The Dutch Ministry of Transport and Public Works requested the SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research to evaluate the 'Safety on the bicycle' campaign in the municipality of Amsterdam. This report describes the results of an evaluation of the first phase of this campaign. An important component of the 'Safety on the bicycle' project was the intensified supervision of cyclists' and motorists' behaviour in Amsterdam. During October 1992-January 1993, the campaign mainly constituted intensive cycle and car controls at twenty hazardous intersections in and around the Amsterdam city centre. The main offences considered were driving through a red light and driving without lighting. The group of fined offenders, which returned a written questionnaire that was sent to them, was largely represented by offending cyclists. Important results of this study were as follows: (1) The campaign was judged in a positive light by two thirds of the fined respondents, while one quarter of the respondents had a negative opinion; (2) Female respondents were more positive about the campaign than male respondents; and (3) both male and female respondents based their assessment of the campaign to a significant degree on what they believed to be the risk level associated with the offence for which they were fined.
Samenvatting