Last year, there were 76 bike-involved crashes in Kalamazoo County and four deaths.
Those four fatalities were the highest number of bike-involved deadly traffic crashes recorded for any county in the state in 2024. However, Kalamazoo County ranked eighth in terms of counties with the highest number of bike-involved crashes.
The Michigan State Police's 2024 Statewide Traffic Crash Data Year End Report breaks down traffic crashes by category, which also includes deaths that result from those crashes.
One category details crashes that involve a bike and a motor vehicle — those are called bike-involved crashes.
The report doesn't provide details about individual crashes, except for those that occurred on major holidays, but MSP District 5 Public Information Officer Lieutenant DuWayne Robinson said there are many factors that can contribute to deaths resulting from a bike-involved crash.
"We know that distracted driving causes crashes every day in the state and around the nation, we know that speed is a factor, we know that also bicyclists themselves are sometimes not using the roadway properly, which contributes to some of these crashes," Robinson said.
Overall, 1 in 19 bike-involved traffic fatalities in the county last year were fatal. That rate is higher than more populated counties like Wayne, where only 1 in 184 bike-involved crashes were fatal — but it wasn't the highest in the state. Some counties had higher rates of fatality simply because fewer crashes occurred overall.
The overall number of bike-involved traffic fatalities in the state also rose in 2024 to 29, five more deaths than recorded in 2023. Robinson said MSP is focused on driver and cyclist education to increase safety and hopefully reduce crashes.
"Bicycles are out there and they have the right to use the roadway like a motor vehicle. We have to be mindful that they're not 'in our way' as some people may believe," Robinson said. "We have to drive as safe as possible to give them space and the bicyclists need to make sure they're wearing helmets, to make sure they're visible."
Kalamazoo has a well-established bike culture, and seeing riders on the road is a regular occurence for most commuters. But Isaac Green, an avid biker and the executive director of youth development program Open Roads, said he often encounters motorists who don't respect bikers using the roads.
“My team, we ride all the time and still we'll hear people say 'get out of the road'. Cyclists have a legal right to the road. They are just like any other road user. If they're in the road, motorists need to treat them as a vehicle," Green said.
Open Roads is a program geared toward local youth that provides bike repair apprenticeship and job skills training for youth, along with free and low-cost bikes and bike repair services for students under 18. Green said statistics like these make him worried for the kids that come through the program.
"That's why we give everyone a helmet, we give everyone lights, so they can stay visible and stay safe. But again, those are preventative measures," Green said.
One of the four people who died in a bike-involved crash last year was Jeffrey Lillard, a 24-year old local resident who was struck and killed by a car while biking to his job as a custodian at Western Michigan University. Green described him as "a shining beacon in our community."
"He was a musician, student — very well loved and known around town," Green said. "Just snuffed out just like that, you know. Riding around town one day and just, dead."
Green said in his experience as a cyclist, it's common for motorists to behave aggressively or irresponsibly toward people biking on the road. Because of this, Green said he believes more responsibility should be placed on drivers who hit cyclists.
"My perspective on the fatalities is really is that the onus needs to be placed more on driver responsibility, driver education. I believe that law enforcement should do more to prosecute people after they've been involved with a vehicle on bicycle incident," Green said.
But Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard C. Fuller III says motorists and cyclists can both play a part in these types of accidents.
"There are still a lot of people, again, not speaking to any of these particular cases of the four in Kalamazoo County, that we find ride their bicycles contrary to statute. At the same time, there are many drivers who drive distracted," Fuller said.
Fuller said the onus should be on both parties to stay aware of their surroundings and operate safely while using the road.
"We do enjoy riding our bicycles, or we do enjoy having the ability to get in a warm car and and drive to work in the mornings. But I want people to remember that there are other people using these roads. And any one of us operating on the roads, we only have one mission — and that is to get from point A to point point B without hurting yourself or anyone else," Fuller said.
In terms of biking infrastructure, Green said he believes speed limits could be lowered and bike lane signage improved within the city of Kalamazoo. He also said unclear prosecution standards and inconsistent pop-up bike lane schedules can create hardship for cyclists.
"I think the city has a lot to do with educating law enforcement, with creating procedures for how hit-and-runs are prosecuted or investigated," Green said. "And how they implement bike lanes on a long long-term scale so that we have reliable transportation networks that people can use year-to-year, right?"
Green said that one of the best ways people can help keep cyclists in their community safe is by experiencing what it's like to bike on the roads.
"If you ride your bike down the lanes, you'll realize that when a cyclist is in those lanes and you're in your car, that's how much space they have. That's how it feels to be the more vulnerable user next to a motorist, right? So, having that experience of 'this is what it feels like to bike around town. This is what the cyclists in my community go through on a daily basis,'" Green said.
Open Roads is also holding a memorial bike ride for Jeffrey Lillard on Sunday September 14 beginning at the Open Roads building at 11 a.m. The ride is called the "Dark Blue Journey" in honor of Lillard's favorite color and will make stops at some of his favorite locations.
Members of the community are welcomed to join the bike ride in Lillard's honor.
