According to recent calculations in the City of Helsinki, the risk of a bicycle/car-accident is at least 10 times higher at crossings with poor visibility than at respective crossings without sight obstacles. The study in Helsinki dealt with non-signalized zebra crossings between minor roads and two-way cycle paths. An earlier, well-constructed British study gave quite opposite results. Poor visibility decreases the number of bicycle/car-accidents. The British study, however, dealt with T-crossings without specific bicycle paths. The apparent contradiction between these two results only confirms the very important conclusion of several other studies. Cycling along cars is in many cases safer than cycling on separate (two-way) bicycle paths. The reason for this confusing phenomena is almost obvious. Potential conflicting bicycles do not arouse the (unconscious) protective behavioural patterns of the car drivers as efficiently as other cars do. Therefore, cycling across a street from an opposite direction than the nearest crossing motor vehicle lane is dangerous. The carefulness of the cyclists seems to be strongly dependent on the traffic volume of the crossing street. Collisions take very often place at intersections with surprisingly low traffic volumes on the minor road. (A)
Abstract