Bicycle Accidents in the City of Milwaukee

The paper presents a cross-classification analysis of all bicycle accidents that were reported in the city of Milwaukee during 1971 and 1972. The bicycle accidents were classified according to their locational and injury characteristics. The probable causes or the factors were grouped into three broad categories: Roadway, environmental, and human factors. Each of these categories was further subdivided into several quantifiable groups. It was observed that the majority of the accidents occurred at intersections with stop sign or signalized control. Furthermore, angle accidents accounted for the major portion of total accidents. About 45% of the bicyclists involved in accidents were between the ages 10 yr and l4 yr, and about 75% were male. A large proportion of the accidents was attributable to the disregard of traffic control devices on the part of the operators. The scope of the analysis was impaired seriously due to the unavailability of data on the magnitude of the actual bicycle usage on the city streets.