Work

Are Two-way Bike Lanes Really More Dangerous?

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Two-way bike lanes are often considered more dangerous than one-way ones, but few studies have compared the injury rates of both types of infrastructure in the same city. Relying on municipal open data on cyclist counts and traffic injuries, this article compares cyclist injury rates between one-way and two-way bike lanes for the years 2020-23 in Barcelona. I find that one-way bike lanes in fact have slightly statistically higher injury rates than two-way lanes, but this effect is small and likely attributable to the preponderance of one-way lanes in the central Eixample district.

Source: Findings

DOI: 10.32866/001c.132491

Author: Samuel Nello-Deakin

Institution: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Language: English

Topic: Traffic and Road Safety

Subfield: Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Good health and well-being, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $100