Cycling is widely promoted as a healthy and sustainable means of transport. At the same time, traffic safety concerns are growing, both in the Netherlands and elsewhere, because of increasing numbers of cyclists involved in crashes (fatal and serious injury). Scientific evidence could help identify infrastructural factors affecting these crashes, which requires research results on different aspects of this issue to be reviewed. In this review, the authors focus on different aspects of cycling infrastructure and their contribution to the risk of bicycle crashes. Dutch and international studies are reviewed that address a bicycle crash risk indicator as an outcome measure, thereby controlling for differences in cyclist flow. Controlling for cyclist flow is crucial for valid interpretation of the safety levels of infrastructure elements or designs. This requirement limits the number of relevant studies, because in many studies cycling flow is unknown and only crash frequency (not crash risk) is reported. A distinction is made between findings from Dutch studies and international studies (not conducted in the Netherlands). This was considered necessary because of the ‘advanced’ cycling culture and infrastructure facilities for cyclists in the Netherlands. In some instances, it appears that this distinction results in different outcomes. These are mentioned in the report.
Samenvatting