Overview
May is National Bicycle Safety Awareness Month. Or, as the League of American Bicyclists calls it, National Bike Month.
Whatever your preference for the month of May, it's a good time to review how you can keep yourself and others safe, whether you are driving a car or riding a bicycle. Warmer weather means more people will be out and about.
Bicycling has experienced a resurgence since the pandemic, with more people riding bicycles not just for pleasure but running errands and commuting too. After all, the average car trip is only about 3 miles, which for most people is very a manageable distance on a bicycle.
A few tips for bicyclists:
- Watch for pedestrians
- Ride in the same direction as traffic
- Avoid riding on sidewalks
And, a few tips for motorists:
- Give people on bicycles room; in New Jersey, the law is 4 feet, and if that's not available, slow down to 25 MPH and be prepared to stop.
- Obey the speed limit, reduce speed for road conditions and drive defensively.
- Drivers turning right on red should look to the right and behind to avoid hitting a bicyclists approaching from the right read. Stop completely and look left-right-left and behind before turning right on red. Or simply wait for the green to be safe.
More than 1,100 people on bicycles were killed in traffic crashes in 2024, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and another nearly 53,000 were injured. In New Jersey, pedalcyclists last year accounted for 16 of the 578 fatalities in fatal crashes, about 3 percent, according to the State Police. To those who say that's not a lot, that's 16 people who didn't come home to their families and loved ones.
NHTSA provides a wealth of resources on its website, both for bicyclists as well as drivers.