SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.
Accid Anal Prev. 2012 Jan;44(1):19-29. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2010.11.010. Epub 2010 Dec 8.
This paper discusses the current level of the road safety problems of cycling and cyclists, why cyclists run relatively high risks, and why cyclists may be considered as 'vulnerable road users'. This paper is based on peer-reviewed research which give some idea how to reduce the number of cyclist casualties. However, this research is rather limited and the results cannot (easily) be transferred from one setting or country to another: generalization of results should only be done with the utmost care, if it is to be done at all. Interventions to reduce cyclist casualties worldwide seem to be of an incidental nature; that is to say, they are implemented in a rather isolated way. In a Safe System approach, such as the Dutch Sustainable Safety vision, the inherent risks of traffic are dealt with in a systematic, proactive way. We illustrate how this approach is especially effective for vulnerable road users, such as cyclists. Finally, the paper addresses the question of whether it is possible to make more cycling good for road safety. We conclude that when the number of cyclists increases, the number of fatalities may increase, but will not necessarily do so, and the outcome is dependent on specific conditions. There is strong evidence that well-designed bicycle facilities-physically separated networks-reduce risks for cyclists, and therefore have an impact on the net safety result, for example if car-kilometres are substituted by bicycle kilometres. Policies to support cycling should incorporate these findings in order to make more cycling good for road safety.
本文讨论了当前自行车和骑行者道路安全问题的水平、为什么骑行者面临相对较高的风险，以及为什么骑行者可能被视为“弱势道路使用者”。本文基于同行评议的研究，提出了一些减少自行车事故伤亡人数的方法。然而，这项研究相当有限，其结果不能（轻易）从一个环境或国家转移到另一个环境或国家：结果的推广应该非常谨慎，如果要推广的话。全球范围内减少自行车事故伤亡的干预措施似乎具有偶然性；也就是说，它们是以相当孤立的方式实施的。在安全系统方法中，如荷兰可持续安全愿景，交通固有的风险以系统的、主动的方式来处理。我们举例说明了这种方法对自行车这样的弱势道路使用者特别有效。最后，本文探讨了是否有可能使更多的人骑自行车出行更有利于道路安全。我们的结论是，当骑自行车的人数增加时，死亡人数可能会增加，但不一定会增加，而且结果取决于具体情况。有强有力的证据表明，设计良好的自行车设施——物理隔离网络——降低了自行车骑行者的风险，因此对净安全结果有影响，例如，用自行车公里数代替汽车公里数。支持自行车出行的政策应该将这些发现纳入其中，以使更多的人骑自行车出行更有利于道路安全。
