Confession: I have not ridden a bike since I pedaled around my college town of San Luis Obispo on a mint-green beach cruiser, complete with a basket and a bell. Since moving to San Francisco, I’ve become a serious cyclist, meaning I make it to at least three spin classes a week.
It’s not that I’m afraid to cycle in the city; it’s just that given my suburban background, I feel safer sticking to stationary bikes, strolling on sidewalks and riding Muni. And unless you’re helmeting up regularly, you’re probably unaware that you live in one of most bike-friendly cities in the US. However, according to the state Office of Traffic Safety, San Francisco is also among the worst cities for bicycling injuries.
According to Vision Zero (more about them later), about 30 people lose their lives and over 200 are seriously injured while traveling on San Francisco city streets per year. And about 13 percent of those fatalities involve cyclists.
San Francisco Bike Coalition communications director Chris Cassidy said that the city has seen a 184 percent increase in bike riders since 2006. So whether it’s safe or not, a lot of people are biking in San Francisco. “One indicator that things are improving is that people are biking more,” Cassidy explained. “The popularity of biking in San Francisco is growing faster than any other mode of transportation.”
Which makes sense for eco-minded San Francisco. Getting from A to B via a bike is good for your health and the environment. Plus, in a city in which traffic capacity is exceeded during commute hours, it’s a great way to avoid gridlock and surge pricing.
That being said, cyclists are still getting hurt. In 2015, four people were killed while biking in San Francisco, according to San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency public relations officer Ben Jose. “When we look at the bike-fatality numbers since 2005–2015, they hover between two and four per year,” Jose said. “While all fatalities are tragic, San Francisco’s bike-fatality numbers have been relatively flat despite San Francisco’s booming bike-ridership numbers.”
And, as Cassidy explained, “While it feels more and more safe, at the end of the day, if people are dying on the streets of San Francisco, then it’s not safe enough.”
True.
In a recent report, Vision Zero states that 70 percent of traffic fatalities or severe injuries in San Francisco happen on just 12 percent of our city streets. This includes walking, biking, driving and motorcycling. “We know where these horrible collisions are happening, and we know why,” Cassidy explained. “The majority of traffic injuries and fatalities result from five types of traffic violations: when people driving are speeding, running red lights, running through stops signs, failing to yield or violating turn restrictions.”
Jose agrees: “We know where the problems are, and safety is our highest priority. People are going to make mistakes on the streets; the result of that shouldn’t be someone dying or being seriously injured,” he said. “[This year] is a landmark year for bicycling. We’re kicking off construction on at least 16 bike projects that will install 20 miles of new or upgraded bike infrastructure over the next couple of years.”
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is one of the oldest and most successful bicycle-advocacy groups in the country. They offer Urban Bicycling Workshops for a variety of levels and are a great resource for cyclists (aspiring or not) in the city. “These classes offer people the tools and confidence to change how they navigate their neighborhoods,” Cassidy said.
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, along with many other local organizations, has played a big part in making biking in San Francisco what it is today by asking the city to create safer streets. “There are community members all over representing our call for more bikeable, livable streets,” Cassidy said. “It’s amazing how much people care about the work we are doing, and the amount of time they are willing to give to it.”
The City and County of San Francisco adopted the Vision Zero policy in 2014, with a goal of eliminating traffic-related deaths by 2024. Their goal is for there to be zero deaths — hence the name Vision Zero. “Vision Zero is a three-legged stool that stands on education, engineering and enforcement,” Cassidy said. “You need all three to achieve this entirely accomplishable goal.”
“We believe that this is really laying the groundwork for a safer San Francisco,” Jose said. “Vision Zero is an ambitious goal, but it is the right one to have.”
“We need the city to act with urgency and be deliberate in delivering the streets San Franciscans deserve, Cassidy said, “If you build safer streets, you are going to see people biking on them.”
In 2010, energy attorney Elise Torres was riding her bike through a green light on McAllister Street when a car taking an unprotected left turn hit her, knocking her off her bike. The driver was driving on a suspended license. “It’s a very disorienting and scary experience, even if you’re not hurt,” she recalls.
While Torres got right back on her bike, she did not file an incident report. She would handle the situation differently now. “I had to advocate for myself and felt like I was put in an awkward situation when the police talked to both the driver and me at the same time,” she remembered. “I wish I’d thought about it in advance so I would have known what to do and not been caught so off guard.”
The San Francisco Bike Coalition offers a checklist for people to follow immediately after a crash.
So when pedal comes to shove, is it safe to bike in SF? It seems so, and the city and local groups like the Bicycle Coalition are certainly working toward it. But I won’t be bringing my beach cruiser out of the garage just yet.
