Study recommends separated bike lanes along Surrey’s coming light rail system
Posted July 26, 2016 10:19 am.
Last Updated July 26, 2016 10:20 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) – There is another push for separated bike lanes, but this one has nothing to do with cars.
New research recommends keeping cyclists away from streetcars.
A joint UBC/Ryerson University study found a third of bike crashes in Downtown Toronto involved cyclists getting their tires caught in streetcar tracks.
“Eighty-five per cent of the crashes were tires getting caught in those flangeways and then the person falling and being injured,” says UBC Professor Kay Teschke.
She tells us light rail planners in Surrey may want to consider putting streetcars in their own dedicated right of way.
“If that’s not possible, then the other great thing to do, which is great for cyclists as well, is to put the cyclists in a physically separated bike lane.”
Researchers also found the tires of many commonly sold bikes are narrower than the smallest track flangeways.
The study is published in the journal BMC Public Health.
