Why Americans Bike and Walk — Or Don’t

bike_safety.jpg

DC-area blog WashCycle points us to this recently released survey from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [PDF]. The stats on Americans’ bicycling and walking behavior are a little behind the times — from phone interviews done in 2002 — but there are reams of data compiled from nearly 10,000 questionnaires.

Some of the most interesting nuggets concern perceptions of safety — like the fact that bicyclists are much more likely to feel unsafe on bike lanes than on bike paths — which buttress Jennifer Dill’s research on cyclist behavior.

On the walking side, suburban residents who walk are much more likely to feel threatened by the "potential for crime" than city residents are. But even crime-fearing suburbanites agree: Motorists are the number one threat to pedestrians:

ped_safety.jpg

Graphics: NHTSA

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

STREETSBLOG USA

Cyclists of Color: Invisible No More

|
Let’s get one thing clear: People of color ride bikes. They commute to work on bikes. They ride for pleasure. It saves them money and time, and it keeps them healthy. But they may not show up at the Tweed Ride or the city council hearing on bicycle infrastructure. And cycling is still a divisive […]

National Survey: Driving Down in 2009, Sustainable Transport Up

|
NHTS data from 2001 and 2009 shows a major increase in sustainable transportation. Image via Mobilizing the Region. Between 2001 and 2009, the share of trips that Americans made in cars dropped by more than four percent, with walking, bicycling and transit use picking up the slack, according to new data from the U.S. Department […]
STREETSBLOG USA

More Evidence That Helmet Laws Don’t Work

|
If you want to increase cycling safety in your city, drop the helmet law and focus on getting more people– particularly women — on bikes, with street designs that offer separation from vehicle traffic. That’s the finding of a new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia [PDF] evaluating safety outcomes for cyclists across Canadian […]

Report: Tame Traffic, and More People Will Choose to Walk and Bike

|
Research shows that more traffic means fewer cyclists. Photo by jaygoldman via Flickr. It may seem obvious that speeding traffic discourages walking and biking. But the evidence is scarce and scattered. A new paper by Peter Jacobsen, Francesca Racioppi and Harry Rutter aims to improve the understanding of how traffic affects cyclist and pedestrian behavior […]