RESEARCH by Monash University and the Amy Gillett Foundation has found on-road marked bicycle lanes are not the best way to keep cyclists safe.<\/p>\n
Published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention last week, the study showed that on-road bicycle lanes and parked cars actually reduced the distance that motorists provide when passing cyclists.<\/p>\n
Data was collected on 60 cyclists in Melbourne who rode their bicycles with a custom device (the \u2018MetreBox\u2019) installed to quantify the distance that motor vehicle drivers provide when passing cyclists.<\/p>\n
More than 18,500 vehicle passing events from 422 trips were recorded.<\/p>\n
One in every 17 passing events were within one metre of the travelling cyclist, and 124 passing events came within less than 60 centimetres.<\/p>\n
In higher speed zones (greater than 60 km\/h), almost one in every three passing events was a \u201cclose\u201d pass (less than 150cm).<\/p>\n
There were about 1.7 passing events of less than a metre for every 10 kilometres travelled.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that vehicles driving closely to cyclists increases how unsafe people feel when riding bikes and acts as a strong barrier to increasing cycling participation,\u201d Monash University deputy head of prehospital, emergency and trauma research and lead author Dr Ben Beck said.<\/p>\n
Research findings show that on-road bicycle lanes, particularly alongside parked cars, are not the optimal solution for protecting people who ride bikes.<\/p>\n
Specifically, passing events that occurred on a road with a bicycle lane and a parked car had an average passing distance that was 40cm less than a road without a bicycle lane or a parked car.<\/p>\n
Dr Beck said cycling-related infrastructure needed to come under the microscope.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur results demonstrate that a single stripe of white paint does not provide a safe space for people who ride bikes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the cyclist and driver share a lane, the driver is required to perform an overtaking manoeuvre. This is in contrast to roads with a marked bicycle lane, where the driver is not required to overtake. This suggests that there is less of a conscious requirement for drivers to provide additional passing distance.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that in order to improve safety and increase cycling participation, it was clear that far greater investment was needed in providing infrastructure that separated cyclists from motor vehicles by a physical barrier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RESEARCH by Monash University and the Amy Gillett Foundation has found on-road marked bicycle lanes are not the best way to keep cyclists safe. Published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention last week, the study showed that on-road bicycle lanes and parked cars actually reduced the distance that motorists provide when passing cyclists. Data […]<\/p>\n