Bicycle Crashes
The City of Fort Collins is well known for its bike culture, and there is a strong focus on
encouraging increased riding. Bike safety is an important component of supporting these
efforts.
Severe bike
crashes are down
32% since 2012
The chart below shows the historical trend of bike crashes in Fort Collins. The general
trend for bike crashes was upwards for a number of years, then a significant decrease in
2014 and 2015, and up again in 2016. Overall, severe crashes have been declining
since 2012.
Number of Bike Crashes
200
180
180
160
140
159
Figure 21
178
160
150
151
142
141
140
Historical bike crash
data (10 years)
137
120
100
80
72
61
65
63
60
74
55
64
63
50
50
40
20
0
Total Bike Crashes
Severe Bike Crashes (Serious Injury or Fatal Crashes)
70
58
55
60
Figure 22
66
66
62
Bike crashes involving
some level of injury
(2012-2016)
48
50
53
40
40
41
40
30
20
10
9
9
8
5
10
0
0
2012
1
0
1
2013
2014
2015
Possible Injury
Non-Incapacitating Injury
Incapacitating Injury
Fatal
Annual Roadway Safety Report
1
2016
16
Bike Crash Severity
Overall bike crashes account for about 4% of all crashes in the City of Fort Collins.
However, they account for about 23% of serious injury (non-incapacitating injury and
incapacitating injury) and 13% of fatal crashes. This illustrates that bike crashes, when
they do occur tend to be more serious than motor vehicle crashes.
Crash Severity
All Crashes
NonIncapacitating
Injury
5%
Crash Severity
Bike Crashes
Incapacitating
Injury
1.1%
Fatal
0.1%
Fatal
0.4%
Incapacitating
Injury
Figure 23
5%
Possible Injury
14%
Comparison of crash
severity between all
crashes and bike
crashes
Property
Damage
Crashes
28%
NonIncapacitating
Injury
33%
Property
Damage Only
80%
Possible
Injury
34%
Bike Crashes by Age and Gender
72%
The chart below shows the age of cyclists involved in crashes in Fort Collins as well as
the percentage of population by age. Cyclists aged 15 - 34 years old are all significantly
overrepresented in crashes. Male cyclists are involved in 72% of all bike crashes.
250
35%
191
200
30%
185
Figure 24
25%
150
117
17%
20%
17%
100
12%
9%
50
of all reported bike
crashes involve a
male cyclist
61
Bike crashes by age
and percentage of
population (20122016)
15%
11%
59
61 10%
10%
36 5%
5%
11
4%
5%
3
0
0%
10-14
15-19
20-24
25-34
35-44
Bike Crashes
Annual Roadway Safety Report
45-54
55-64
65-74
75+
% Of Population
17
Bike Crash Location and Types (2012-2016)
Bike crashes can be further classified by location and type of collision. The following
information details bike crashes in the past five years (averaged 2012-2016).
Roundabout
0.3%
Non-intersection
11%
Alley Related
1%
89%
of all bike crashes
occur at
intersections or
driveways
Figure 25
Bike crashes by
location (2012-2016)
Driveway Access
Related
16%
Signalized
Intersection
41%
Unsignalized
Intersection
31%
Crashes at intersections, alleys or driveways account for almost 90% of all bike crashes.
When reviewing yearly trends, that percentage is increasing from 86% in 2014 to 93% in
2016. It is important to note that intersections are the locations of greatest risk by far for
bicycle riders. While corridor projects such as buffered or protected bike lanes support
greater comfort and perceived safety, an emphasis on intersection safety is also
important.
The figure below shows the type of bike crash in the past five years.
Parking Related
2%
Head-On
0.3%
Rear End
4%
Figure 26
Other
2%
26%
Sideswipe
7%
Overtaking Turn
13%
Bike crashes by type
(2012-2016)
of all bike crashes
involve wrong way
riding
Right Angle
54%
Approach Turn
18%
Annual Roadway Safety Report
18
Right angle crashes are by far the most common type of bike crash, and represent more
than half of all bike crashes. Significant contributing circumstances in bike crashes
include wrong way riding on the sidewalk or street (this includes more than one quarter of
all crashes, and 42% of right angle crashes.
Along roadways bike crashes include 2% parking related (i.e. “door zone” crashes) and
11% rear-end or sideswipe.
Graphical Depiction of Typical Bike Crashes
Figure 27
Right angle crash
Right angle crashes are by far the most
common type of bike crash representing more
than half of all bike crashes. Forty-two percent
(42%) of right angle crashes involve a bike
riding against traffic on the sidewalk or street.
