The study concerns combined pedestrian/cyclist paths in the nordic countries alongside a road and separated from it by at least a 1 metre broad separator or a safety fence. The total number of fatal and injury accidents decreased by 14%, on an average, after building the pedestrian/cyclist path. The result varied nevertheless among the different countries (denmark, finland, norway and sweden). As expected the pedestrian and cyclist accidents decreased most while the number of motor vehicle accidents remained unchanged. Minor changes in the distribution of the motor vehicle accidents in accident types were however noted with significance. Both the pedestrian and the cyclist accidents decreased by about 40% on average (including the regression to the mean-effect).
Abstract