A team of researchers has just launched a study to examine the association between urban bicyclists' injuries and the different environments that they are riding in. Led by Dr. Kay Teschke at the University of British Columbia, the "Bicyclists' Injuries and the Cycling Environment" (BICE) study will involve four hospitals, two each in Vancouver and Toronto. Cyclists who come through the emergency departments at those hospitals will be invited to participate in the study. The injuries considered for the study can arise from any kind of crash, not just from a collision with a motor vehicle.
There is a debate over what types of cycling infrastructure are safest for cyclists. In Canada and the US, where there are fewer riders and a higher rate of cycling injuries than in northern Europe, riders generally share the roads with vehicles; often between lanes of moving and parked cars. In much of northern Europe, where there are more riders and a lower rate of injuries overall, cyclists are often physically separated from motor vehicles. There would seem to be a clear relationship between the separation of cyclists from vehicles and a lower rate of injuries. However, some argue that cycling infrastructure separated from motor vehicles is not practical in North America, and that in fact it makes cycling more dangerous (see Letters Sections of momentum #31 and #32).
Previous studies have been done that look at the frequency of crashes on different types of routes, such as roads, shared paths, and sidewalks. The BICE study will be the first to take into account many infrastructure features and other factors in addition to the type of route, adding evidence to the debate over what type of infrastructure makes cycling safer. The features to be examined were arrived at by a team that includes professors, students, city planners, and cycling advocacy organizations.
Cyclists who agree to participate will be interviewed by a research assistant and will provide information about their route, conditions at the time of injury, the type of bicycle used, clothing worn, and some other personal information. All the information provided will be confidential. Assistants will then attend the location where the injury occurred to gather more information, including the type of road or path, separation of the cyclist from traffic, the type of intersection, situation of car parking, proximity of junctions, amount of vehicle traffic, route grade, route surface, lighting, width of road and number of lanes, speed of traffic, frequency of pedestrians and bikes passing by, road surface type, and more. Two other random locations on each rider's
The goal of the researchers is to interview 600 injured cyclists. It is expected that the study will take four years to complete, and the researchers hope that the results will provide evidence and guidelines that will enable transportation planners to select cycling infrastructure that will improve the safety of cycling.
For more information: www.cher.ubc.ca/cyclingincities/injury.html
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