Explore effects of bicycle facilities and exposure on bicycle safety at intersections

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Explore effects of bicycle facilities and exposure on bicycle safety at intersections

Cai, Qing / Abdel-Aty, Mohamed / Castro, Scott

This study focuses on fully investigating the effects of bicycle facilities and other contributing features on bicycle crashes at intersections. Although multiple studies have been conducted to analyze bicycle crashes and volumes, no study to date has attempted to integrate bicycle crashes and volumes at the modeling stage. Thus, a novel methodological framework for simultaneously analyzing bicycle crashes and volumes is proposed to better identify the effects of bicycle facilities and other contributing features. Kruskal–Wallis test is adopted to classify different bicycle lanes and shared paths for the modeling analysis. The modeling results reveal the significant effects of bicycle facility-related factors such as different types of bicycle lanes, the width of shared path, and the distance between the shared path and the edge of roadway on bicycle crashes. Other factors such as vehicle volume, bicycle volume, number of lanes, percentage of government and institutional land use, and population density are also found to significantly affect bicycle crashes at intersections. Based on the estimated model, the safety-in-numbers effect was identified when bicycle crash rates decrease as bicycle volumes increase. Findings in this study could assist traffic engineers to select appropriate designs to improve bicycle safety at intersections.