Skip to main content

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

  • Section speed enforcements gains global converts
    October 26, 2017
    As the benefits of section speed enforcement are becoming clearer, the technology is gaining converts worldwide. Colin Sowman reports. America’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is calling for urgent action from both road authorities and the federal government to combat speeding which has been identified as one of the most common factors in motor vehicle crashes in the United States. This new call follows the publication of a safety study which found that between 2005 through 2014, 31% of all
  • Trust me, I'm a driverless car
    October 12, 2018
    Developing C/AV technology is the easy bit: now the vehicles need to gain people’s confidence. So does the public feel safe in driverless hands – and how much might they be willing to pay for the privilege? The Venturer consortium’s final user and technology test (Trial 3) explored levels of user trust in scenarios where a connected and autonomous vehicle (C/AV) is interacting with cyclists, pedestrians and other road users on a controlled road network. Trial 3 consisted of experimental runs in the
  • London’s cycle superhighways get the go ahead
    February 5, 2015
    London’s streets will become more accessible for cyclists now that the Transport for London (TfL) Board has approved plans for the construction of four new cycle superhighways and upgrades to the four existing cycle superhighway routes as part of the Mayor’s Cycling Vision. The schemes, which will cost around US$243 million to deliver between now and the end of 2016, will help treble the number of cycle journeys made over the next ten years and transform London’s streets and spaces to places where cyclis
  • Greater London tops the Aviva safe driver table
    November 22, 2013
    It may have one the heaviest traffic volumes in the UK but Greater London tops the safe driving table according to analysis from insurance provider Aviva’s Drive App, which uses smartphone technology to record a motorist’s driving style, covering their acceleration, braking and cornering. Data from over 3.5 million miles driven by users of the app reveals the areas with the safest drivers. Greater London, including areas such as Islington, Chelsea and Croydon takes the top spot in Aviva’s table - which i