Recent bicycle collisions in the First State have Delaware State Police and cycling advocates on their toes.
A bicycle crash happened Tuesday morning near Giant Food Store in Rehoboth where a bicyclist was struck by a vehicle.
Two crashes involving bikes occurred within a day of each other in Rehoboth last week. In the first one, a bicyclist was riding on the wrong side of the road when a car that was exiting a plaza turned north and hit the bicyclist. In the second, a bicyclist riding north on a sidewalk approaching IHOP collided with a vehicle exiting the parking lot. The state's bicycle accidents total this year is now at 16.
Delaware is ranked the third most bicycle-friendly state in the U.S, but Jeff Reveal, the manager of Bike Line in Dover, said even as the state encourages more people to get on their bicycles, the roads in Dover - for example - are still very dangerous.
“Dover is becoming great for cycling and there’s plenty of awesome places to ride in Dover, but there’s a lot of sections in Dover where it’s very hard to get around on a bike or very dangerous to get on a bike - whether it’s complex intersections or people just not paying attention because typically cyclists may not be on that road,” Reveal said.
A fatal bike accident happened in Dover in early May.
Delaware State Police spokesman Sergeant Richard Bratz said keeping Delaware a bicycle-friendly state requires both bicyclists and motorists to understand the rules of the road.
“We’re very concerned and want to make sure that not only our motoring public is safe but also our bicyclists and even pedestrians are safe as they walk and travel and as they bike. The expectation is that they stay in their lane and vehicles do to, and there’s some sort of courtesy on both parts to make sure that everybody remains safe,” Bratz said.
Tom Kinsella, the ride chair for bicycling advocacy group Sussex County Cycling, agrees.
“As a state we’ve made great strides in the last five to 10 years to upgrade our infrastructure making it multi-use friendly as opposed to just cars, but you’ve got vehicles that need to be in the same vicinity and cyclists need to be very aware,” Kinsella said.
Both Bratz and Kinsella said the best advice for bicyclists and motorists is to pay attention to what’s going on around them and avoid potential distractions.
For more information and resources on bike safety, visit the Office of Highway Safety's website.
