In 2013, there were 1,871 traffic accidents reported to the police that involved a bicycle in the seven counties that comprise Southeast Michigan. Here, the locations of these accidents are overlaid with previously displayed data about bicycle ridership rates for commuting that was reported to the Census Bureau. There is some overlap  between high bicycle commuting and accidents, particularly in Royal Oak and Ann Arbor, but accidents are widely distributed across the populated areas of the metro area.

More accidents (40 percent) were in Wayne County than in the Southeast Michigan suburban counties. Wayne County and Detroit have a larger number of bicyclists on the road than many of the other locations in the region. Nearly a third (33.1 percent) of the Wayne County accidents took place in Detroit. Ann Arbor, in Washtenaw County, also has a large biking community. It was the site of two thirds of the accidents in the county; overall these accidents were 10 percent of the region’s total. Oakland and Macomb counties had the majority of their accidents in the areas of their counties that were closest to Detroit, while Monroe, Livingston and St. Clair counties experienced most of their bicycle accidents in their larger communities.

There was an increase in bicycle accidents when the weather was warmest. Just less than a third (31 percent) occurred in July and August combined. There was a decrease in accidents on weekends (average=211) vs. weekdays (average=290).

Our second map displays the same accident information, but does so by creating a “heat map” that displays the data by increasing the hue where there is a higher concentration of accidents. This map demonstrates that areas with a high number of cyclists, such as Ann Arbor and Midtown Detroit, have higher rates of accidents, which is shown in the yellow and red hues on the map. The map also highlights a second set of areas where there are a high number of accidents. It shows that some of the Suburban areas just outside Detroit are dangerous places for bikers to navigate safely – areas such as Ferndale and Eastpointe.

The third map shows Detroit and its immediate vicinity, allowing us to look more closely at the pattern of accidents. With the addition of information about state-regulated roads, we can see that major thoroughfares create safety hazards for cyclists, and these corridors are particularly problematic in the suburbs. The corridors of Woodward Avenue, Mound Road, Gratiot Avenue, Grand River Avenue, Telegraph Road, 8 Mile Road , Ford Road, Michigan Avenue and Fort Street each have accident clusters just beyond the Detroit city limits. The same pattern of accidents along thoroughfares is evident in Detroit proper. Again, we see that areas that connect two biking communities provide high hazards. Woodward and Grand Boulevard, which connect high-biking areas of Highland Park and Hamtramck to high-biking Midtown provides one example, but there are other areas throughout the city and its near suburbs that follow this pattern. These patterns indicate a need for cycling infrastructure that connect locations to improve safety and increase cycling.

In a previous post, we examined the rates of bike ridership in Detroit and in Michigan as compared to other Great Lakes states and cities. We found that bike commuting is growing in Michigan and Detroit at a fast rate, but that the rates land it somewhere near the middle of peers at this time.  In this post we will explore the rates within the region and city to better understand the local numbers.

The state of Michigan’s average rate of bicycle commuting is 0.59%, but at the county level, most of the regions fall behind this average. It is only Washtenaw County, with two large universities, that has a higher rate of bike commuting. College towns like Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor often have such high rates of bike commuting because of the large student population. The Bicycle League of America recognized Ann Arbor, and its 4.9% rate of bike commuting, as third-highest in the Midwest for a city of its size, as shown on the table below. Ann Arbor ranked just behind Madison, Wisc. (6.2%, home of University of Wisconsin), and Evanston, Ill. (5.3%, home of Northwestern University), and just ahead of Minneapolis (4.5%, University of Minnesota, others), and Bloomington, Ind., (3.9%, home of Indiana University).

While the college towns stand out when looking at the township-and-city level, other areas show high rates of bike commuting, including Dundee and Monroe in Monroe County, City of Wayne and the Grosse Pointes areas in Wayne County, New Baltimore in Macomb County and Port Huron in St. Clair County.

Macomb and Oakland and Livingston counties, primarily suburban in nature, have low rates of bike commuting. Oakland has had a slight uptick in bike commuting along the Woodward Corridor.  Just five communities in Oakland meet or exceed the state average, while 20 others have 0% of commuters using bikes. In Macomb, it was three communities that meet or exceed the state average, and 12 have no bike commuters.

A closer look at Wayne County at the Census tract level shows a varied juxtaposition of biking neighborhoods with non-biking neighborhoods. Much of the City of Detroit and the near Wayne County suburbs follow a pattern of concentrated bike commuting. For example, Highland Park, inset in Detroit, is comprised of six Census tracts. The two tracts east of Woodward average a 1.35% bike commuting rate, while those west of Woodward have no bike commuters in the data. Some areas along Jefferson Ave., near Downtown, in Midtown or in Southwest Detroit also show higher levels. Other communities that  included some areas with high er commuting include  Allen Park, Canton, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Grosse Ile, Hamtramck, Lincoln Park, Livonia, Southgate, Taylor, Wayne (city), and Wyandotte.

If it seems like there are more bicyclists on the streets these days, it’s because there are. Data from the 2012 American Community Survey, compiled by the League of American Bicyclists in their 2014 annual report, indicates Detroit had the fastest-growing community of bike commuters among 70 of the largest American cities. With a 464.4 percent growth in bicycle commuting since 1990, Detroit tops the list of growth ahead of more well-known cycling locales as Portland, OR which had 430.3 percent growth and San Francisco, which had 292.2 percent growth. It appears through events like Tour de Troit and Bike the Bridge along with policies such as Complete Streets, Detroit is becoming a Midwestern bike Mecca. It only seems plausible this notion can become true with the light traffic, urban roads and flat terrain within Detroit city limits. However, this chart-topping growth has pulled Detroit to merely 44th out of 70 large cities for bike commuting. When further looking into the data, it shows that while Detroit may be the fastest growing in the region and nation, it has challengers on its back wheel.

Detroit has experienced the largest increase in bike commuting since 1990, according to the American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2007-2012). Cycling to work has nearly quintupled in the 12-year span. The average growth in cycling among Great Lakes cities is high, with a mean growth of 251.9 percent. The Highest growth was in  in Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland and Buffalo.

An examination into a subset of those years, 2005-2012, indicates that Detroit has experienced leading growth among Great Lakes peers for the shorter period as well. Although Buffalo is close behind with 269.6 percent growth, Detroit’s recent 272.3 percent expansion in bike commuting indicates a more healthy growth than the region’s 171.2 percent growth in the urban areas, according to the 2012 American Community Survey 5-year estimates.

An examination into a subset of those years, 2005-2012, indicates that Detroit has experienced leading growth among Great Lakes peers for the shorter period as well. Although Buffalo is close behind with 269.6 percent growth, Detroit’s recent 272.3 percent expansion in bike commuting indicates a more healthy growth than the region’s 171.2 percent growth in the urban areas, according to the 2012 American Community Survey 5-year estimates.

The rest of the state, has not had the same dominant growth pattern. At the state level, while there is still persistent and healthy growth in the number of bike commuters, Michigan falls in line with its peers. Second in growth at 81.7 percent, it falls behind Pennsylvania (84.1) and barely edges Illinois (81.6). The largest rate of growth in the country was in Maryland at 112.8 percent, the average growth was 45.0 percent and just five states saw a decrease in bike commuting since 2005 (Arkansa, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Iowa and Montana).

Despite growth, Michigan lags behind the national average with a 0.51 percent rate of bike commuting, leaving it fifth in the region, ahead of just Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to the 2012 American Community Survey. It also places Michigan at 24th of 50 states.