A new report has found that the introduction of Cycle Superhighways in London has had no significant impact on collision rates, and concludes that Cycle Superhighways are ‘no more dangerous, or safer’ than other roads.
Published in November 2016, the Centre for Transport Studies (Imperial College London) report evaluates the effects of the London Cycle Superhighways on cycle collisions. A total of 45 Cycle Superhighways segments and 375 control segments were observed for a period of eight years.
The report found that routes with a large proportion of segregated lanes, most notably CS3, were more effective in protecting cyclists. It recommends that consistent safety designs should be applied on all Cycle Superhighways.
Variables such as road characteristics, crash history and socio-economic information are included in the data set, while traffic characteristics including volume, cycle volume and traffic speed were obtained from the DfT.
While the report found that the increase in cycle traffic was associated with a rise in annual cycle collisions, when the effects were re-estimated based on cycle collision rates, rather than levels, the results show that the Cycle Superhighways are no more dangerous, or safer, than the control roads.
Photo: TfL (via Flickr)
10 March 2017