Bicycling is a growing sport and an increasingly common mode of transportation as more people leave their cars at home and jump on a bicycle to commute to work, run errands, get exercise and visit local shops and restaurants.
Increased bicycle traffic has resulted in more collisions between cars and bicycles. The severity of cyclists’ injuries is compounded by the increased weight and speed of e-bikes and e-scooters.
The town of Danville addressed the threats to the safety of the San Ramon Valley cycling community by creating a Bicycle Advisory Commission in 2022. But now, as e-bikes explode in popularity, the town council wants to demote the commission to a board under the Parks, Recreation & Arts Commission. In my opinion, this will dilute the effectiveness of this bike safety group and result in increased risk for cyclists of all ages that ride through Danville.
Danville is a key Bay Area cycling location. Cyclists come from all over the Bay Area to ride the roads and trails in the San Ramon Valley. They are attracted by the relatively quiet residential streets, the Iron Horse Trail and nearby destinations such as Mount Diablo. In 2019, nearly 270,000 cyclists rode past the East Bay Regional Park District’s bike counter on the Iron Horse Trail in Danville, an average of 21,900 per month.
But Danville is not as safe for cyclists as one might imagine. Since 2009 there have been 201 bike vs. vehicle collisions in Danville, averaging 16 per year since 2018, for a crash rate of 36 per 100,000, almost three times the U.S. average. Comparing Danville with other Bay Area suburban towns, Danville ranks at or near the top in crash rate.
And it’s likely to get worse. According to a paper published by UCSF, injuries in the United States of e-bike and e-scooter riders increased from 751 in 2017 to 23,493 in 2022.
Recognizing the increasing safety risks, Danville’s town council approved a Bicycle Master Plan in July 2021. A year later they established the Bicycle Advisory Commission, consisting of six experienced cyclists to help implement the Bicycle Master Plan.
These six volunteer commissioners advise the town council, collaborate with the town’s transportation staff and review key capital improvement projects to help improve bike facilities and safety for all road users, including pedestrians.
During the past two years, the commission has been working with the town transportation department to improve facilities for cyclists. And the data shows that bicycle crash rate has declined since 2021.
But despite this progress and the increasing threats to safety, the Danville town council in May considered reducing the commission to a board under the Parks, Recreation & Arts Commission.
A bike commission is unique among town commissions because it prioritizes the safety of residents and visitors. Working with the transportation department, which is primarily concerned with automobile traffic, the bike commission adds a critical focus on bicycle and scooter safety.
In contrast, the Parks, Recreation & Arts Commission focuses on acquiring, developing and maintaining park and recreation facilities and providing leisure and human service programs for town residents. While it provides valuable services for Danville residents, it’s not focused on the critical transportation and safety planning and implementation issues that the bike commission addresses. Moving this critical safety focus and advocacy to the Parks, Recreation & Arts Commission dilutes its effectiveness.
After some heated discussion, the council delayed until this fall the decision to either keep the commission as is, eliminate it altogether or minimize its role by melding it with the parks commission.
Maintaining Danville’s Bicycle Advisory Commission in its current form best ensures continued focus on critical safety issues, close coordination with transportation department staff, and well-informed implementation of improvements for all road, sidewalk, trail and path users.
Bruce Bilodeau, a retired geologist, is an experienced cyclist, former coach and team director of the San Ramon Valley Mountain Bike Club and the current chair of the Danville Bicycle Advisory Commission. The opinions here are his own and are not expressed on behalf of the commission.
