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Bicycles on Interstates Are Safer then City Streets

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🚴If we wanted to save lives of bicyclists, we would ban them from city streets and require that they only ride on Interstate Highway with their 12 foot shoulders and limited access points. Based on crash data it’s much safer to ride a bicycle on the shoulder of a limited access highway than a city street. Cyclist deaths on limited access highways are exceptionally rare in the many states that permit such riding. 🚴

🔢Too often though we let emotions and perception
of safety replace statistical evidence. 🔢

Income Inequality vs Property Crime

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So I got this idea in my head that areas of New York State with a lot of property crime would be areas with a lot of wealth inequality -- some place like Westchester, Manhattan or Ithaca. After all, people in poverty might want to steal the color television from the mansion up the street. But comparing property rates to GINI indexes in New York, the correlation between wealth inequality and property seems fairly weak to say the least.

Income Inequality vs Property Crime

61% Worry About Being Crime Victim; Half Worry About Their Safety in Public Places – Siena College Research Institute

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61% Worry About Being Crime Victim; Half Worry About Their Safety in Public Places – Siena College Research Institute

Sixty-one percent of New Yorkers are either very (21%) or somewhat (40%) concerned that they might be a victim of a crime according to a new survey of New York residents released today from the Siena College Research Institute (SCRI). Fifty-one percent of state residents have been concerned about their or their family’s safety in public places including schools, stores or houses of worship and over a third, 36%, of all New Yorkers have felt threatened over the past year in a public place by a stranger’s behavior.

Forty percent of state residents have spent $100 or more in the last year on goods or services that make them feel safer or more protected from crime. Twelve percent have spent more than $500. About a third have purchased home security cameras (34%) or security lights with motion sensors (32%). A quarter have hired a professionally monitored home security system. One out of every six New Yorkers has taken a self-defense class and 12% have purchased a firearm for self-defense.

Nearly 1 in 10 New Yorkers has over the past year been physically assaulted (9%) and similarly, 9% have been the victim of a burglary. Nearly 40% have witnessed violent or threatening behavior among others in a public setting. Forty-one percent say that they have “never been this worried about their personal safety as they are today” while a majority, 58%, say that they are no more worried about being the victim of a crime today than they have been in the past.

That's how I kind of feel about my bicycle, having to get a heavy bicycle lock and just the number of homeless people and litter downtown. Maybe it's just I'm noticing it more since being away from the city during the pandemic, but it just seems like the streets are a lot rougher then they once were.