was interested in.

At the end of the listing for each county there was a year-to-date summary for that county.  At the end of the entire report there was a summary of the year.  This summary is below.

So there were 1809 total crashes in Ohio in which the bicycle/pedalcycle box was checked.  Of those, there were 1530 “injuries” and 11 deaths.  [The "PDO" listing is for "Property Damage Only."]  I then went through and tracked down the 11 deaths from the 1809 crashes.  Those are the ones I am going to write about.

Initially, I thought “…1809 Bike Crashes and 11 cycling deaths are actually pretty good numbers for Ohio…”   You see, in addition to getting these 200+ page detailed reports I have also been collecting PDF copies of Ohio’s “Crash Facts” from 1994-2009.  ”Crash Facts” is the annual report the ODPS publishes that outlines ALL crash statistics for Ohio.  In each of these reports is a page or two for bicycle crash statistics.  They catalog the number of crashes, injuries and deaths and have some tables or graphs showing some other data.  Below is a page from the 1994 Crash Facts which shows the 15-year average for bicycle crashes in Ohio -

As you can see, Ohio AVERAGED more than 3000 “bicycle” crashes from 1980 – 1994, so 1809 crashes in 2010 is a HUGE improvement.

The number of cyclists killed on Ohio’s roads has not fluctuated dramatically.  14 deaths in 1994 – 16 in 1998 – 18 in 2004.  Ohio usually has 15-20 cycling deaths annually, so I thought eleven in 2010 was a great number.  Then… I started looking each of those 11 crashes.  Turns out that TWO of those 11 “fatal crashes” involved the death of a MOTOR VEHICLE operator, not the cyclist!

The chart below shows each of the 11 “fatal” crashes involving bicycles in 2010.

Two of the crashes – the April 30 crash in Licking County and the July 11 crash in Lucas county are lined out.  When I obtained the crash reports from these two crashes I discovered that Yes they were “fatal” crashes and Yes a “bicycle” was involved… but the bicyclist was NOT the person killed!

On April 30, 2010, a motorist lost control of her vehicle and went off the road.  She struck a bicyclist, a tree and a house and died.  The cyclist was hurt but not killed. So, Yes, a bicycle was involved in a fatal crash, but the cyclist was not killed.

On July 11, 2010, a 7-year old cyclist entered the roadway in the path of a motorcycle.  The motorcyclist, with a passenger on back, swerved to avoid the boy, struck the cyclist and lost control of the bike which led to the motorcycle crashing to the ground.  The passenger riding on the back of the motorcycle was ejected, and killed.  Again, a cyclist was involved in a fatal crash, but the cyclist was not killed.

An error of 2 is not huge the grand scheme of Ohio’s crashes. In 2008, for example, there were more than 320,000 crashes – more than 77,000 injuries – and 1099 deaths on Ohio’s roads.  So 2 isn’t a huge number… EXCEPT that two is a HUGE number when it’s 2 out of 11 cycling deaths!

So how many cyclists died in Ohio in 2010?  The answer is nine.  However, 11 cyclists were involved in fatal crashes, so the ODPS stats are “right” yet wrong…go figure…

As 2010 draws to an end I am announcing the beginning of an exciting new project.  I have begun collecting the accident reports of every fatal bike crash in Ohio for 2010.  My plan is to review these reports independently in order to figure out what happened and why in each case, to search for common themes, mistakes and problems and to provide a written summary of my findings.  My hope is to have the report ready to release by May 1, the start of “Bike Month,” or by the Ride of Silence.

I am NOT a “researcher” per se and am not entirely familiar at this point with the tools that most researchers use to gather data.  My thought is not to review numbers and publish “statistics” but to review the public records and analyze each crash separately, independently and in detail.  It’s not that I’m afraid of math – I have a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Cincinnati.  Here, though, the data pool is small enough to permit a thorough review of each crash.

So what gives me the right to think I can tackle this project?  Well, I  have reviewed and legally analyzed thousands of crash reports in my 28 year career as a trial lawyer.  I have been the “first chair” trial lawyer in hundreds and hundreds of crash cases – both on the plaintiff’s side and working for the insurance company defending the claim.  I have handled more than 250 “bike” cases – cases where bike riders have been involved in crashes caused by errant motorists operating cars, trucks, school busses, SUV’s pulling trailers and more, as well as crashes caused by dogs, defective components, kids riding “Big Wheels” and more – crashes occurring on roads, parking lots, bike trails, sidewalks and crosswalks.  I have been lucky enough to have worked with, and cross-examined, top-notch forensic people – bicycle accident reconstructionists, forensic pathologists, human factors experts, engineers, bike design & manufacturing experts, helmet experts.  I believe I am well qualified to review these reports, analyze the data and independently review the findings  of “fault” made by local law enforcement.

