Cycling roads and one-way streets where cycling against the flow of traffic is permitted are now part of the standard repertoire of cycling traffic planners in Germany. These two infrastructure elements were introduced in Germany in 1997 by an amendment of the German Road Traffic Regulations (StVO). However, they differ in terms of their intended purpose and the information available about their safety. The purpose of permitting contra-flow cycling on one-way streets is, above all, to increase the use of minor roads by cyclists and minimize the diversions they have to take. The safety of one-way streets with contra-flow cycling has been studied in depth, and their essential safety has been demonstrated. Cycling roads, on the other hand, are intended primarily to attract cyclists and give them priority on roads that are particularly suitable for cycling. These roads should be introduced, above all, where there is a high density of cyclists. Whereas cycling roads spread fairly slowly in the early years following their introduction, in recent years they have spread more quickly. In contrast to one-way streets with contra-flow cycling, the safety of dedicated cycling roads has not yet been studied extensively. The planning offices Planerbüro Südstadt and VIA were commissioned by the UDV to carry out a research project to obtain new findings on the spread, areas of application and road safety of these two infrastructure elements. Since there are established findings on the road safety of contra-flow cycling on one-way streets, the main focus of the study was cycling roads. The analysis of one-way streets was restricted to streets with contra-flow cycling that had a conspicuously high incidence of accidents. The studies of the two infrastructure elements were carried out separately, although they both followed the same pattern. Following an analysis of the literature, a Germany-wide online survey was conducted of 359 municipalities of different sizes in order to gain an overview of the spread, layout, design and operation of these two elements in practice at the local level. Concrete examples were requested in order to obtain sections of road that could be used in the study. The accident data of the years 2008 to 2012 for the 177 cycling roads and 31 one-way streets with contra-flow cycling that were mentioned by the municipalities as being problematic was analysed macroscopically [1] and microscopically [2] and related to the infrastructure in place locally. Based on the results of the survey of municipalities and the accident analysis, 26 locations were selected for behavioural observation, 21 of which were on cycling roads and five on one-way streets with contra-flow cycling. At 21 intersections and on five sections of road, data on traffic and behaviour (traffic volumes, speeds, interactions and conflicts) was obtained and analysed. In addition, cyclists, drivers and pedestrians (a total of 452 road users) were surveyed locally about their knowledge of the rules on cycling roads and how safe they felt. Finally, recommendations for the safe design of cycling roads and one-way streets with contra-flow cycling were obtained on the basis of the findings. (Author/publisher)
Abstract