Toyota fatalities? What about Metro Detroit bikes and peds?
What do the numbers 34, 39, and 339 represent?
Thirty-four is the number of fatalities being attributed to “sticky” Toyota gas pedals nationwide since 2000. It’s causes a media uproar, NTSA reviews, and public outcry over safety.
Thirty-nine is the number of cycling fatalities between 2000 and 2008 within Oakland, Wayne, Macomb, and St. Clair counties.
Three hundred, thirty-nine is the number of pedestrian fatalities during this time and within these same counties.
The difference with the local fatalities? There’s no uproar and very little media coverage. Agencies like the Road Commission for Oakland County continue to ignore best practices and AASHTO design guidelines for bicycle facilities.
Imagine if Toyota was caught ignoring best safety practices? This that would get some media coverage?
[This post was inspired by articles on Los Alamos Bikes and How We Drive.]
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Tags: crash data, Safety, Toyota
February 18th, 2010 at 9:19 am
I worked for the Road Commission for Oakland County for many years and can say with absolute certainty that they do NOT ignore”best practices” let alone AASHTO design guidelines for bicycle facilities.
And remember, as desireable as bicycle facilities are, for health, economic development, recreation, travel, etc., road commissions are in the roads business, not the bicycle facilities design business. They don’t get adaquate funding to take care of the roads the way they should be taken care of, let alone design bicycle facilities.
But I am also a bicyclist (on- and off-road) and have seen many instances where we the cyclists don’t know, or just don’t follow, the rules of the road. We’re all in this together.
February 18th, 2010 at 9:29 am
Saying that bicycle facilities are not on-road facilities only acknowledges the fact that RCOC ignore bicycling best practices and AASHTO. In addition, in nearly all cases “safety paths” do not meet AASHTO bicycling guidelines.
Saying that bicycling is “desireable” rather than transportation is inexcusable.
February 18th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
MrMyxlpyx: We might all be in this together, but some of us are more in this together than others, or at least that’s what I’m led to believe by your statements. (This is just the fact of the matter, safety wise. I’m more vulnerable on a bike than anyone in a car.)
If “road commissions are in the roads business” and they don’t get “adequate funding to take care of the roads the way they should be taken care of” then why the heck are they still in business? Get someone to do the job, you said it yourself: bicycle facilities (Re: ROADS) are desirable for “economic development reasons.” The situation you described sounds a lot like “too big to fail.”
February 18th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
[…] gas pedal problems have been blamed for 34 fatalities between 2000 and 2008 — compared to 378 pedestrians and cyclists in the Detroit area alone. A London cyclist says the way to promote cycling is to ban car […]