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Introduction <br />In order to support and inform the efforts of the Bicycle Safety Task Force, Orange County <br />Transportation Planning staff has prepared this report on bicycle crashes in the rural parts of Orange <br />County. This report analyzes a total of 34 bicycle crashes that occurred in Orange County between <br />January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2013 and includes information about age, types of injuries, <br />demographics, crash types, and road and light conditions. The Town of Hillsborough was not included in <br />this analysis as no bicycle crashes occurred within the town limits during this time period. The final <br />section of this document presents a crash cluster map, indicating where bicycle crashes are occurring <br />more frequently in Orange County. The overall intent of this document is to provide meaningful <br />information about bicycle safety, allowing the Bicycle Safety Task Force to base any future <br />recommendations on <br />verified data. <br />Data Sources <br />The North Carolina <br />Department of <br />Transportation <br />(NCDOT) provides <br />specific locational <br />data for pedestrian <br />and bicycle crashes as <br />well as associated <br />information about <br />each crash in a format compatible with the most common mapping software, ArcGIS. The crash data is <br />provided for the entire state of North Carolina. Orange County Transportation Planning staff obtained <br />the data from NCDOT using their online portal (Figure 1 - <br />http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=b4fcdc266d054a1ca075b60715f88aef); clipped the crash <br />data to the Orange County boundary, also removing crash data from Chapel Hill/Carrboro; and <br />performed a spatial analysis on the remaining bicycle crashes. The results of this analysis are presented <br />in the following sections. <br />This crash data is periodically updated by NCDOT. This analysis will be updated upon receipt of the new <br />data, with 2014 data available this winter. <br />Crash Analysis <br />Overall, 34 bicycle crashes occurred in Orange County (outside of Chapel Hill/Carrboro) between January <br />1, 2007 and December 31, 2013. All of these crashes were defined as occurring in rural areas, did not <br />occur in any municipality or other jurisdiction and, in each case, the bicyclists involved in these crashes <br />were in the travel lane riding with traffic. In all but one case, the weather was clear; the other instance <br />occurred on a cloudy day, just after a storm event. It is also important to note that overall, alcohol was <br />involved in three of these crashes. <br />Figure 1: Web <br />Interface for <br />Bicycle and <br />Pedestrian <br />Crashes <br />50