At 5,200 acres, the campus of Michigan State University is one of largest in the country. So it comes as no surprise that biking is one of the most-popular modes of transportation among students. But with more than 40,000 students walking and biking the campus there are bound to be some collisions.
Yet, East Lansing has the lowest crash rate compared with other high student population cities, according to a recent study conducted by Western Michigan University. The study put Grand Rapids, Flint, Ann Arbor and East Lansing under the microscope to determine just how safe is it to bike around these communities.
After surveying respondents at four specific intersections in each city over a period of time, East Lansing was found to have the highest volume of bikers, about 796 per day. Ann Arbor, the next closest, averaged 617 per day. While East Lansing had the heaviest bike traffic, the city also had the lowest bike crash rate. Out of 100,000 bikers only 15 got in a collision, opposed to Ann Arbor, which had 27 per 100,000 bikers.
Tim Potter, general manager of MSU Bikes Service Center, attributes this low collision rate to the focus and investments that MSU has made in its biking-related infrastructure.
“About 70 percent of MSU’s roadways have bike lanes,” Potter said. “It is safer for pedestrians, bikers and motorists when bicyclists are using a designated lane for bikes. But even without bike lanes it's safer for bicyclists to ride in the road as another vehicle of the road following the same rules.”
Potter is optimistic that campus will continue to see fewer collisions.
“We would like to see 100 percent of MSU’s roads have bike lanes. That is a goal we are working toward,” Potter said. “Since the year 2000, it has been MSU’s policy to add a bike lane with every new construction project. So piece by piece it is getting done.”
Potter feels that the biggest challenge to increasing bike safety, however, is teaching all of the incoming freshmen and other campus newcomers the safest place to ride their bikes.
“Most people are taught to ride their bikes on the sidewalk. We are trying to teach everyone who comes to campus about the bike lanes,” Potter said. “In most cases, it is against city laws or ordinances to ride bikes on the sidewalk. The safest place for bikers is on the roadway.”
Stephanie O’Donnell, MSU Police Department’s traffic engineer agrees that this is a challenge.
“The challenge that I face is communicating to all users what is safe and what is not despite their perception,” O’Donnell said.
In order to combat this challenge, the MSU Police use many approaches, including signalized intersections, analysis of mid-block crosswalk and bus stop locations for optimum sight, and constant analysis of accident patterns to determine where problems may exist.
O’Donnell’s biggest concern is communicating with cyclists that riding through crosswalks can be dangerous.
“Of all the accidents between vehicles and bicycles from 1993-2013, 89 percent happened when a bicyclist was riding through a crosswalk,” O’Donnell said.
In general though, bicyclists in East Lansing feel safe. More than 80 percent of respondents from East Lansing feel “fairly safe” to “very safe” while riding their bikes, higher than respondents in other cities.
For more information on bike safety, visit http://bikes.msu.edu/safety/