Where Are The Safest (and Worst) Places to Ride a Bike?

Where are the safest (and worst) places to ride a bike?

When I was in my 20’s, I would ride my bike around Manhattan and felt completely safe! Today, I may go to Central Park, but forget about riding on the street! Unfortunately, I don’t even feel safe riding on Long Island, if it’s not in a park. And, my feelings are warranted. Here are the findings of a recent study:

Methodology:

To determine the safest and least safe US cities for bikers, Your Local Security.com gathered metrics and data from Census.gov, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, People for Bikes, and The League of American Bicyclists to find the percentage of bike commuters**, number of fatal crashes, amount of bike lanes, and what bike laws are in place or in the works in each city.

Findings:

Top 10 Safest Cities:

DAVIS, California
2. BERKELEY, California
3. BOULDER, Colorado
4. EUGENE, Oregon
5. PALO ALTO, California
6. CHICO, California
7. MOUNTAIN VIEW, California
8. FORT COLLINS, Colorado
9. SANTA BARBARA, California
10. NEW HAVEN, Connecticut

10 Most Dangerous Cities:

LOS ANGELES, California
2. NEW YORK CITY, New York
3. WEBSTER CITY, Iowa
4. JAMESTOWN, North Dakota
5. FARGO, North Dakota
6. HOUSTON, Texas
7. WATERLOO, Iowa
8. SIOUX, Iowa
9. JOHNSTON, Iowa
10. DES MOINES, Iowa

Safest City in Each State:

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama 578

ANCHORAGE, Alaska 581

TEMPE, Arizona 317

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas 331

DAVIS, California 1

BOULDER, Colorado 3

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut 10

WILMINGTON, Delaware 492

GAINESVILLE, Florida 308

SANDY SPRINGS, Georgia 347

HONOLULU, Hawaii 563

BOISE, Idaho 567

EVANSTON, Illinois 16

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana 506

IOWA, Iowa 767

WICHITA, Kansas 739

ALEXANDRIA, Kentucky752

SHREVEPORT, Louisiana 412

PORTLAND, Maine 301

GLEN BURNIE, Maryland 135

SOMERVILLE, Massachusetts 58

ANN ARBOR, Michigan 481

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota 12

JACKSON, Mississippi 583

COLUMBIA, Missouri 526

MISSOULA, Montana 640

LINCOLN, Nebraska 733

MISSOULA, Montana 640

LINCOLN, Nebraska 733

PARADISE, Nevada 360

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire 557

JERSEY, New Jersey 408

SANTA FE, New Mexico 540

SYRACUSE, New York 537

JACKSONVILLE, North Carolina 37

BISMARCK, North Dakota 777

CANTON, Ohio 535

NORMAN, Oklahoma 738

EUGENE, Oregon 4

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania 32

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island 482

CHARLESTON, South Carolina 561

RAPID, South Dakota 736

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee 340

BRYAN, Texas 553

SALT LAKE, Utah 30

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vermont 307

ARLINGTON, Virginia 15

SEATTLE, Washington 290

ELKVIEW, West Virginia 490

MADISON, Wisconsin 421

JACKSON, Wyoming 737

Interesting highlights:

Note that a big majority of the top 10 safest cities for cyclists are in CA and West-Coast states. The fact that Davis, CA is the safest city for cycling is actually a big testament to their careful planning and bicycle education safety.
A big majority of the least safe cities are in Iowa. However, Los Angeles is also one of the least safe cities which is interesting considering how many safe cities CA has. Why isn’t Southern CA as concerned with bicycle safety as Northern/Mid-California are?
We noted that the top 10 safest cities for cyclists all had higher percentages of people biking to work. Additionally, the states these cities are in all have a lot of bike safety laws.