More bicyclists means better safety

It is now very well established that increasing the number of bicyclists on the road quite dramatically improves the safety for bicyclists.

Doubling the amount of bicycling in a certain location doesn't double the number of collisions with motor vehicles--it only increases about 30%.

Increasing the amount of bicycling by ten times increases the amount of bicycle/motor vehicle collisions only 2.5 times.

A study in Injury Prevention discusses the reason for this surprising situation:

Whose behavior changes, the motorist’s or that of the people walking and bicycling? It seems unlikely that people walking or bicycling obey traffic laws more or defer to motorists more in societies or time periods with greater walking and bicycling. Indeed it seems less likely, and hence unable to explain the observed results. Adaptation in motorist behavior seems more plausible and other discussions support that view. Todd reported three studies showing "motorists in the United States and abroad drive more slowly when they see many pedestrians in the street and faster when they see few".27 In addition, motorists in communities or time periods with greater walking and bicycling are themselves more likely to occasionally walk or bicycle and hence may give greater consideration to people walking and bicycling. Accordingly, the most plausible explanation for the improving safety of people walking and bicycling as their numbers increase is behavior modification by motorists when they expect or experience people walking and bicycling. . . .

Another question arises about laws governing the interaction between motorists and vulnerable road users. For example, in the United States, if a motorist strikes a person walking between intersections, the motorist is unlikely to face criminal charges.27 Yet if motorist behavior largely controls the number of collisions, laws should be revised to reflect this finding.

So--want to increase bicycle safety in your community?

Get out there and ride and get your friends to do the same.