Nashville’s Bicycle Safety Report Card: Where Do We Rank?
April 15, 2025
What is a Bicycle Friendly Report Card?
Although the weather in Tennessee this Spring has been a bit wet, more and more Nashville residents are getting excited about cycle season. Each year, The League of American Bicyclists creates bike friendly reports for states, regions and cities. The report for Nashville, Tennessee includes scores in the categories: engineering, education, encouragement, evaluation & planning, and equity & accessibility. It also ranks Tennessee based on how friendly their infrastructure and safety plans are.
In The Article
Is Nashville, Tennessee a Bike-Friendly City?
According to the 2024 Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) Report Card for Nashville, TN, Nashville has a Bronze award for its bike-friendly community and has held this award since 2012.
Overall, the state of Tennessee is ranked 29th throughout the country, but Nashville has a bit of work to do.
In all five categories, Nashville scored under the maximum score (based on other communities scored in 2024).
(Image from The League of American Bicyclists 2024 Bike Friendly Community Report Card for Nashville, TN)
You can see Nashville’s lowest scores come in the Equity & Accessibility category. The report card breaks this score down, showing that Nashville’s biggest faults in equity and accessibility are in data collection in goals (scoring a 0 out of 27 points possible) and engineering (scoring 2.4 out of 44 points possible).
What do riders want to see Nashville do to for bicyclists?
A public survey for Nashville’s bike safety asked, “How satisfied are you with how this community is designed for making bike riding safe?” and 74.69% of the respondents chose either “Somewhat Dissatisfied” or “Very Dissatisfied”. Additionally, 25.32% of respondents said that it was dangerous to ride a bicycle in their neighborhoods, with only 6.33% noting that their neighborhoods were safe for bicycle riders.
Riders in Nashville were asked what they’d like to see Nashville do to increase bike-friendly levels throughout the community. Here’s what they’re looking for:
- 54.43% of people want to see more bike lanes in Nashville.
- 50.63% of people want to see improvement on existing bike lanes.
- 45.57% of people want to see more bike paths in Nashville.
- 44.30% of people want to see reduced speeds through traffic calming or road diets in Nashville neighborhoods.
How is Nashville Boosting Its Bike Safety?
Nashville has adopted a Vision Zero action plan, much like that of Louisville, Kentucky. As a part of the plan, Vision Zero has identified some of the most dangerous streets for cyclists.
The most dangerous streets for bicyclists are:
- Church Street
- West Trinity Lane and East Trinity Lane
- Lafayette Street
- Charlotte Avenue
- 26th Avenue North
These roads showed a combined gave 483 total bicyclist-involved accidents.
Vision Zero has proposed enhancing the streets and adding refuge islands in the middle of streets. Additionally, the Vision Zero Five-Year Implementation Plan for Nashville, set to complete in 2027, includes several ways to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety, including education, changes in signage, and changes in laws throughout the city.
How Bicyclists Can Stay Safe in Nashville
The first step to bicycle safety is education. Sticking to the rules of the road in Tennessee for bicyclists is your first step. Additionally, making sure that you are always aware of your surroundings can help you avoid accidents.
When it comes to additional bike safety, make sure you wear your helmet. Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers in Tennessee run a bike helmet program in Nashville. With this program, bike helmets of all sizes are available for only $5. All you have to do is stop into any of our Tennessee locations to get your bike helmet today.
If you’ve been injured as a bicyclist or a pedestrian, you have rights. Contact the professional Nashville pedestrian accident lawyers at Hughes & Coleman to get your free case evaluation today. 800-800-4600
