We should be more upset about this.
More than 100 bicyclists have died on Harris County roads over the past five years, according to data from the Texas Department of Transportation.
A Chronicle analysis of TxDOT roadway crash data found that 103 bicyclists have died on Harris County roads since 2017. Aside from a slight dip in 2018, the annual total has risen each year.
The data reviewed by the Chronicle comes from vehicle-related crash reports involving a bicyclist. It includes fatalities that occurred within 30 days due to injuries sustained from a crash.
[…]
Only crashes with running motor vehicles that result in injuries, deaths or personal property damage over $1000 are required to be reported, according to TxDOT guidelines. If none of those things occurred, it’s usually up to the discretion of the responding agency.
According to a Sept. 1 news release from TxDOT, Texas crashes involving bicyclists claimed the lives of 92 people total in 2021. Pedestrian and bicyclist deaths accounted for 20 percent of the 4,490 fatalities on Texas roadways last year, according to TxDOT.
[…]
According to the data, some of the contributing factors to Harris County’s fatal crashes include:
- Drivers failing to control their speed
- Drivers disregarding stop signs or lights
- Drivers failing to drive in a single lane or changing lanes when it’s unsafe
- Drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- Pedestrians failing to yield the right of way to vehicles
TxDOT is currently undergoing it’s “Be Safe. Drive Smart” campaign aimed at reminding Texans to know and follow laws for safe driving, walking and biking. The laws include the Lisa Torry Smith Act, which went into effect in 2021 and requires drivers to stop and yield the right of way to people in crosswalks. Drivers must also required to yield the right of way to pedestrians and bicyclists when turning.
Did you know that we had such a law in Texas now? I admit that I did not. That was SB1055, and here’s some background on it, the short version of which is that it was named for a Fort Bend woman who was killed while in a crosswalk by an apparently inattentive driver. She was walking her 6-year-old son (who was badly injured as well) to school at the time. There are now criminal penalties for this, including felony charges if the driver injures or kills the person in the crosswalk. Good to know, and I’m glad it passed. Now if we could make sure everyone else knows about it.
Anyway. There were 24 bicyclists killed on Harris County roads last year, up from 14 in 2017 and 13 in 2018. There’s a chart with the totals in the story, along with maps showing all crash locations and all fatal crash locations in that time. The number so far for 2022 is 11, which would reverse the trend of increases but would likely still end up higher than 2018 and is still too many. Between initiatives like Vision Zero and the general investment in non-automotive transportation, things are going in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go. And maybe we should prioritize reducing the number of people who die this way a bit more.
back in (oh lord, 2001?) – took a trip that included a stop in southern Virginia. at one point, waited until a break in the cars to cross at a not-light-controlled crosswalk. this one car stopped with more cars behind her and waited, and waited, till we crossed. we would call it stopping in the middle of the road here. she looked a little annoyed that we were perfectly happy to (and indeed accustomed to) wait till after they passed.
someone had to explain it to us later that she was just following the law and after the initial giggles over the very idea … we started to mentally review all the times we might have offended pedestrians (broken the law) while we were driving thru Virginia. I actually think about it alot.