Traffic safety for all road users: A paired comparison study of small & mid-sized U.S. cities with high/low bicycling rates

Abstract

Cities with high levels of bicycling tend to be some of the safest cities for all road users. This paper investigates why this relationship exists for fourteen small and mid-sized cities across the U.S. (seven with high bicycling rates and seven paired comparison cities) using ten years of data and hierarchical negative binomial regression models. Findings confirm that higher-bicycling cities are significantly associated with better overall road safety outcomes. In terms of mode choice differences, pedestrian ‘safety in numbers’ as well as reduced driving activity had a positive impact on pedestrian safety. Results from hierarchical negative binomial regressions also suggest that more compact cities were significantly associated with better road safety outcomes for all road users. In terms of socio-demographic and socio-economic factors, the results reveal equity concerns with areas with lower incomes and more non-White residents seeing more overall road fatalities.

Keywords

• Road safety
• Built environment
• Bicycling
• Active transportation
• Healthy cities
• Vision zero