Highlights A road safety index based on AHP-weighted factors is proposed to assess cycle lanes. The index is based on the comparison among the set of cycle lanes, not with an ideal. The index takes into account perceptions of experts (users, managers and researchers). The tool helps managers to define public policies to improve the cycle lanes safety. Inspection tool was tested on a set of three cycle lanes from a Brazilian city.
Abstract The lack of road safety associated with cycling is still one of the main barriers to its greater use as a transport mode. The implementation of bikeways arises as an alternative way to provide a safer environment for bicycle traffic. In this context, this article proposes a cycle-lane safety-level inspection tool to support the decision making of opportunities for safety improvements. A multi-criteria inspection tool was developed based on a weighted index that takes into account the perceptions of users, managers, and researchers regarding safety on cycle lanes, and the real local assessment of multiple attributes, not in comparison to an ideal situation. The results show that 40% of the weight of influence on safety in cycle lanes was accumulated in 20% of the attributes: users’ attitudes, geometry of the cycle lane design, relative speeds between vehicles and obstacles present in the bikeways, suggesting that prioritizing the treatment of these attributes can lead to significant safety gains. Conversely, attributes related to drainage conditions, presence of heavy vehicles, bicycle maintenance and use of auxiliary accessories were the least important for the perception of road safety. Finally, the tool was tested in a complex case study of three cycle lanes in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Multi-criteria tool for cycle-lane safety-level inspection: A Brazilian case study
2021-07-26
11 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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