San Francisco is known around the world for its incredible beauty and the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge. A lesser known topic of conversation is the city's cutting edge Bicycle Plan that is intended to make San Francisco a bike-friendly region by creating an environment that limits bike accidents.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, a nonprofit public benefit corporation with over 7500 members paying dues, has been working with the city since 1970 to make San Francisco healthier and more livable by improving the road conditions for cycling. The city has responded in a positive manner, approving a major proposal in 2005 to add bike lanes, bike paths, and connect traffic-calmed streets throughout San Francisco for improved bike travel.

While bike accidents continue to be a problem throughout many cities in California, the San Francisco Bicycle Plan has four main goals that will encourage biking and make it a safer option than it has been in the past:

1.Improve Facilities for Bicyclists: Not only is San Francisco looking to provide cyclists with transportation routes that avoid the major traffic areas, but the city is also looking to increase the number of safe parking areas for cyclists and improve maintenance to limit the amount of obstacles on the roadway.

2.Improve Bicycle SafetyL San Francisco intends to introduce bicycle training to explain the rules of the road and provide information on how to share the road in a safe manner. The city will also enforce violations more strictly to discourage bad biking habits.

3.Promote Biking in San Francisco: The San Francisco Bike Plan intends to increase bicycle use in the city and encourage potential cyclists and visitors alike to ride a bike. By promoting biking as a healthy alternative and making it easier to make the switch, it is believed that many more cyclists will be on the road in years to come.

4.Increase Bike Funding: To continue moving forward, San Francisco will always need additional funding to make biking an ever-growing alternative. The bike plan will seek out funding sources while the San Francisco government will match the donations.

San Francisco has had an alarming rate of bike accidents in the past, averaging around 300 per year in recent years. However, the San Francisco Bike Plan will make the roads safer for cyclists than ever before. While there may be more bike accidents overall due to having more cyclists on the road, the bike accidents are expected to be less serious on average with fewer injuries per thousand cyclists.