W.Va. Slips In Bicycle Safety Rankings

West Virginia fell in a national ranking of bike-friendly states published by a national bicycle advocacy group. 

The League of American Bicyclists lists West Virginia as 33rd of the 50 states for laws and policies designed to keep bicyclists safe and to promote cycling. That is a drop of five positions from the league’s last ranking in 2022, in which West Virginia ranked 28th in the nation. West Virginia ranked last in the league’s first ranking in 2008.

States are rated on seven categories: cycling infrastructure, safety, state funding, planning, laws, capacity & support and “Every Ride Counts,” a new category that looks at data collection around bicycle usage.

West Virginia ranks high in state funding and policies related to cycling, but ranked low for infrastructure and almost last in collecting data about bicycle usage. Only one tenth of a percent of commuters in West Virginia travel by bicycle, but the state ranks in the bottom ten nationally for safety with more than 28 fatalities per 10,000 bike commuters.

The league’s 2024 report raises the alarm on what they call “a continued traffic safety crisis.” Between 2009 and 2022, there was a 76 percent increase in bicyclist deaths nationwide. 

To improve its ranking immediately, the report suggests West Virginia

• Implement a default urban area speed limits of 20 miles per hour 

• Spend at least 2 percent of federal transportation funds on biking and walking improvements 
• Work with cities to provide networks that allow more people to safely bike to work

The League of American Bicyclists has also designated four West Virginia communities, Huntington, Morgantown, Wheeling and Beckley, as bronze-level bicycle-friendly communities.
According to the league’s website, a bicycle friendly community “is one that encourages people to bike for transportation and recreation through the five Es: equity, engineering, education, encouragement, and evaluation.”