Bicycle accidents a concern in Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO, March 22 (UPI) -- Bicyclists in and around San Francisco are increasingly failing to follow basic road regulations, bicycle and safety advocates say.

The advocates say Bay Area bicyclists tend to run stop signs and lights on a regular basis and when paired with increasingly aggressive drivers, the lack of restraint is placing cyclists at risk, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday.

"There is a juggernaut out there -- the tension between the cyclists and the drivers is so high that it's become a war," triathlon coach Marc Evans said.

An analysis conducted by the Chronicle found that among the 33,000 collisions involving a bicycle in the Bay Area in the last decade, a bicyclist was more likely to be at fault than a driver.

Bicyclists were found to be responsible in 1,165, or nearly 60 percent, of the crashes, while drivers were tabbed with the responsibility in 520 crashes or 26 percent overall.

The Chronicle said related data showed that bicyclists traveling at unsafe speeds were the main cause of accidents prompted by the bicyclist.