FABB Blog

 

DMV Highway Safety web site

DMV has launched a new highway safety website. Unfortunately the Bicycle Safety page is geared toward children. DMV must think either that only children ride bikes, or only children need safety information. Some of the information listed is outright wrong.

On the main bicycle safety page there is no information about the use of lights on a bike. Maybe it's because they suggest that kids should never ride bikes on the street at night.

One of the Rules of the Road is “Stop at all intersections, marked and unmarked.” My commute to work would certainly take a lot longer if I stop at every intersection.

On the Bicycle Safety FAQ, there are a couple of wrong statements. Maybe it's time for DMV to form a bicycle advisory committee.


There is information on bicycle crash statistics on the site. Arlington and Fairfax Counties are not doing well. Crashes in both communities have increased considerably in the past 5 years, especially in Fairfax where the number has jumped from 67 in 2001 to 107 in 2006. This may be a factor of more people riding their bikes, but we need to do much better in preventing these injuries. Better facilities will help as will better enforcement of traffic violations.

I've sent some comments to the DMV using their online comment form about the content of the pages. posted by Bruce Wright at 5:07 PM permalink