John Pucher (Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University) passes along this lead editorial on cycling in the new December 2016 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. “Table 1 should be especially interesting, as it compares trends in cycling infrastructure, cycling levels, and cycling safety in 10 US cities.”
A study of different kinds of cycling facilities in Vancouver and Toronto, Canada, found that the safest kind of facility, by far, were cycle tracks, which are on-street bicycle lanes that are physically separated from motor vehicles by raised curbs, bollards, or concrete barriers.
Compared with major streets with parked cars and no bicycle facilities, cycle tracks on roads without parked cars were 89% safer; regular, unprotected bicycle lanes on major roads without parked cars were 53% safer; and lightly trafficked residential streets without any bicycle facilities were 56% safer. Thus, removing car parking and replacing it with cycle tracks is an ideal way to improve cycling safety on major streets
Yeah, basically what we already know here though it’s still good to have reports like this to reinforce our knowledge.
Now we just need local politicians to realize the same!
Local politicians do. But check out the comments section for what they’re up against.
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-city-staff-want-fewer-parking-spots-and-more-bikes-on-10th-avenue-health-precinct
Yeah, some crazy comments in The Sun as always. It’s almost as if people didn’t even look at the plan before they start criticizing it. The best (worst?) is the suggestion that cyclists should be pushed onto a side street. That’s just hilarious. 10th Avenue is the side street that in the past they were pushed onto.
Once again marginalized while at the same time accused of elitism.
So we just accept the status quo? I want leaders who have a vision to find ways that make sense to make our lives better. Pointing to the difficulties just isnt good enough for me.
Out on a night like tonight and one can see why the vision of becoming some earnest Dutch-like bike nation are so unattainable. Cold, wet, dark – Vancouver in the winter. The amounts of precipitation in the Low or Nordic countries doesn’t come close to comparing. I’d wager there were all of 50 cyclists out on our multimillion dollar bike infrastructure at 6pm tonight.
Colder than Vancouver, darker, windier, frequent (light) rain, black ice – Netherlands, northern Germany and Denmark in winter. You should try biking in one those countries in winter.
Like Vancouver, Amsterdam’s wettest month is November. However it receives about half of Vancouver’s average of 183 mm. Copenhagen isn’t even close at 32 mm (though August is their wettest, but with just 48 mm).
In the city of Vancouver, we already have 10% of commutes by residents being by bike. True, this does drop off a bit in the winter but our build-out of safer cycling facilities has been very successful in encouraging more people to ride bikes for some of their trips. Now imagine if all these people reverted to driving cars. Kudos to the city for building safe cycling facilities.
I’ll take you up on that wager. How much?
I am reminded of the classic response…do we measure whether we need a bridge by how many people are swimming across the river? Honestly RV – I would not ride in last night’s weather without protected infrastructure. Cars struggle to see each other in that weather so why risk it if the infrastructure is not there?