Ten Year Study Identifies Danger Spots for Minneapolis Bikes

A recent study of car-bicycle collisions from 2000 to 2010 identified the most dangerous spots for these incidents. There were multiple spots around the University of Minnesota, which would make sense when you consider that there are tight streets and a lot of people on bikes. Those roads also don't have the additional safety lanes that have been added to the streets in downtown Minneapolis.

University Avenue and the Interstate 35W exit ramp, saw 14 crashes, the seventh-highest in the city. This area has higher speeds as an additional concern. The report also had some additional findings about these collisions:

The report by the public works department of the city found that bicyclists and drivers were nearly equally at fault for accidents with drivers contributing to 64 percent of accidents and cyclists contributing to 59 percent.

In some cases, both the cyclist and driver were at fault.

Indiscretions leading to an accident had a common theme between drivers and cyclists.

The study found both drivers and cyclists commonly failed to yield the right-of-way and were often in the wrong lane.

Distracted driving was a big contributor to crashes for cars as was disregard for traffic control devices for bikers.

Regardless of where in the city, the study found that the more bicyclists who use a road, the safer it was.

The fault numbers probably will be misread by some. They don't justify ever running down the biker. What they tell us is that the biker may also be concerned just because they could do something wrong. They need more room and they need to be watched because when they get hit, there is usually a lot of physical damage.

Hopefully, this study will be used to educate and to improve these areas.