Vision Zero and Cycling Safety: What is the Solution?

Ever since the British Parliament passed the laws regarding road safety work, the desire to eliminate traffic fatalities and achieve the goal of “zero” has spread over many countries, including the United States. One of the aspects of the transportation system that is not usually associated with “Vision Zero” is cycling (Johansson, 2009). However, cycling safety is one of the paramount concerns of the lawmakers and street designers that are trying to make zero appear in every column and every row of the “fatal crash rate” tables and charts. Every single year more than 700 bicyclists die in traffic accidents in the United States, and more than 45,000 are injured, which makes cycling safety a necessary step on Vision Zero’s path to success (Cushing et al., 2016).

Distinct cycling infrastructure can be found only in some parts of large cities in the United States, the majority of which are college towns. Furthermore, even existing roads designed to fit cyclists are, in most cases, poorly designed and maintained, which makes “safety” a wrong word to describe the effect of those few existing street redesign projects. One of the crucial steps towards eliminating crashes involving cyclists is the physical separation of bicycle traffic from motor vehicles (Schepers et al., 2014). This separation is especially important at high speeds and intersections, since cyclists often remain “invisible” to big trucks, buses, and turning vehicles.

Some of the large cities have recently been working on the so-called “cycle superhighways,” which are express bicycle routes that increase the speed and safety of long-distance bicycle commuting (Pucher et al., 2016). These “highways” are separated from the major roads but are parallel to them. The number of crossings is minimized, and the traffic lights are designed to provide a green wave of synchronized signaling, which means that the signals are carefully timed to allow higher cycling speeds.

Figure 1: The East-West Cycle Superhighway (Runs From Parliament to Tower Bridge)
Source: London Cycling Campaign Website

The most unique and interesting ways of ensuring the safety of cyclists are being practiced in Dutch, German, and Danish cities (Cushing et al., 2016). Low speeds and respect towards cyclists are enforced mentally – using the fear factor, legally – enforcing laws like speed limits, and physically – by limiting space on the roads thus limiting the types of vehicles that can be operated on those roads. First of all, granting cyclists the right of way over motorists on narrow streets both improves safety of cyclists and reduces the speeds with which motor vehicles travel on those roads (Johansson, 2009). The motion on most streets is limited to the speed of around 20 miles per hour (Pucher et al., 2016). In addition, speed-reducing fear-related forcing factors include speed bumps, raised intersections, parked cars on both sides of the road, and road narrowing (Pucher et al., 2016). Also, most of the dead-end streets limit the motion of motor vehicles, but have convenient pathways for cyclists. Education is an important safety factor as well, since traffic safety education provided by schools helps students become safe walkers, cyclists, and drivers (Sicinska et al., 2015).

Ten of the American cities have accomplished outstanding results in terms of accomplishing the goal of cycling safety (Table 1 below). In all of those cities the numbers of cyclist crashes were significantly reduced (Cushing et al., 2016).

Table 1: Better Bicycle Infrastructure, Improved Cyclist Safety, and Increased Cycling
Source: American Journal of Public Health

According to the research, separation between cycling lanes and motor vehicles plays a crucial role in maintaining cycling safety (Johansson, 2009); therefore, it is critical to identify the best way to accomplish that task. The best solution that was agreed on are cycling tracks – cycling lanes that are physically separated from motor vehicles by raised curbs, or any other type of concrete barriers (Schepers, 2014). Cycle tracks without parked cars are 89% safer than streets with parked cars and no bicycle facilities (338). At the moment, the best direction to take for improving cycling safety is to remove car parking and replace it with cycle tracks, as well as keep enforcing speed limits and other regulations. Montreal, Canada is known for the most advanced system of cycle tracks, with injury rates 28% lower than on parallel roads without cycle tracks (340), which attracts much more bicycle trips and reassures street designers that they are moving in the right direction.

Works Cited (MLA Format)

Cushing, Matthew, Jonathan Hooshmand, Bryan Pomares, and Gillan Hotz. “Vision Zero in the United States Versus Sweden: Infrastructure Improvement for Cycling Safety.” American Journal of Public Health 106.12 (2016): 2178-181.

Johansson, Roger. “Vision Zero – Implementing a Policy for Traffic Safety.” Safety Science 47.1 (2009): 826-31.

Pucher, John, Ralph Buehler. “Safer Cycling Through Improved Infrastructure.” American Journal of Public Health 106.12 (2016): 2089-2091.

Schepers, Paul, Marjan Hagenzieker, Rob Methorst, Bert Van Wee, and Fred Wegman. “A Conceptual Framework for Road Safety and Mobility Applied to Cycling Safety.” Accident Analysis & Prevention 62 (2014): 331-40.

Sicinska, Katarzyna, and Maria Dabrowska-Loranc. “Centre of Road Traffic Safety Education for Children and Youths – Modern Educational Center in Road Traffic Safety.” Transport Problems 10.1 (2015): 137-48.