A concern raised by some motorists in relation to the presence of bicycles on urban roads without bicycle lanes, discussed in part of the traffic literature, is that cyclists will slow down motorized vehicles and therefore create congestion. This research answers this question: do bicycles reduce passenger car travel speeds on urban roads without bicycle lanes? To answer this question, a detailed comparative analysis of the travel speeds of passenger car (class two vehicles) on lower volume urban roads without bicycle lanes is presented. Speed distributions, the mean, and the 50th and 85th percentile speeds for two scenarios were examined: (i) a passenger car that was preceded by a bicycle and (ii) a passenger car that was preceded by another passenger car. Peak hour traffic and 24-h traffic speeds were analyzed using t-tests and confidence intervals. Although a few statistically significant differences between scenarios (i) and (ii) were found, the actual speed differences were generally in the order of 1 mph or less. Therefore, differences in class two (motorized passenger) vehicle speeds with and without cyclists were found to be negligible from a practical perspective.
Evidence from Urban Roads without Bicycle Lanes on the Impact of Bicycle Traffic on Passenger Car Travel Speeds
Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board
Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board ; 2674 , 7 ; 87-98
2020-06-06
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
Transportation Research Record | 2021
|Required Widths of Paths, Lanes, Roads and Streets for Bicycle Traffic
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1993
|Risks Arising from Introducing Bicycle Traffic onto Designated Bus Lanes
Springer Verlag | 2016
|Bicycle and Motor Vehicle Operations on Wide Curb Lanes, Bicycle Lanes, and Paved Shoulders
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1997
|Effects of bicycle lanes on traffic flow : final report
TIBKAT | 1974
|