I had an interesting email about women on bikes some of which is here:
As a quick summary, women have greater safety concerns and stronger preferences for separated cycleways. This in part stems from our increased sense of personal safety once we have children, the need to be accompanying others (women are 60% less likely to cycle if they have children in their household and women carry out the majority of unpaid care work) and the fact that women are generally taught to be more risk averse.
In the four years since the initial implementation of the major cycleways in Christchurch, female cyclists increased by 9%. Women tend to make up only about 25-30% of cyclists in NZ but in Christchurch they now make up about 40% of cyclists. In places like Amsterdam and Copenhagen where they have high quality cycling infrastructure, more women than men cycle. So, the use of separated cycleways is also about creating transport equity for all genders.
Also included with the email was another article that relates to a study that’s been undertaken in Australia where they found that painted cycleways are actually more dangerous than no cycleway at all. I couldn’t find the original article but I’ve included a link below to a similar article.
I could absolutely relate to the article about riding on painted lanes. I don’t trust the traffic when I am riding in a lane marked by a white line, or less so on a green one for that matter. On the left you are constantly on guard for doors opening (remember what terrible injuries Chrissie Williams suffered because of a door opening and her hitting it) and on the right you are watching for whether or not a car is about to crash into you. I choose to ride down side streets where there is not a designated separate lane for bikes, where ever possible.
In this article they wrote: Flanders – the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium – voted “moordstrookje”, a nickname for painted bike lanes, as its word of the year in 2018. It translates to “murder lane”
Here’s the article: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2019/04/motorists-give-cyclists-less-room-when-they-re-in-a-painted-bike-lane-study.html
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