Though police reports show that there were only eight accidents involving bicyclists in Charlottesville last year, local bike activists beg to differ. Zachary Shahan, executive director of the Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation (ACCT), says police reports underrepresent the actual number of bicycle-automobile accidents each year. Hospital records, he says, indicate that more bicyclists are treated for injuries relating to accidents with automobiles than are represented by police reports.
 “The bikers will say the drivers aren’t following the rules, and the drivers will say the bikers aren’t following the rules,” says Zachary Shahan. |
If an accident causes no injuries and the estimated damage is less than $1,000, then a report is typically not taken by the police, according to city spokesman Ric Barrick. While Shahan says this may account for the disparity, he still says the police department’s method of reporting accidents should be improved. In an effort to educate and inform bikers in the area, ACCT will soon implement its own informal network for reporting bicycle-automobile accidents. The online network will also allow bicyclists to report numerous near-collisions.
“Near-accidents probably happen a lot more than those accidents that are actually reported,” says Albemarle County Police Lt. Todd Hopwood, who noted that there was only one bicycle-automobile accident reported in the county last year. “It really boils down to if [police] are in the area at the time to catch the vehicle and person who was driving.”
Reports of near-bicycle-automobile accidents, however, often contain conflicting stories from those involved. As a result, Hopwood says these cases are difficult to prosecute without either an admission of guilt or a police officer present to identify the reckless driver or bicyclist.
“The bikers will say the drivers aren’t following the rules, and the drivers will say the bikers aren’t following the rules,” Shahan says. “They’re both right. There’s a lot of people not following the rules, and it makes for very dangerous situations.”
In an effort to curb both accidents and near-accidents, Shahan says the city must improve its bicycling infrastructure. He identifies many problem areas where bike lanes dangerously disappear at intersections, such as those along West Main Street and Jefferson Park Avenue.
“The biking infrastructure is very minimal and looks like it’s been implemented where it’s easy to implement, not exactly where it needs to be,” Shahan says, adding that ACCT will continue to push the city to update its current infrastructure in an effort to improve safety for all on the road.
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