It’s that time of year–May aka Bike Month–when we’re supposed to celebrate bicycles extra hard. Why? Because the League of American Cyclists and other groups say so. The other 11 months you can just fuggehaboudit. There’s Bike to School Day; Bike to Work Day with breakfast tacos, free swag, a self-congratulatory after-party; a Clinic on beginning City Cycling (not for the faint at heart); a Frankenbike sale; and so on. But we here at A Dude Abikes have to ask the hard-hitting questions that our award-unwinning journalistic reportage and yooge, bigly ethics require and wonder:  Does Bike Month ever really accomplish its goals? Does it matter? To quote the great pop rock band Chicago’s question in a song: “Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?”

This dude for one is not sure Bike Month (BM–make the association with Bowel Movements, aka poo, if you like, but far be it for me to suggest something so scatological) actually puts more butts on bikes for the long-term. Or if it raises awareness to make the City safer. I think it will take a lot more to make all those new butts on bikes feel safe enough to ride the mean streets of Austin or anywhere else. Please forgive my cynicism; we aren’t all doom and gloom here at A Dude Abikes. But we do have some questions.

Here’s one reason why:  Recently I was introduced to the City’s Vision Zero Dashboard. Vision Zero is an idea from Sweden that we should stop killing each other on the road, with a fatality goal of zero. Democratic Socialist poppycock or reasonable societal goal? You decide. Here’s a screenshot of statistics in Austin this January 1 through April 21, 2024:

Great news! Compared to this time last year, fewer people have been killed and hurt in all crashes–car, motorcycle, pedestrian, and cyclist. We’ve “only” had 723 years of lost life overall, down from last year. But wait, that’s over seven centuries, a staggering amount, and we’re only one-third of the way through 2024. Looked at through that lens, it’s pretty shitty. What are the causes? Many for sure, but among them is likely lack of infrastructure. Will Bike Month change the lack of protected bike lanes? No.

You can see 21 people have lost their lives: 10 motorists, 10 pedestrians, and one motorcyclist. Thus far, 0 cyclists. Serious injuries (who knows who decides what’s serious or not?) total 110, and 12 of them are cyclists. Not bad, but not good. Not 0. Pedestrians, motorcyclists, and motor vehicle passengers fare much worse. If you know what you’re doing, keeep your head on a swivel, use sideewalks often, cycling is still relativeely safe here, especially compared to other cities and rural areas in Texas. But ask anybody, it’s still scary. Not a day goes by without A Dude Abikes biking, and pretty much there is not a day when a driver does not do something illegal, stupid, or dangerous.

Drilling down into the map view, we find this qualifier and then a disturbing list of injuries:

“Crash data is obtained from the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) Crash Record Information System (CRIS) database, which is populated by reports submitted by Texas Peace Officers throughout the state, including Austin Police Department (APD), and maintained by TXDOT…. These reports are typically written when there is at least $1000 worth of property damage or any level of injury.

Suspected Serious Injury: A suspected serious injury is defined as a severe injury that prevents continuation of normal activities, including: [bold emphases are mine]

• Severe laceration resulting in exposure of underlying tissues/muscle/organs or resulting in significant loss of blood
• Broken or distorted extremity (arm or leg)
• Crush injuries
• Suspected skull, chest, or abdominal injury other than bruises or minor lacerations
• Significant burns (second and third degree burns over 10% or more of the body)
• Unconsciousness when taken from the crash scene
• Paralysis“

So, if you are on a bike that costs less than $1,000, does that mean you and your damaged body don’t count, and you don’t get listed in the crash report data? Look, we don’t care much for TXDOT; they are pretty much evil, seeing how they are all about cars and trucks; they generally have never cared one whit about pedestrians and cyclists in their design of highways. They may be doing better recently, but if there are sidewalks or bike lanes, it’s likely due to the City of Austin’s input. Case in point: The totally unsafe, and therefore useless, unprotected bike lanes on the service road of the multi-year, mega-million dollar renovation of Highway 183. Cars go whizzing by at 60 mph. You use the sidewalk or you’re asking to die. But TXDOT is for another blog and bloggers who know more about it. And evil.

As for the injuries, that’s a terrifying and sobering list. If you are hurt but not that badly, you won’t show up on the list. But if you are, where is the rest of the story? Do these people make full recoveries? What caused the crash? Who was at fault? Will there be justice?

Last year, Nathan Bernier, a reporter at KUT, the NPR radio station, put out an in-depth story for Bike Month. Initially it was titled: “Austin’s Bike to Work Day: Can breakfast tacos convince people to pedal past fear?” An editor changed it to the less offensive, “Why don’t more people in Austin bike to work?” The URL still has the old title. Curious. The subtitle is: “Austin is gearing up for its biggest Bike to Work Day yet, but the ride isn’t smooth for everyone. Fear of injury or death holds back many potential cyclists.” Bernier goes into the data as well as talks to officials about projects and the cyclists too afraid to commute anymore. We have so many miles left to have bike lanes retrofitted, at great cost, it seems like Sisyphus pushing that rock up the hill day after day.

A year after Bernier’s story aired, some progress on bike lanes and sidewalks has happened. For that we are grateful. But it never seems to be enough to make those butts in bikes feel safe enough to get on the road–and get cars off it. Back in a February post I listed “5 Reasons Why Austin, Texas Is Not As Bicycle Friendly As It Thinks.” Things change, but at a glacial pace. Speaking of glaciers, this isn’t just about spandex-clad white males doing recreational rides. It’s an existential question: bike and have healthier bodies, communities, and planet? Or drive gas, hybrid, and even electric vehicles (which have their own huge ecological imprint), and continue Earth’s death spiral? It’s probably not as simple as this, but what if it is: In other words, bike or die?

City-wide level, cultural, societal, cumulative, incremental change takes time. With climate change, worsening traffic, and massive road and rail projects, time is a luxury we do not have. Bad traffic will be soon be exacerbated for an entire DECADE by Project Connect rail lines and the Interstate 35 partial demolition and reconstruction. The latter is thanks to–you guessed it–TX DOT. They did an end run around federal enviromental impact studies by breaking one huge section of highway into three shorter projects. Again, evil.

Which brings me full circle: Does Bike Month matter? Well, yes, and also no. For those who do decide to saddle up and commute even that one day a year and get their free breakfast tacos–great. Maybe they will try a second day, or start doing it once a week. Perhaps they’ll occasionally go to the store by bike instead of by car. Or bike to a concert. Maybe their kids will get excited and learn how to safely bike to school. At an indidivual level, some people may very well get inspired. Maybe become a one-car family. Or none. People do it. I was car-free for 15 years. After being gifted an old car that had and has developed many expensive problems, I may be only getting around by bike, foot, and bus again soon.

We shall see what happens with Bike Month. In the meantime, watch your six, stay frosty out there, and bike safely–if you’re brave, dumb, or poor enough to brave the mean streets, wherever you are.

---

Copyright 2024 A Dude Abikes. All rights reserved. Shortlink to this post.