Cycle tracks 'provide more road safety to bike users'

Date: 4/4/2011

Road safety is boosted for bicycle riders if a cycle path is available to them, according to one academic.

Anne Lusk, Research Associate in the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, said people prefer to use such areas when they are riding a bike.

She stressed that her institution has concluded that a cyclist's road safety is improved when they have a lane devoted to them, rather than having to share with cars.

"We believe that more communities might be more apt to perhaps use their own funding, matching more money to build cycle tracks and then conduct the research," she added.

Ms Lusk cited a recent study showing a 28 per cent lower injury rate on roads with bike provisions compared with those without such features.

Her comments were made in a British Medical Journal Group podcast.

The issue of road safety has also been looked at by IAM Drive and Survive, which responded by developing three training courses.

Posted by Sarah Bailey