anyone who needs to strongly attempt to discredit a growing body of research and vetted conclusions surrounding the positive effects of bicycling infrastructure is blowing smoke.
accident mitigation is not the sole purpose of bikelanes; there are myriad other positive effects that support bike lanes - Increasing bike modal share, increasing comfortability of roads for both motorists and bicyclists, increasing coginznace of bikes using roads, reduction of sidewalk riding at intersections and reducing wrong way riding.
Here are some excerpts from a 2007 NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM report "GUIDE TO REDUCING ACCIDENTS INVOLVING BICYCLISTS...
"...Bicycle lanes are often appropiate when most bicyclists on the route are less experienced"
"Most studies present evidence that bicycle lanes may provide protection against bicycle/motor vehicle collissions. Evidence also shows that riding with traffic reduces bicyclists' chances of collission with a motor vehicle. Locations with bike lanes have lower rates of wrong-way bicycling"
"Bike lanes have been found to provide more consistent seperation between bicyclists and motorists than shared travel lanes. The presence of the bike lane stripe has also been shown from research to result in fewer erratic motor vehicle driver movements, more predictable bicyclist riding behavior, and enhanced comfort levels for both motorists and bicyclists."
Originally Posted by DCcommuter
Anyone who makes any safety claims about bike lanes is playing loose with the facts.
