I have now read (ok, skimmed) the relevant study, here: http://gobiking.ca/risk-of-injury-study.pdf
"We studied six cycle tracks in Montreal that are two-way on one side of the street. Each cycle track was compared with one or two reference streets without bicycle facilities that were considered alternative bicycling routes. [snip] Compared with bicycling on a reference street, the overall RR of injury on a cycle track was 0.72 (95% CI 0.60 to 0.85); thus, these cycle tracks had a 28% lower injury rate." And concluded, mostly from the two sentences above that I excerpted, the article here: http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/02/09/021011-news-bike-lanes-2/ is egregiously factually incorrect on several counts: 1) the relative risk was 28%, not 28 times, as Robbie posted. 2) the comparison in the study was between cycle tracks (i.e. physically buffered bicycle -only facilities) and nearby streets with NO BICYCLE FACILITIES at all - i.e. no bike lanes. 3)The terminology in the article is ambiguous or inaccurate, as Larry and I both pointed out already. Given what was actually studied, the actual conclusions (as opposed to the conclusions reported) are not very surprising. I have already emailed the Daily and asked that they issue a correction to the article by Sarah Ryley asap. Chuck Strawser Pedestrian & Bicycle Transportation Planner Commuter Solutions Transportation Services UW-Madison Room 124 WARF 610 Walnut St Madison WI 53726 608-263-2969 www.wisc.edu/trans -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Richard Schwinn Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2011 8:47 AM To: Bikies Subject: [Bikies] Article from the Daily on separated bike lanes. This ought to stir up some discussion, since it questions the philosophy of "mainstreaming" cyclists: http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/02/09/021011-news-bike-lanes-2/ What do you think? Richard _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
