CLEVELAND — A recent report by Bike Cleveland shows an increase in cyclists and pedestrians hit by drivers in the last few years.
Jenna Thomas rides her bike to and from work and many other places throughout the city of Cleveland, but she’s becoming more concerned about her ability to do that safely.
“We saw that over 600 people were hit by drivers in the city of Cleveland just last year," said Thomas.
Thomas is the advocacy director for Bike Cleveland. It’s a nonprofit that aims to achieve equal resources and safety for all road users regardless of their form of transportation.
“A quarter of people in Cleveland don’t have a car," Thomas said. "When we are designing our streets, we need to keep that in mind.”
Bike Cleveland just released its second annual crash report this week. That report shows 603 people were hit by drivers while walking or biking in 2024, an increase from 550 in 2023. Last year, 102 children were hit.
The report also showed 75 people died because of these crashes, another increase from the previous year.
“One of the biggest factors in all of this is speed," Thomas said. "Crashes are going to happen, but we want to make sure that cars are moving slowly so that if they do nobody is seriously injured. We’re seeing more and more reckless and distracted driving.”
Improving bike safety in the area takes on added meaning for Patty Knilans of Avon Lake. Her husband, Randy, was killed after he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle here on Lake Road.
“Randy and I met when we were 16, we got married when we were 21," Knilans said. "We had been together for 50 years. He was an avid cyclist, and he rode every day for 15 miles.”
After her husband’s death, Patty turned to advocacy. She founded a group called Northeast Ohio Families for Safe Streets and with her help Avon Lake spent $3 million on improving bike safety in the city including widening bike lanes and naming them in Randy’s memory.
"Anything that I can do to help others I look at that as remembering him by the way he lived, not by the way he died," Knilans said.
Knilans thinks the state of Ohio has a long way to go before its roads are truly safe for cyclists and pedestrians.
“We’re trying to get the state to recognize that and get the mayors in these cities on these roadways to control these kinds of items and get the funding to reasonably allow pedestrians to navigate the roadway without fear of getting hit," Knilans said.
Thomas said Cleveland is not on track to meet its vision zero goal of eliminating all fatalities and serious injuries by 2032 but says the city has shown that safer streets are becoming more of a priority.
“We’re already starting to see changes on the streets to make them safer," Thomas explained. "Cleveland now has over 100 speed tables across the city and they’re installing 100 more this year. What we really want to see more of is separated bike lanes so that means putting a physical separator between the bike lane and the drive lane.”
She promises to continue pushing for further change in the city of Cleveland.
“They deserve to have streets that work for them too. One of the main solutions to all of this is designing our streets so that cars are forced to slow down which just keeps everyone safer.”