LAB: 40% of all bicyclist fatalities are hit from behind

By Lloyd Alter -- Over on VOX, Joseph Stromberg rolls out another post on cycling, based on a new report from the League of American Bicyclists. They tracked a year of cycling fatalities and looked at the locations, the types of accidents and the penalties for the drivers that caused the accidents. And yes, for all the complaints about cyclists being irresponsible louts who cause accidents by going through stop signs and red lights, the numbers show otherwise.

A shocking 40% of the deaths are "hit from behind" incidents, where drivers just go right over a cyclist. This is disproportionately large in relation to the number of cycling accidents.

Of 238 fatal crashes where drivers were blamed, 42% were careless or inattentive, 36% were hit and run, and 12% were drunk or drugged.

The most deaths happen on urban arterial roads, those multi-lane higher speed roads that probably have lots of room for bike lanes. Because that's the way you reduce the rear-ender accidents, by giving cyclists their own separated lane.  [Full article ..]

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