Moving the rock

I live in a university city, Gainesville, that on the whole is known for its progressive – dare I say, liberal? – ways.  But while Gainesville professes to be a “Complete Streets” community, our city commission recently went through the awkward contortions of first installing and then removing bicycle lanes from a section of NW 8th Avenue that runs through a nature preserve and past a public park to an elementary school.

Why? Basically, motorists complained that narrowing 8th to accommodate cyclists forced them to drive slower than they would like.  Meanwhile, not far away from 8th is county-maintained NW 16th Ave. – a 4-lane urban throughway that was originally over-designed to facilitate the need for speed. NW 16 is undergoing a  facelift of sorts. Although county engineers refused to narrow lane widths, add bike lanes or implement other traffic calming measures, they did put down sharrows to, hopefully, remind motorists that, yes, bicyclists belong in traffic too.

I mention these two local setbacks not to dis my community.  I love this town and by and large still consider it to be quite bikable. But rather to make the point that working to make cycling a safer and more convenient form of transportation in our auto-centric culture often feels like a one-step-forward, two-steps-back process. Cycling advocates may be forgiven if they relate to Sisyphus, forever pushing the rock up that hill, measuring progress in increments.

Sisyphus certainly came to mind while reading a newly released report from the Centers for Disease Control with the grim title “Bicyclist Deaths Associated with Motor Vehicle Traffic — United States, 1975–2012” (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/wk/mm6431.pdf) There’s nothing especially new or surprising in the CDC’s findings. Indeed, it all has a rather depressingly familiar feel to it.

“Physical activity, including bicycling, is linked with multiple health benefits.” it begins on an optimistic note. “However, although bicycles account for only about 1% of trips across all modes of transportation, on a per trip basis, bicyclists die on U.S. roads at a rate double that of vehicle occupants.”

And Florida is singled out for having the “smallest decrease” in bicycle mortality rates in the nation over that time period.  Which is not to say the CDD report is all bad news. It’s not. But it is a sober reminder that we still have a lot of work to do on bike-ped safety in The Sunshine State.

The CDC reports that child bicycle-related mortality rates have decreased by an impressive 92 percent, which sounds great at first blush. But the primary reason for that seems to be that far fewer parents today allow their children to ride bicycles than was the case in 1975.

Meanwhile, mortality rates for adults aged 35-54 tripled over that time period, with male cyclists being six times more likely to die than female cyclists.

Again, no surprise: The big growth in cycling over those years has occurred among adults – and especially among men.  Although cycling still accounts for only about 1 percent of total trips, the CDC points out that between 2000-2012 “the number of U.S. workers who traveled to work by bicycle increased 61%.” The biggest upsurge in cycling popularity over that time “has occurred among men aged 25–64 years, whereas cycling rates have remained steady for women and have fallen among children.”

Bottom line: Cycling is still a risky business on too many American streets. And that’s not acceptable.  Still, there is reason for optimism. Nationwide statistics are a poor indicator of what individual communities may be doing to improve cycling safety. The old rallying cry “Think globally, act locally” still very much applies.

As the CDC notes, “some U.S. cities have higher bicycle use and lower mortality rates than the United States overall. Many have implemented multifaceted, integrated approaches to bicycling that address safety while also promoting cycling.”

Among those approaches: Traffic calming, bike lanes, Safe Routes to Schools programs, education and enforcement campaigns to modify both cyclist and motorist behavior and more.

Indeed, even in Florida – with arguably the nation’s worst cycling mortality reputation – many communities are working hard to make bike-ped safety a priority.

“Multifaceted approaches to bicycle road safety are likely needed to ensure bicycling safety for all,” the CDC concludes.

And so we cycling advocates must resolve to work ever harder to help our communities become more bike-and-ped friendly. Even if that means occasionally taking a step or two back in the process of moving forward.

Bike Florida is hosting its third annual Share The Road Celebration of Cycling weekend in the City of Clermont, Nov. 13-15. (http://www.sharetheroad.org/celebration-of-cycling-2015/) The heart of our program, on Friday, Nov. 13, is a day long series of presentations and panel discussions focusing on what some Florida communities (Orlando, Gainesville, Clermont, Tampa Bay, Winter Garden and others) are doing to make their streets safer and more inviting for walkers and cyclists.