The city of Bend held a bike night to promote safety and fun in May 2024. (Richard Coe/The Bulletin file)

Maybe Bend cyclists should simply stay at home and not bike.

We are, at least, halfway serious.

When cities like Bend plan, the state of Oregon says they must plan for the city to have options for walking, biking and transit, instead of cars. The future of Bend has the end goal that people can and must do more without a car.

That’s not an option. It’s state regulation.

The state is not going to build new roads or add lanes just to reduce congestion. (It’s expensive and it doesn’t work so well.) The state directed cities to get rid of requirements for minimum parking in new developments. (Those have already evaporated in Bend.) The state wants to reduce vehicle miles traveled. (That gets tough, because the population grows.)

“It’s probably going to get more congested and parking is going to be harder to find in certain parts of town,” Russ Grayson, Bend’s chief operating officer, told a city committee on Monday.

So, then, it’s use the bus system that Bend doesn’t really have, or walk or bike. The thing any bicyclist or potential bicyclist must think about is the risk of dying and injury.

Bicyclist deaths set a new record in 2023 of 1,166 across the nation. It was the second year in a row to set a record for deaths. In Oregon, in 2023, crashes involving bicyclists injured or killed went up more than 60%.

That’s people trying to get safely home, people trying to get to work, people recreating. Instead, they are dead or injured.

Get struck by a car on a bike and it can be devastating. Get struck by a car in a car and it can be devastating, but there is metal, air bags and seatbelts for protection.

Fewer bicyclists are injured than people who are driving. Fewer people bike than drive. But the vulnerability of a bicyclist per mile is high. Exact statistics are impossible to find because we don’t have tracking of bicycle trips.

Look at Bend’s streets, though. Many aren’t built for bicyclists – or pedestrians. Rolling on two wheels is a roll of the dice weighted against the cyclist.

Bend doesn’t have the funding to give every street every bicycle friendly amenity. And yet, the state is directing Bend to drive more people to bicycle.

We love bicycling. It is not for everyone. It is unacceptable, though, for the state to compel cities to get people out of cars and on to bikes if it is not investing enough in making biking safer. Breaking records for bike injuries and deaths is where we are. It’s like the real nudge from the state is not so much to bike but simply stay home.