Danish Council of Road Safety Research which was set up in 1967, decided to carry out an investigation throwing light on the benefits of bicycle tracks. The main study in this rapport is based on detailed accident data from 4 arterial streets in Copenhagen. 2 of these have bicycle tracks, the otter 2 have not. The accident rates for streets with bicycle tracks is lower than for streets without such tracks. The accident rate at intersections for bicycle accidents is highest for streets with bicycle tracks. A theoretical calculation indicates that if bicycle tracks were constructed outside the existing roadway on the two streets without bicycle tracks the bicycle accidents are significantly different between streets with and without bicycle tracks. It is noticed that the accident rates for collisions between vehicles of different types are lowest on streets with bicycle tracks when the vehicles involved in the accidents have different speed patterns in general.
Abstract