(2012-2016)
Figure 28
Approach turn crash
This type of crash represents 18% of all
crashes. Almost half (48%) of approach turn
crashes result in a severe crash (serious injury
of fatal). (2012-2016)
Figure 29
Overtaking turn crash
Also known as the “right hook” crash. This
represents 13% of all bike crashes.
(2012-2016)
Annual Roadway Safety Report
19
Trends for Bike Crashes By Type (2012-2016)
The figure below shows the general trend of bike crash types for the past five years (as a
percentage of total bike crashes). This depicts that right angle crashes remain the
prevalent crash type and are increasing after several years of decreases. The percent of
sideswipe and rear-end crashes are decreasing.
60%
Figure 30
Trends for bike
crashes by type
50%
Right Angle
40%
Overtaking Turn
Approach Turn
30%
Sideswipe
Parking Related
20%
Rear End
10%
0%
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
Bike Crashes By Month (2016)
The figure below compares bike crashes by month with aggregated bike volumes from a
series of continuous bike counters in Fort Collins. The strong similarity of the trends
would indicate that as bike volume increase, bike crashes also increase. The
pronounced peak in September is likely related to the start of the university school year.
30
Figure 31
300,000
Bike Crashes
25
18
16
15
10
250,000
19
20
13
12
6
14
14
12
150,000
100,000
5
5
200,000
3
50,000
Aggregated Bike Count Data
28
Bike crashes by month
(2016) compared with
bike volumes
0
0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Bike Crashes
Annual Roadway Safety Report
Aggregated Bike Count Data
20
Detailed Bike Crash Tabulation (2012 – 2016)
Type of Crash
Total
Crashes
Severe
Crashes
Table 4
Right Angle
Bike riding with traffic on street
Bike riding against traffic on street
Bike riding with traffic on sidewalk/crosswalk
Bike riding against traffic on sidewalk/crosswalk
Bike crossing street mid-block
Unknown Location
Right Angle Total
Overtaking Turn
Bike riding with traffic on street
Bike riding against traffic on street
Bike riding with traffic on sidewalk/crosswalk
Bike riding against traffic on sidewalk/crosswalk
Bike crossing street mid-block
Unknown Location
Overtaking Turn Total
Approach Turn
Bike riding with traffic on street
Bike riding against traffic on street
Bike riding with traffic on sidewalk/crosswalk
Bike riding against traffic on sidewalk/crosswalk
Unknown Location
Approach Turn Total
Sideswipe
Bike riding with traffic on street
Bike riding against traffic on street
Bike riding with traffic on sidewalk/crosswalk
Bike crossing street mid-block
Unknown Location
Sideswipe Total
Parking Related
Bike riding with traffic on street
Bike riding against traffic on street
Unknown Location
Parking Related Total
Rear End
Bike riding with traffic on street
Unknown Location
Rear End Total
Head-On
Bike riding with traffic on street
Bike riding against traffic on street
Head-On Total
Fixed Object
Other
Total Bike Crashes (2012 – 2016)
Annual Roadway Safety Report
127
35
59
145
10
51
57
13
23
46
4
8
427
151
73
4
11
8
1
7
20
1
5
3
1
0
104
30
105
1
23
8
5
51
1
11
4
1
142
68
45
4
2
3
3
20
3
1
1
1
57
26
15
1
1
8
1
0
17
9
30
1
9
0
31
9
1
1
1
1
2
1
14
2
1
6
795
302
Detailed bike crash
tabulation (2012-2016)
21
Bicycle Crashes
W LAUREL ST
W PROSPECT RD
S LEMAY AVE
D
AR
K
AL
W
R
D
ZIEGLER RD
ZIEGLER RD
E HARMONY RD
W HARMONY RD
E COUNTY ROAD 36
S LEMAY AVE
0
N TIMBERLINE RD
E HORSETOOTH RD
E TRILBY RD
W TRILBY RD
Scale
E MULBERRY ST
E DRAKE RD
BO
E
S SHIELDS ST
AV
E
NA
VE
ZIEGLER RD
W HORSETOOTH RD
S COLLEGE AVE
S TAFT HILL RD
INC
OL
E PROSPECT RD
W DRAKE RD
W COUNTY ROAD 38
EL
S TIMBERLINE RD
S OVERLAND TRL
W ELIZABETH ST
REMINGTON ST
S MASON ST
W MULBERRY ST
RI
VE
RS
ID
E
E VINE DR
E
AY AV
LAPORTE AVE
IGA R
D
TURNBERRY RD
N COLLEGE AVE
N SHIELDS ST
W VINE DR
E SUN
N LEM
N OVERLAND TRL
W VINE DR
N TAFT HILL RD
W WILLOX LN E WILLOX LN
N LEMAY AVE
1/1/2011-12/31/2015
1:41,016
0.125 0.25
0.5
0.75
1
Miles
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Printed: 10/5/2016