Royal Oak is tops in Oakland County, but this time it’s not a good thing.

For 2007, Royal Oak had the most reported bicycle and pedestrian crashes in Oakland County. For bicycle crashes, it wasn’t even close. We had 50% more than second-place Troy. For pedestrian crashes, we were second to Pontiac.

m-bike provided copies of these crash data charts to Royal Oak’s City Commission yesterday. After a couple failed previous attempts, we’re hoping this time there’s enough resolve and momentum to pursue our recommended first step: a non-motorized transportation plan for Royal Oak.

The 2007 bike and pedestrian crash results for the four counties in the MDOT Metro Region have just been added to our on-line database.

In summary, while pedestrian crashes have dropped, bicycle crashes increased by over 13%. As noted by SEMCOG, “traffic crashes involving bicycles are more severe than overall crashes.” In other words, they cause a much higher percentage of injuries. Bikes don’t have bumpers, crash cages, and air bags.

The only “good” news is there were 6 bicycle fatalities this year, down from 13 last year. Still, 23% of all traffic related fatalities in the Metro Region were pedestrians or cyclists.

These numbers only provide more justification for road agencies (like Wayne County and the Road Commission of Oakland County) to begin implementing best practices for safe biking. Agencies and municipalities need to create and implement non-motorized plans on how to reduce these crashes.  Road projects that increase bicyclist safety should be rewarded, not penalized as they can be today in Oakland County.

SEMCOG has released their 2007 Traffic Crash Report. The Michigan State Police should be releasing theirs sometime this month.