Terms of Use & Disclaimer
Bike Safe Wisconsin · operated by Eric Youngblom · last updated July 1, 2026
By using this site you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the site.
What this tool is — and is not
Bike Safe Wisconsin is a free community planning aid. It estimates bicycle "Level of Traffic Stress" for streets, suggests lower-stress routes, and collects community input about where people want to ride. Everything it shows is an informational, planning-level estimate — it is not a safety certification, a traffic-control decision, or engineering advice.
Data can be wrong
Scores and routes are computed from public data — OpenStreetMap (which is crowd-sourced and may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect), WisDOT traffic counts, City of Madison traffic counts (average WEEKDAY traffic, which runs above an annual average), posted or modeled speeds, and elevation data. The tool does not know about construction, closures, weather, surface hazards, debris, traffic at the moment of your ride, or recent changes to any road. A street shown as low-stress may be dangerous in real conditions, and a route may include errors.
You are responsible for your ride
You (not this site) are responsible for deciding where and how to ride: obey all traffic laws and signs, use your own judgment about conditions, wear appropriate safety equipment, and supervise children — preview any suggested route yourself before riding it with a child. If a suggested route looks unsafe when you are on it, don't ride it.
Community submissions
If you log a trip, add a path, or submit other input, you give the operator a non-exclusive right to store, display, and use that submission (including in public summaries and briefs shared with local agencies). Don't submit anything private, unlawful, or that isn't yours to share. Path submissions are reviewed before they affect routing, but review is not a guarantee of accuracy or safety.
Privacy
Email sign-in is optional and used to save your preferences, routes, and — only if you opt in — occasional updates. Trip starting points are stored approximately (to about a block); exact coordinates are kept only for public destinations like parks and schools. Your information is not sold. To have your data removed, email [email protected].
Logging a trip for the record. The “Log a trip” tool records the trip, the stress and detour it costs you, and any note you add. It is anonymous by default — the trip and its findings can be shared with public agencies without anything identifying you. Giving an email address is optional and does nothing on its own: we keep it only if you tick one of two separate permissions, and ticking one is not ticking the other.
- “Keep my address with this record so a copy can be sent to me” — your address is stored with the record so a copy can be sent to you. You can also download your copy immediately, in the browser, without giving an address at all.
- “A public agency may contact me about this trip” — and only then may your address be passed on, and only in connection with that trip.
If you tick neither, any address you typed is discarded when the record is received rather than stored. Start and end points are recorded on a coarse grid of roughly two blocks, never your exact address. As with anything else you send, you can ask for a logged trip to be deleted at any time, for any reason, by emailing [email protected].
How long we keep things
Reports and trip logs are kept for as long as they are useful to the planning work, and reviewed periodically. Contact details attached to a report are kept only to follow up on that report. You can ask for anything you sent to be deleted at any time, for any reason and without explanation, by emailing [email protected]. Requests are actioned within 30 days.
No warranty; limitation of liability
The site and all content are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including accuracy, reliability, or fitness for a particular purpose. To the maximum extent permitted by Wisconsin law, the operator will not be liable for any damages arising from your use of (or inability to use) the site or your reliance on any content, including injury, property damage, or indirect or consequential damages. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain exclusions, so parts of this section may not apply to you.
Attribution & changes
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Traffic volumes: WisDOT and the City of Madison (Traffic Count by Road, average weekday traffic). These terms may be updated as the project evolves; continued use after changes means acceptance. Questions: [email protected].