Originally Posted by
wphamilton
The roads of the survey are those frequently used by cyclists, so they would be thought to be safer regardless. And the greater widths of the lanes are part and parcel of bike lanes - you can't feasibly just eliminate the extra space from considerations and say this way, "but the bike lanes were only safer because there was already room for them."
While I agree with Forester that a study comparing only the same avenues with the same traffic before and after installing bike lanes would be preferable, his objections fail to reasonably dismiss these studies.
I don't understand the objection. If bicycle facilities (or anything else, for that matter) gets installed along the roads that were originally considered to be safer, their better safety cannot be imputed to the facilities.