Poor quality cycle lanes cause most accidents in Sweden

Poor quality of cycle lanes are the most likely cause of bicycle accidents in Sweden, a report by insurance company Folksam claims. Some 70 per cent of all bicycle accidents which cause serious injuries involved only the cyclist and were caused by poor maintenance of the lanes, gravel or snow. Around 20 per cent of the accidents involved a car or other four-wheeled vehicles, while 10 per cent involved a moped, another bicycle or a pedestrian.
May 4, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Poor quality of cycle lanes are the most likely cause of bicycle accidents in Sweden, a report by insurance company 5440 Folksam claims. Some 70 per cent of all bicycle accidents which cause serious injuries involved only the cyclist and were caused by poor maintenance of the lanes, gravel or snow. Around 20 per cent of the accidents involved a car or other four-wheeled vehicles, while 10 per cent involved a moped, another bicycle or a pedestrian.

Maria Krafft, manager for Folksam's traffic research, said that municipalities would have to establish a strategy to improve the traffic safety for cyclists in the same way as for cars.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • SFMTA launches three-year motorcycle education campaign pilot
    November 25, 2016
    The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which manages all surface transportation in the city, including the Municipal Railway (Muni), has launched a first of its kind Vision Zero education campaign targeting people who ride motorcycles. The campaign is funded by a US$188,267 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
    Read More
  • “For a city to be loveable, the car has to be a guest”: EmpowerWISM winner Kari Anne Solfjeld Eid
    March 1, 2023
    Kari Anne Solfjeld Eid, founder of e-cargo bike subscription service Whee!, has won the Empower Women in Shared Mobility 2023 programme. She tells Adam Hill how to make cities loveable…
    Read More
  • Traffic sensors give cyclists green lights
    February 1, 2013
    Transport officials in Columbus, Ohio, are following in the footsteps of Austin, Texas; Portland, Oregon and Berkeley, California and recalibrating their traffic signal sensors to accommodate the growing number of cyclists in the city. Nearly all the city’s 1,000 traffic lights are connected to road sensors that detect the presence of vehicles at the intersections and adjust the lights accordingly. Cycles are another story; they don’t contain enough metal to trigger the sensor. This has caused some cyclis
    Read More
  • Report calls for extension of point to point cameras
    November 18, 2014
    A report on the role of speed in vehicle crashes in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, makes a number of recommendations to isolate speed as a causal factor in crash rates by improving data collection and conducting specific research to identify the triggers for speeding, particularly in rural and regional areas. The report, by the Joint Standing Committee on Road Safety (Staysafe) also looks at the appropriateness of speed limits and approaches adopted in other jurisdictions and the adequacy of existing
    Read More

Highlighted Content