Survey of 17,000 Asks Why Bicyclists Break the Rules of the Road @nextcityorg

Denver cyclists commute on one of the city’s annual Bike to Work days. (Photo by Jack Dempsey/Invision for goodnessknows/AP Images)

The blame game in the cars vs. bikes war can get ugly. But accidents happen, as the saying goes, and as long as drivers and cyclists continue to share city streets, figuring out why they happen should be a public safety priority.

One University of Colorado Denver researcher is looking into what causes bicyclists to break the rules of the road. Wesley Marshall, a professor of civil engineering, recently asked more than 17,000 people to complete what he called the “Scofflaw Survey” to figure out what makes them disregard traffic laws.

“Not all bicyclists that break the law are these hooligans that are out to be sort of anti-society,” Marshall told Colorado Public Radio. “I think a lot of people do it for very practical reasons.”

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