Worldwide the popularity of cycling is booming due to its many positive impacts on health, environment and accessibility. Unfortunately, in most traffic systems cyclists are exposed to high levels of road risks. In 2014, more than 2000 cyclist deaths were recorded in the EU alone. Many more were seriously injured, but their actual numbers or reliable estimates of it are not available. Today, even in a cycling friendly country like the Netherlands - frequently serving as a model for cycle promotion elsewhere - about a third of all road fatalities and more than half of all serious road injuries are cyclists. Whereas in the last decades huge safety gains have been achieved for car occupants, up to now protection of cyclists has been far less successful. Yet, policies to protect cyclists are scarce. Research fundamental for the development of such policies is still in its infancy and hampered by many limitations, such as incomplete data on bicycle crashes, lack of funding and focus, as well as shortcomings in methods suitable for research on bicycle safety. From 30.302 papers on traffic safety indexed in Science Direct for the years 2012—2016, only 7.8% dealt with the safety of cycling. On a more positive note, the growing numbers of participants in the International Conference on Cycling safety (ICSC) indicates that the tables are about to turn. In its fourth edition in 2015 in Hannover, the ICSC welcomed 114 participants from 24 countries and about 50 papers were presented. Based on a selection of these papers, this special issue ‘Improving cyclist safety through scientific research’ provides a platform for recent developments in cycling research. Conference papers not included in this special issue are available from the conference website http://www.icsc.eu. The 17 peer-reviewed papers in this special issue cover a wide range of topics, demonstrating the many disciplines active in cycle safety, such as psychologists and sociologists, mechanical and civil engineers, as well as policy makers. This special issue serves as a showcase of the variety of methodologies aimed at designing effective countermeasures, such as accidentology and in-depth crash investigation, injury mechanisms, field experiments, surveys, and safety performance measures. (Author/publisher)
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