Why more bicycling makes bicycling safer--improving both bicycle-motorist & bicycle alone crash rates | Paul Schepers

Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:

Cyclists are less likely to be involved in a severe single-bicycle crash in municipalities with a high amount of cycling. Given the large numbers of patients admitted to hospital as a result of single-bicycle crashes, it is important to include the risks of these in road safety and health effect evaluations, and to take into account the non-linearity of the relationship between single-bicycle crashes and bicycle use if road safety measures are to affect the level of bicycle use.

Link: 

Why more bicycling makes bicycling safer--improving both bicycle-motorist & bicycle alone crash rates | Paul Schepers

MoBikeFed comment: For years we have seen a variety of research showing that places that have a higher rate of bicycling are also relatively safer for riders--fewer injuries per mile ridden.

This dissertation lays out a lot of the research behind this very nicely, and adds additional detail. It turns out that motorist-bicyclist collision rate improves with more bicycling, but in addition the the single-bicycle collision rate improves as well.