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Know your state stats
When bicycling advocates approach their elected officials to encourage them to support bicycling-friendly policies, one of the first rules is: be informed.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics has made being informed about transportation statistics in the fifty states a little easier, with their new publication, the accurately, if not flashily, titled: STATE TRANSPORTATION STATISTICS, 2009.
The report consolidates existing sources on a range of transportation topics from safety to miles traveled, and from freight to air travel. Not surprisingly, the document is short on data on bicycling, since there is a general lack of comprehensive bicycling data available. Even in their reporting of the American Community Survey data, they group the results for bicycle commuters with motorcyclists and taxi cab passengers.
Nonetheless, the document is 143 pages of ‘did you know?’ For example, did you know that the United States has 4.04 million miles of public road and more than 600,000 bridges?
The bulk of the report focuses on comparing states. It reminds us that California (3,434), Texas (3,382), and Florida (2,978) had the most traffic fatalities in 2008, but that Wyoming (30), Mississippi (27), and Montana (24) had the most fatalities per 100,000 residents. Florida (2.7), Louisiana (2.4), Nevada (2.2), and South Carolina (2.2) had the highest pedestrian traffic fatality rates per 100,000 people.
One of the few times bicycling comes up is regarding helmet laws. No states require helmet use for adult bicyclists, but 22 states have helmet laws for children (age varies).
You might have guessed that New York State, with all that good transit in its most populous city, has the fewest licensed drivers (per driving age population,) but did you know that Illinois has the most?
Speaking of transit, the New York City metropolitan area has the most transit trips (4.2 billion a year). They do not break the numbers down by transit trips per capita, so the largest metropolitan areas generally have the largest number of transit trips; however Washington, DC, and San Francisco, CA, have notably more transit trips than the cities immediately above them in population. Freeway-heavy Los Angeles has the second most transit trips – 84.5 percent of them are by bus.
Which states had the most vehicle miles traveled per person in 2008? Mississippi (14,875), followed by two western states: Oklahoma (13,315) and New Mexico (13,243).
Which state has the highest gas prices before taxes? Home of the pipeline, Alaska.
Which state draws its highest share of energy consumption from the transportation sector? Hawaii – 58.8 percent of its energy use comes from transportation (the number includes jet fuel; it’s an archipelago, after all).
Which state registered the most new hybrid cars in 2007? California absolutely crushes the competition in this category. It registered 97,000 hybrids compared to 19,000 in Florida and 17,000 in New York and Texas. The top ten states account for 60 percent of hybrid registrations.
Finally, which metropolitan areas have the most air pollution (measured in days with an Air Quality Index over 100)? The answers: Riverside, CA, Los Angeles, CA, Sacramento, CA, San Diego, CA, New York City, Philadelphia, PA, and Atlanta, GA.
Creative use of these data should prove useful in making the case for bicycling transportation. (Please send examples.) And if nothing else, it makes for interesting reading for the data-obsessed.
Darren Flusche
League Policy Director
Flusche joined the League in April 2009 and has a B.A. in history from Syracuse University and a Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in public policy analysis from New York University.
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July 14th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Thanks so much for the link and discussion, Darren.
July 14th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
reviewed the document.
bicycle is a answer to the high air polution
July 15th, 2010 at 8:09 am
I don’t care about politics,and am privileged to live in a bicycle friendly area of New England.
I was a proud member of the LAW in the late seventies and eighties, when there were affiliated clubs, sponsored rides, patches for accomplished riders and when the emphasis was on FUN and community.
That doesn’t seem to be the case now.
So tell me, why should I rejoin the new LAB?
Ball’s in your court.
July 15th, 2010 at 9:14 am
Hi Randy,
Bicycle friendly areas do not spontaneously appear. They are a result of the hard work of advocates at the local and, yes, national level. We are working hard to support communities in their efforts to encourage bicycling by providing a blue print for bicycle friendly policies speak out against threats to bicyclists’ rights.
I think many people would sympathize with your low regard for politics. The word itself is associated with deal-making, self-promotion, and sometimes outright corruption. But each of us would be remiss if we also ignored the POLICIES that result from the political process. Policies that impact each of the statistics mentioned in the report discussed above, and policies that determine if your New England community remains bicycle friendly. Since the beginning, when it was at the forefront of the good roads movement, the League has advocated for policies that support bicycling.
That’s the good news for you. Your membership helps us keep up that work, and lets you ignore it, if that’s what you choose — however, I’d still encourage you to reply to advocacy alerts when the matter is of interest to you.
Finally, I take exception to claim that our emphasis is not on fun. I often quote a friend of mine who is a daily rider and committed environmentalist. He says that you can tell him all of the reasons to ride his bike — to lose weight, to reduce carbon emissions, to ease congestion, to save money — but he wouldn’t do it if, every time he hopped on his bike, he didn’t feel like a kid again. No one should be deprived of that feeling. That’s why I follow all of the relevant policy debates and that’s why we want to help make this county more bicycle friendly.
July 16th, 2010 at 7:42 am
Yes, bicycle is the easiest solution of pollution as well as oil crisis.
August 15th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Gas prices would always go up that is why we should move to alternative energy;~’
October 1st, 2010 at 5:17 am
gas prices are still on the rise today, we should go Alternative Fuel,::