Momentum: 5 reasons why riding a bicycle is safe

Courtesy of Momentum Magazine -- In North America, concerns about safety consistently rank as the top deterrents to bicycling. Most of us don’t like the idea of riding in traffic next to heavier vehicles that are traveling at higher speeds. Our perceptions about these routes are right – on busy streets, Dutch and Danish-style protected bike lanes are safer than riding in mixed traffic. And in places with abundant separated lanes, cycling is much more common.

Given that safety concerns affect our choice of travel mode, I often wonder about these perceptions about the relative safety of bicycling, driving, motorcycling, transit, and walking. Do our perceptions about these modes match the data?  [Full article ...]