High traffic volumes deter drivers

A new study from Germany has reinforced the understanding that streets with high traffic volumes are not a good environment for cycling.

In Germany, 30 km/h roads are common and the law allows the mixing of drivers and traffic on such roads without any special infrastructure. The use of the footpath by riders is prohibited.

However, studies show that around 20% of German drivers use footpaths on roads with speed limits below 50 km/h.

Researchers at the Technical University of Dresden wanted to find out at what point cyclists’ preferences for walking outweigh the comfort of riding on the road.

The empirical work in this study is based on video observations at 273 study locations with a total length of 124 km in 13 cities in Germany. A total of 260 of the locations surveyed had no markings for cyclists, while 13 had bicycle symbols. All were two-lane roads.

A total of 34,874 cyclists were recorded at these study locations.

An interesting finding was that while, as expected, drivers disliked large numbers of cars, when there were also large numbers of bicycles on a road, drivers were willing to tolerate larger numbers of motor vehicles.

The researchers found that the number of cyclists has a positive effect on the likelihood that cyclists will use the roadway instead of the footpath. This can be explained by the fact that individual cyclists feel safer on the road when they are part of a larger group.

However, they said this should not be used as a reason to mix cycling and traffic on busy routes, as too much traffic would have the opposite effect and more cyclists would switch to walking.

The study also found that many pedestrians pushed cyclists onto the road in the same way that many cars pushed them onto the sidewalk.

The researchers concluded that a speed limit of

“Mixed traffic arrangements for cyclists should only be planned where the volume and speed of motorized vehicles are low,” the study says.

“Separate bicycle facilities should be provided where the volume of motorized vehicles is high and/or where motorized vehicles travel at higher speeds.”

Overall, the results seem to suggest that traffic calming measures to reduce traffic speed and volume are a good option when cycle paths run on local streets.

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