Environmental and Transport Planning carried out a fifteen month research project comparing bicycle safety in 3 English and 3 West German towns. The first part of this work involved the statistical analysis of approximately two thousand five hundred bicycle accidents. The second part was an investigation of cyclist and motor vehicle behaviour. In addition the characteristics of each of the case study towns and its road network and the locational patterns of cycle accidents were studied by means of large scale maps. Each of the English towns was compared with its German equivalent using both the computerised statistical database and the spatial detail of the maps. Field study trips were also carried out to several of the case study towns and videotape evidence was gathered of car and cyclist behaviour at busy junctions. Using this combination of statistical, mapping and videotape study of behaviour, safety-related policies and recommendations are formed.
Samenvatting