Blog Post
Last week, as Hurricane Sandy brushed the Florida coast, I had the pleasure of presenting the Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community award to Miami’s Mayor Tom Regalado and city commissioners. The…
The League is excited to announce a new member of our staff: Ken McLeod. A lawyer and a cyclist, Ken is our new Legal Specialist, working with the Advocacy Advance…
With the passage of the new transportation law, the route to federal funding for biking and walking in your community isn’t as direct as it used to be. With dedicated…
This week, Hoboken was among the cities hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy. High winds and intense rain battered the New Jersey town, and, as of this morning, much of the…
Last week we announced the latest round of Bicycle Friendly Businesses and RDG Planning & Design was on the list of more than 70 award recipients nationwide. The Omaha-based company…
Well, we’re not in Kansas anymore! (Sorry couldn’t resist.) But, if Dorothy were looking for safe and accessible streets to make her journey, she’d be well-served to look down the…
When talking with people who are interested in biking more but haven’t yet overcome their reservations, one of the things that comes up a lot is the challenge of one particular intersection or stretch of road. It’s too busy, or it just feels uncomfortable and dangerous.
I often remind those folks that they don’t need to ride to their destination along the same route they would drive. Sometimes there’s an alternate route that can avoid the dicey parts, but we’re just not used to looking for it. Route selection is an important factor in encouraging more people to hop on their bikes.
How do different environments impact safety and comfort? What features are people looking for it their route? Several new studies have come out that address these questions. Knowing what routes people on bikes choose will help communities deliver more bike-friendly streets – for existing and potential cyclists.
Cycle tracks and quiet residential streets increase safety
A widely reported study in the American Journal of Public Health by researchers from the University of British Columbia’s Cycling in Cities Research Program found that infrastructure reduces the risk of injury.
Major streets with parked cars and no bike infrastructure had the highest risk.
Cycle tracks – bike lanes physically separated from automobile traffic – alongside major streets and residential street bike routes were the least risky.
Major streets with bike lanes and no parked cars had about half the risk of major streets with parking and off-street bike paths had about 6/10 the risk.
The authors also note that streetcar tracks, downhill slopes, and construction added noticeably to riskiness.
“The only shocking thing about this study is just how blindingly obvious the results are, and that it has apparently taken 40 years for us to figure this out!” says League President Andy Clarke, referring to reported safety benefits of cycle tracks. The lesson, Andy notes, is that poorly designed facilities in the early 1970s did tremendous damage to the reputation of bicycling infrastructure, which set back the growth of bicycling networks. Cycle tracks and bike lanes still need to be used in the right places with careful attention to detail to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. “Fortunately, we have learned a whole lot more about good design that does work and we’re starting to see the results,” Andy says.
On the topic of route selection, the researchers compared their safety data to the results of an earlier study on the stated-desirability of different bicycling conditions. Not surprisingly, the safer routes were also the most popular:
(Source: University of British Columbia, Cycling in Cities Program)
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