Teschke Kay, Dennis Jessica, Reynolds Conor C O, Winters Meghan, Harris M Anne
School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, 2206 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada.
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
BMC Public Health. 2016 Jul 22;16:617. doi: 10.1186/s12889-016-3242-3.
Streetcar or train tracks in urban areas are difficult for bicyclists to negotiate and are a cause of crashes and injuries. This study used mixed methods to identify measures to prevent such crashes, by examining track-related crashes that resulted in injuries to cyclists, and obtaining information from the local transit agency and bike shops.
We compared personal, trip, and route infrastructure characteristics of 87 crashes directly involving streetcar or train tracks to 189 crashes in other circumstances in Toronto, Canada. We complemented this with engineering information about the rail systems, interviews of personnel at seven bike shops about advice they provide to customers, and width measurements of tires on commonly sold bikes.
In our study, 32 % of injured cyclists had crashes that directly involved tracks. The vast majority resulted from the bike tire being caught in the rail flangeway (gap in the road surface alongside rails), often when cyclists made unplanned maneuvers to avoid a collision. Track crashes were more common on major city streets with parked cars and no bike infrastructure, with left turns at intersections, with hybrid, racing and city bikes, among less experienced and less frequent bicyclists, and among women. Commonly sold bikes typically had tire widths narrower than the smallest track flangeways. There were no track crashes in route sections where streetcars and trains had dedicated rights of way.
Given our results, prevention efforts might be directed at individual knowledge, bicycle tires, or route design, but their potential for success is likely to differ. Although it may be possible to reach a broader audience with continued advice about how to avoid track crashes, the persistence and frequency of these crashes and their unpredictable circumstances indicates that other solutions are needed. Using tires wider than streetcar or train flangeways could prevent some crashes, though there are other considerations that lead many cyclists to have narrower tires. To prevent the majority of track-involved injuries, route design measures including dedicated rail rights of way, cycle tracks (physically separated bike lanes), and protected intersections would be the best strategy.
城市地区的有轨电车或火车轨道对骑自行车的人来说很难通过，是导致撞车和受伤的一个原因。本研究采用混合方法来确定预防此类撞车的措施，通过检查导致骑自行车者受伤的与轨道相关的撞车事故，并从当地交通机构和自行车店获取信息。
我们将加拿大多伦多87起直接涉及有轨电车或火车轨道的撞车事故的个人、行程和路线基础设施特征与189起其他情况下的撞车事故进行了比较。我们还补充了关于铁路系统的工程信息、对七家自行车店员工关于他们向顾客提供的建议的访谈，以及对常见销售自行车轮胎宽度的测量。
在我们的研究中，32%的受伤骑自行车者发生了直接涉及轨道的撞车事故。绝大多数事故是由于自行车轮胎卡在铁轨的轨旁槽（铁轨旁路面的缝隙）中，通常是骑自行车者为避免碰撞而进行意外操作时。在有停放车辆且没有自行车基础设施的主要城市街道、在十字路口左转时、对于混合动力自行车、赛车和城市自行车、在经验不足且骑行频率较低的骑自行车者中以及在女性中，轨道撞车事故更为常见。常见销售的自行车轮胎宽度通常比最小的轨旁槽窄。在有轨电车和火车拥有专用路权的路线段没有轨道撞车事故。
根据我们的研究结果，预防措施可能针对个人知识、自行车轮胎或路线设计，但它们成功的可能性可能不同。虽然持续提供关于如何避免轨道撞车的建议可能会覆盖更广泛人群，但这些撞车事故的持续性和频率以及其不可预测的情况表明需要其他解决方案。使用比有轨电车或火车轨旁槽更宽的轮胎可以预防一些撞车事故，不过还有其他因素导致许多骑自行车者使用较窄的轮胎。为预防大多数涉及轨道的伤害，包括专用铁路路权、自行车道（物理隔离的自行车道）和受保护的十字路口等路线设计措施将是最佳策略。
