Denver Neighborhoods With the Fewest Car-Versus-Bicycles Accidents

With cycling season in full swing, we recently dug into City of Denver traffic data to learn which neighborhoods have been the setting for the most car-versus-bicycle accidents, and the numbers for the top ten were disturbing. But ten other Denver neighborhoods have a far better record, registering fewer than ten incidents of this type over the past six years.

Denver has a reputation as a great biking city, but in recent years, cycling advocates such as Denver Cruisers founder Brad Evans have acknowledged that it can be scary to ride bikes in the Mile High City given factors such as explosive growth, increasing traffic congestion and incidents of bike rage.

Information about traffic accidents of all types can be found in Denver's open data catalogue, a free online resource. The data goes back to 2012, and stats for more recent incidents are accessible within a week or two of their occurrence.

As part of our analysis, we discovered that there were 2,054 reports of accidents involving cars striking bicycles (or vice versa) from the start of the database to April 19 of this year. Over that period, the most crashes of this type by far tended to take place in central Denver neighborhoods: Capitol Hill, North Capitol Hill, Union Station, Civic Center. Yet only a handful of such incidents have happened in the areas below, some of them years ago. And the number-one place — and yes, it's technically a neighborhood — has only experienced a single car-versus-bike crash during the six-year span.

Count down the top ten below, supplemented by details about the first listed crash in each area and the most recent one (with the exception of the neighborhood in the top slot). We've also added notes about incidents that involved special circumstances, such as serious bodily injuries or hit-and-runs.

Number 10: Cole

Number of car-bicycle accidents from 2012 to April 19, 2018: 9

First listed incident:

01/05/12
E 36TH AVE/N HIGH ST
Note: Hit-and-run

Most recent incident:

06/15/16
LAWRENCE ST/E 36TH AVE
Note: Serious bodily injury

Number 9: Valverde

Number of car-bicycle accidents from 2012 to April 19, 2018: 8

First listed incident:

07/04/12
W ALAMEDA AVE/S CANOSA CT
Note: Hit-and-run

Most recent incident:

04/14/15
1441 W BAYAUD AVE

Number 8 (tie): Southmoor Park

Number of car-bicycle accidents from 2012 to April 19, 2018: 7

First listed incident:

10/11/12
3500 BLOCK S HOLLY ST

Most recent incident:

05/25/17
E HAMPDEN AVE / S HOLLY ST

Number 8 (tie): Hilltop

Number of car-bicycle accidents from 2012 to April 19, 2018: 7

First listed incident:

07/07/13
4120 E ALAMEDA AVE

Most recent incident:

10/03/17
E 3RD AVE/N ALBION ST

Number 6: Kennedy

Number of car-bicycle accidents from 2012 to April 19, 2018: 6

First listed incident:

03/27/12
10700 E DARTMOUTH AVE

Most recent incident:

10/26/17
3500 BLOCK S DAYTON ST
Number 5: Rosedale

Number of car-bicycle accidents from 2012 to April 19, 2018: 5

First listed incident:

08/15/13
S DOWNING ST/E YALE AVE

Most recent incident:

11/07/16
S DOWNING ST/E YALE AVE

Number 4: Wellshire

Number of car-bicycle accidents from 2012 to April 19, 2018: 4

First listed incident:

03/19/13
S COLORADO BLVD/E DARTMOUTH AVE
Note: Serious bodily injury

Most recent incident:

02/23/17
E BATES AVE/S FILLMORE ST
Note: Hit-and-run

Number 3: Marston

Number of car-bicycle accidents from 2012 to April 19, 2018: 3

First listed incident:

07/02/13
S WADSWORTH BLVD/W CRESTLINE AVE

Most recent incident:

08/15/17
S WADSWORTH BLVD/W CROSS DR
Note: Hit-and-run

Number 2: Fort Logan

Number of car-bicycle accidents from 2012 to April 19, 2018: 2

First listed incident:

07/23/14
W UNION AVE / S LOWELL BLVD

Most recent incident:

05/23/15
W QUINCY AVE/S NEWTON ST
Note: Hit-and-run

Number 1: DIA

Number of car-bicycle accidents from 2012 to April 19, 2018: 1

Only listed incident:

02/20/18
24500 BLOCK E 78TH AVE