NEW road safety research has confirmed that exclusive, regulated cycle lanes can reduce crashes and injuries among cyclists according to the NRMA-ACT Road Safety Trust.

The research, conducted in the ACT by The George Institute for Global Health for the NRMA-ACT Road Safety Trust, raised questions about the safety of cycling on shared paths and pedestrian areas.

“In Australia, cyclists represent almost 15 per cent of all road casualties. Our study shows that the riding environment plays a major role in cycle safety,” The George Institute research fellow Dr Liz de Rome said.

“There were relatively few crashes in cycle-only lanes compared with traffic-shared paths. The crashes on shared paths are of particular concern as they resulted in more serious injuries and a substantial proportion involved pedestrians (16 per cent) and other cyclists (23 per cent).”

The research identified the factors associated with bicycle crashes in different environments, and investigated the type and severity of injuries associated with the clothing worn.

Interviews were conducted with 313 cyclists who were presented to hospital with cycling crash injuries. More than half of all crashes (52 per cent) were single vehicle crashes. In crashes where another vehicle was involved, there was almost equal results between cars (52 per cent) and other bicycles (48 per cent).