Bicyclists in Somerville were involved in 116 accidents last year, according to data from the Somerville Police Department, up from 99 accidents reported in 2015.

City transportation officials acknowledged the increase and say they are investigating ways to improve safety moving forward. They noted that overall trends generally indicate Somerville is becoming a safer place to bike.

“Bicycle counts are increasing more quickly than crashes involving bicyclists are increasing,” said transportation staff Brad Rawson, Adam Polinski and Mike Tremblay in an email.

About the data

Crash data provided by the Somerville Police Department shows dates, times and approximate locations for all accident reports from 2016 involving cyclists, but does not include details such as cause, context or resulting injuries. Detailed reports are available from the police records clerk for a fee, and additional information is available to the public on the city’s data website.

An estimated 7.8 percent of Somerville residents commute by bike, the highest rate among East Coast cities, according to a 2014 report from the League of American Bicyclists.

Almost half of bike accidents in Somerville last year were concentrated during typical weekday commuting hours, with more than 50 accidents reported between 7-10 a.m. and 5-8 p.m.

Nearly a quarter of last year’s bicycle accidents took place along either Beacon Street or Somerville Avenue, highly trafficked routes for cyclists. According to Somerville Bicycle Committee chairman Ken Carlson, Beacon Street alone sees 450 cyclists per hour during peak commuting hours.

Efforts to improve safety

Last summer, Beacon Street underwent significant reconstruction, including installation of the city’s first protected bike lane, a victory for local bicycle advocates. All 16 accidents reported on Beacon Street occurred before or during construction along that road. For the last four months of 2016, there were no reported bike accidents on Beacon Street.

Beacon Street’s protected bike lane is currently closed for the spring construction season and will be completed in June. In the coming weeks and months, the Somerville Bicycle Committee is planning an education campaign focused on how cyclists, motorists and pedestrians should interact with each other along the road and at intersections. Carlson said that effort will include events, signs and flyers.

Bike accidents on Highland Avenue and Medford Street nearly doubled over the last two years, from a combined seven accidents in 2015 to 13 last year. Those roads do not have designated bike lanes, but instead display painted “sharrows,” or shared lane markings, indicating where bicyclists should ride in the main travel lane.

“Highland is a street that’s crying out for bike facilities,” Carlson said. “A lot of people avoid it.”

A recent study from the University of Colorado suggested that sharrows don’t make a meaningful difference in improving cyclist safety, though they do reduce the risk of cyclists being doored (when the door of a parked car opens and hits a passing bicyclist). But streets with painted bike lanes had a more significant 42 percent decrease in cyclist injuries, according to the study.

Some streets with relatively high instances of bicycle accidents last year included Broadway and Washington Street, which do have painted bicycle lanes along portions of the roadway.

Carlson said new painted lanes around the Washington Street-McGrath Highway intersection are making a difference.

“We think the new green painted bike lane made it safer,” Carlson said. “We’re seeing a huge increase in the number of bicyclists on Washington.”

Looking ahead

Road width and other engineering factors determine what type of bike infrastructure is possible for particular roadways, city officials said, emphasizing their commitment to improving infrastructure whenever possible. They plan to test “vertical flex posts,” which have been installed in recent months in Cambridge, to provide “physical buffering” for painted bike lanes.

And in the 2016 Winter Hill Neighborhood Plan, the city proposed a protected bike lane along Broadway from Magoun Square to McGrath Highway.

“The city prioritizes key routes where our annual count data and crash reporting demonstrates a clear need, and we are working to expand our network of dedicated and protected bike lanes to ensure that users of all ages and abilities feel invited to ride on safe, useful routes,” officials said.

Moving street parking to the opposite side of Summer Street last year enabled the city to add a painted bike lane for cyclists going uphill on that road, an example of ongoing city attention to infrastructure improvements, Carlson said. He also said a citywide transportation survey is under consideration. That survey would further investigate Somerville residents’ mobility needs.

So far in 2017, timing and location patterns from last year seem to be holding, according to data provided by the Somerville Police Department. But this year has only seen 10 bicycle accidents – less than half as many as the same time last year. Two of those have occurred on Beacon Street, the first reported accident since the protected bicycle lane opened for interim use last fall.

Carlson said Somerville continues to be a great city for cyclists, pointing to the city’s bike facility improvements and attention to safety education and enforcement.

“It’s a really exciting time to be doing this stuff, and have this city administration, a mayor and staff and departments that are very progressive on bike mobility and bike safety,” Carlson said.

For more information on bicycling in Somerville, visit somervillebikes.org. City data is available at data.somerville.gov.