Low speed and low traffic neighborhoods also promote safe biking.
We have a few more posts to go in our series of research-based advocacy talking points by PeopleforBikes. We hope you are enjoying them.
Time and again, we see that when speed limits fall, safety rises. Because the likelihood of fatality increases exponentially with vehicle speed, even small reductions in speed limits can have an outsized effect.
The Highway Safety Manual shows that deadly crashes can be decreased by 17% if speeds are reduced by just 1 mph, while a separate study from Sweden’s Lund Institute of Technology found that a 10% reduction in average speed led to 34% fewer fatal crashes.
A widely celebrated success story comes from Spain: When the speed limit on single-lane urban roads was lowered to 18.5 mph, road deaths fell by 14%. For cyclists, deaths were cut almost in half.
This is good news as cities nationwide lower speed limits across the board, making streets safer for everyone.
The even better news? Protected bike lanes reduce speeding and make streets safer for people walking, biking, and driving. After protected bike lanes were installed in New York City, injuries for all road users on those streets were reduced by 40-50%. ALL ROAD USERS.
Similarly, protected bike lanes in Montreal led to a 28% decrease in injuries. This 2019 study of twelve cities also found that protected bike lanes decrease fatalities for all road users. ALL ROAD USERS.
For bikers, for walkers, for rookie and even experienced drivers, we need protected or separated bike lanes now. Every opportunity missed to install protected bike lanes and reduce speeds in Fairfax County is a policy choice to accept a higher likelihood of traffic fatalities.
Join us now to work for safer streets for ALL ROAD USERS.
