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Title:

MEASURING THE SAFETY EFFECT OF RAISED BICYCLE CROSSINGS USING A NEW RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Accession Number:

00757467

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

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Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309065089

Abstract:

Before-and-after study methodology was developed and applied to evaluating the effect on bicyclists' safety of raising urban bicycle crossings by 4 to 12 cm. In total, 44 junctions were reconstructed in this way in Gothenburg, Sweden. Four of these were studied in detail. Before the implementations, bicyclists were riding either in the roadway or on separate paths parallel to the roadway. The paths then ended with short ramps or curb cuts at each cross street, and bicyclists used nonelevated, marked bicycle crossings, similar to pedestrian crosswalks but delineated by white painted rectangles rather than zebra stripes. The results show that the paths with raised crossings attracted more than 50% more bicyclists and that the safety per bicyclist was improved by approximately 20% due to the increase in bicycle flow, and with an additional 10% to 50% due to the improved layout. However, the increased bicyclist volume means that the total number of bicycle accidents is expected to increase. Besides accident analysis, the change in risk was estimated using four different methods: surveys of bicyclists and experts, respectively; conflict data; and a quantitative expert model. Using a Bayesian approach for combining the results shows that the most likely effect of raising the bicycle crossing is a risk reduction of around 30%, compared with the before situation with a conventional bicycle crossing. Motorists and pedestrians also saw safety benefits from this traffic-calming measure.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1636, Bicycle and Pedestrian Research 1998.

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Garder, P
LEDEN, L
PULKKINEN, U

Pagination:

p. 64-70

Publication Date:

1998

Serial:

Transportation Research Record

Issue Number: 1636
Publisher: Transportation Research Board
ISSN: 0361-1981

ISBN:

0309065089

Features:

Figures (6) ; Photos (1) ; References (15) ; Tables (2)

Geographic Terms:

Old TRIS Terms:

Subject Areas:

Design; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Dec 4 1998 12:00AM

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