More cycleways lead to less premature deaths Study

jgurney
Posts: 1212
Joined: 10 May 2009, 8:34am

Re: More cycleways lead to less premature deaths Study

Post by jgurney »

atlas_shrugged wrote:Study linking more cycleways leading to less premature deaths:

http://www.tsu.ox.ac.uk/news/180116-10k ... brand.html


It seems to me that the claim "10% increase in designated cycling infrastructure was estimated to lead to significant increases cycling" is both vague and implausible.

Does a "10% increase in designated cycling infrastructure" mean the total length went up 10%? Or the budget? Would turning one 2-mile long stretch of little-used pavement alongside the bypass into shared use count as a substantial increase while creating numerous road closures with cycle gaps each count as being one metre long and therefore insignificant? Does that mean that officially designating a bridleway which had been there for centuries to now be part of the council's cycle network, thus adding 20% to that network's mileage, really mean more people will start cycling?
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Wanlock Dod
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Joined: 28 Sep 2016, 5:48pm

Re: More cycleways lead to less premature deaths Study

Post by Wanlock Dod »

jgurney wrote:It seems to me that the claim "10% increase in designated cycling infrastructure was estimated to lead to significant increases cycling" is both vague and implausible.

Yet the fact remains that cities which have committed more of their space to cycling have healthier populations.

It's certainly possible to waste a significant amount of cash doing things that don't increase levels of cycling, as we have in Little Britain for decades, but that has generally not been associated with any significant allocation of road apace for cycling.
Stevek76
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Joined: 28 Jul 2015, 11:23am

Re: More cycleways lead to less premature deaths Study

Post by Stevek76 »

They used total network length, and yes, this is likely to be relatively unreliable if you're looking at individual cities in detail but as a general proxy across the continent it's going to be a reasonable enough indication.
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