GOVERNMENT REPORTS FINDINGS OF A STUDY ON BICYCLIST ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS
As a bicycle accident attorney in Chicago, I found a recent report on the attitudes and behavior of bicyclists from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) very interesting. The data comes from 9,616 U.S. residents age 16 and older during the summer of 2002. The August of 2008 report contained the following interesting findings about who is riding and the reason that they ride:
- Slightly less than half (46%) of those 16 and older have regular access to a bicycle.
- 43% ride a bicycle at least once during the summer months.
- Bicycling declines with age.
- The majority of bicycle trips are for recreation or exercise; only 14% of rides were to run errands and 5% were for commuting to work or school.
With regard to the where they ride and safety issues, the findings include:
- 48% of trips were made on paved roads.
- 32% of bicyclists said bike paths were available, but they do not use them because they are not convenient, available or go where they need to go.
- 4% of bicyclists were injured while riding in the past two years;
- 50% of bicyclists wear a helmet for some trips and 35% of bicyclists wear a helmet for all trips.
- 47% of bicyclists would like to see changes in how their local community is designed for making bicycle riding safer, including more bike lanes (38%) and bike paths (30%).
To create a bike route for your next bike ride, check out Google Maps, which now has a bicycle feature.
