Bicycle Network: Monitor & Evaluate

Facilities reduce risk

It is surprising how effective bike lanes are at increasing usage and reducing risk.

This chart shows how over the years the number of riders logged on St Kilda Road has increased steadily. We estimate that the risk to riders has halved.

Portland

Portland tells a similar story - better facilities has lifted rider rates but crash rates stay steady.

Some other research

Bicycle lanes on a major avenue in Eugene, Oregon resulted in an increase in bicycle use and a substantial reduction in the bicycle accident rate. The crash rate per 100,000 bike miles fell by almost half and the motor vehicle crash rate also fell significantly. (1)

In Denmark, bicycle lanes reduced the number of bicycle crashes by 35 percent. (2) Some of the bike lanes reached risk reductions of 70 to 80 percent. (3)

Major improvements to the bikeway network in Delft, the Netherlands, resulted in fewer accidents and injuries among cyclists. (4)

With the redesign of roadways to establish an integrated bike lane network, recorded traffic injuries in Deventer, the Netherlands, fell by 30 percent overall over a 7 year period, with an even greater fall in injuries to cyclists. (5)

A comparison of crash rates of all types in major cities has shown that cities with higher bicycle use have lower traffic accidents of all types than cities with lower bicycle use. (6)

• 1 Federal Highway Administration, Bicycle Safety-Related Research Synthesis, 1995.
• 2 Danish Road Directorate, Safety of Cyclists in Urban Areas, 1994.
• 3 Jan Grubb Laursen, Nordic Experience with the Safety of Bicycling, 1993.
• 4 Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, Cities Make Room for Cyclists, Delft, 1995.
• 5 Ibid. Exact percent for decline in cyclist accidents not cited in publication.
• 6 Søren Underlien Jensen, Karina Vestergaard Andersen and Erling Dan Nielsen, "Junctions and cyclists," paper presented at Velo-City ‘97.