The
city's expanding bike network is paying dividends -- boosting the level
of cycling and making streets safer in the process. Snagged from the
latest issue of TA's StreetBeat, this graph is a great illustration of the "safety in numbers" effect identified by researcher Peter Jacobsen in a landmark 2003 paper
published in Injury Prevention. The stats in New York reinforce
Jacobsen's body of evidence that the more bicyclists and pedestrians
are out on the street, the safer biking and walking becomes.
"Safety in numbers" also explains why the U.S. has such a high rate
of cyclist injuries and fatalities compared to countries like the
Netherlands and Denmark,
where biking is much more common. And it's pretty much Exhibit A when
it comes to proving the folly of "safety campaigns" like the one
currently underway in Savannah, which Sarah wrote about in her post today and which we see our beloved LAPD do on a regular basis downtown and in Mid-Wilshire. But the sad reality is: when you fine pedestrians or otherwise discourage walking, and you only make streets less safe.
(This story was slightly modified from its original post by Damien Newton.)
