Originally Posted by canklecat

Seems like I see more reports of cyclists being hit by drivers in North and South Carolina than any other region. A friend's daughter, also a racer training for the Olympics, was struck and killed in NC in 2011.

Hard to tell whether there's a pattern of reckless and negligent drivers in that region, or whether the news media are more diligent about reporting about cyclists and pedestrians struck by drivers. I know in my area (D/FW) many incidents are not reported because the newspapers are basically non-existent and TV news don't bother reporting the deaths of anonymous people. Most victims are low income, many are people of color, and in areas of town where such deaths are just shrugged off as collateral damage in the interest of not inconveniencing drivers.

The problem and answer aren't "bike lanes" and it's too simplistic to blame infrastructure. The main problem is driver negligence. If a driver strikes a pedestrian or cyclist who is lawfully using shared existing infrastructure, it should be considered negligence by default. Not an "accident," which implies something was unpredictable and unavoidable.

There are traffic calming designs and modifications of existing designs that can help. But changing the default paradigm would cost taxpayers nothing. It would shift the burden to drivers to take responsibility for their actions and omissions.