As the above chart, from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, shows us, overall traffic fatalities are declining, while deaths among bicyclists (referred to as "pedalcyclists") are rising.
This increase in bike fatalities, while lamentable, is not surprising, given the proliferation of bicycles over the last few years.
Just over the weekend, we learned that Montgomery County, MD (population, 989,000), is joining in the Capital Bikeshare program, one of many such bike-riding programs popping up around the country. Such programs are obviously popular, but it's quite possible that they will lead to more bicycle fatalities.
As anyone observing the streets of big cities today--on foot, on a bike or motorbike, or in a four-wheeled vehicle--the transportation situation is getting more and more complicated, and dangerous.
So what are some solutions? How can new thinking help? What new infrastructure, for example, do we need?
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