Uncertainty under traffic laws has made Iowa City one of the top counties in the state for bike accidents in the last five years.

Despite being one of the few cities designated as a bicycle friendly city, many people do not practice bicycle safety on the bike or in their cars.

Executive Director of the Iowa Bike Coalition Mark Wyatt said one of the reasons may be because many people don’t understand the bike laws.

“They can be confusing because they don’t apply as evenly as a motor vehicle law might,” Wyatt said. “Sometimes bicyclists make up their own rules, which isn’t really what we want to see happening.”

In 2014, Johnson County was responsible for 11 percent of the bicycle crashes in the area, the second most in the state.

When bikes are on the road, just like motor vehicles, bicyclists are responsible for obeying traffic signs, signaling to traffic, and using headlights at night. Another thing bikers need to keep in mind is to only ride on the roads and not on the sidewalks at any time.

Daily Iowan TV has the full story.