I am VERY grateful for the help of Lindsay Komlanc of the Ohio Department of Public Safety.  Lindsay IS familiar with all those tools that researchers use – including how to narrow database of Ohio crashes into data I can use.  Lindsay has provided me with two reports so far – more than 400 pages of “bike crashes” listed for 2009 and 2010.  She will be providing me with similar detailed reports for all bike crashes from 2005-present.  This will provide a rich database listing virtually every crash involving a bicycle from 2005-2010 as well as every fatal crash.

From Lindsay’s reports, I have already culled the 11 “fatals” in 2010 and have begun tracking down the police reports.

Here’s one problem.  In Ohio, according to wikipedia, there are “almost 800″ law enforcement agencies.  Since getting police reports is the very first thing I do when handling an injury case, I am very familiar with the process. The tricky part?   Each of these 800 or so LEA’s has its own numbering system, keeps its own records and doesn’t necessarily forward its reports to a central location!  ODPS has a 2 page form that many LEA’s use for basic reporting.  Since I want the ACTUAL REPORT, filled out by the investigating officer, as well as all the PHOTOS from the crash, I have to find out which agency did the crash investigation and then contact them directly to get the full report.

Fortunately, in Ohio, we don’t have all that many fatal crashes.  Only 11 in 2010 and 18 in 2009.  There are 700-800 cyclist fatalities nationwide each year – a figure that has dropped considerably from the 1005 in 1975.  These are SMALL numbers, in the big picture, representing less than 2% of all persons killed on our nation’s roadways each year.  Given these small numbers in Ohio I thought that a case by case review of each report was very “do-able.”  In 2010, for example, there were more than 1500 INJURY crashes – but only 11 fatals.

I suspect that a careful review of the Ohio crashes will reveal that cycling is actually SAFER than we think – I suspect that each of these crashes will shed some light on how each of us can ride safer.  I suspect that many, if not ALL, of these crashes could have been avoided by a bit more attention being paid to the road by one vehicle operator or the other.  We’ll see if my review of the reports bears this out.

One important feature of reviewing each of these reports is that they stop being “numbers” and statistics and “crashes” and “fatals” and they become PEOPLE.  This is something that we must NEVER forget.  We can read all the numbers and statistics we want, but 11 PEOPLE died in Ohio in 2010 riding their bikes. 1500 PEOPLE were hurt in crashes.

One crash report that I have received is OSHP Report number 05-07650-37 – a report of a crash occurring on 8/21/2010 at 1415 on S.R. 180, latitude 39:31:39.33/ 82:33:25.07 involving Type of Unit – 37 [bicycle] and 07 [pick-up] … except it’s not a report of numbers at all –  it’s a report that discusses the death of Michelle Kauzlausky on the Peletonia ride.

“]

Michelle Kazlausky [from NBC 4 website

I am just beginning to review this 66 page report.  I have ordered the crash photographs. A few things stand out already.

Michelle was riding southbound on State Route 374 in Laurel, Ohio – Hocking County – with the Peletonia Ride.  If you have ever been to “Hocking Hills” you know how beautiful, and hilly, this area is.  The Peletonia Ride is a “grassroots bike tour with one goal – to end cancer.”

At the intersection of SR 374 and Route 180, there was a lot of activity.  Police were directing traffic as cyclists were waved through the intersection.  Ervin Blackstone was driving a 1985 Ford F-150 pick-up truck.  According to his statement to Troopers, he had “…replaced the front and rear brake lines on [the truck] the day before the crash occurred…”  As Blackstone drove up he was ordered to STOP by a State Trooper.  Blackstone told OSHP that “…the brakes on his truck failed…” and he kept going past the Trooper who had ordered him to stop.  Witnesses stated that Ms. Kazlausky “…attempted evasive action… by ejecting herself from the bicycle…” but was unable to avoid being hit by the truck.  A subsequent investigation of the truck revealed “less than half the required brake fluid” in the lines Mr. Blackstone replaced which resulted in “…poor stopping ability…”  Mr. Blackstone was eventually charged with Vehicular Manslaughter and other crimes and his criminal case is set for trial in February, 2011.

This incident was widely reported in the news media at the time.  Another part of my review of these cases will be to try to track down media reports to see how these crashes are portrayed [Have you EVER read a media report fails to mention whether the rider had a helmet?]

This incident also resulted in criminal charges against the motorist, and I am going to try to track down the results of any such criminal cases and add them to the report.

All in all, this looks like an exciting and very challenging project – one that will hopefully result in findings both confirming the overall SAFETY of riding a bicycle today while providing riders with insight into how deadly crashes happen and how they can be avoided.

Good luck and GOOD RIDING!

Steve Magas