Work

Cyclist Safety in Complex Urban Environments: Infrastructure, Traffic Interactions, and Spatial Anomalies in Rome, Italy

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Improving cyclist safety conditions in the urban context is a key strategy to promote sustainable transport modes and reduce noise and environmental pollution. Recent plans have also addressed this point. In September 2020, the UN General Assembly declared the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021–2030, aiming to reduce the number of road deaths by at least half. To achieve this task and highlight the risk factor, after collecting and pre-processing cyclist crash data in the city of Rome between 2013 and 2020, Random Forest and Ordered Logistic Regression models are proposed. The crash dataset is also enriched with vehicular speed and flows, and geographical information. A DBSCAN Clustering Analysis is also proposed to identify anomalous areas in the city. The findings show that the presence of cycle paths, the presence of anthropic activities, such as shops, schools, and universities, play a risk mitigation role. Conversely, vehicular speed and heavy vehicles emerge as the main detected risk factors. Finally, spatial analysis indicates that commercial activities reduce cycle path safety due to complex interactions with other road users. Furthermore, historic areas present unique risks driven by pedestrian flows and poor road surfaces, despite low vehicular traffic.

Source: Urban Science

DOI: 10.3390/urbansci10020073

Authors: Giuseppe Cappelli, Sofia Nardoianni, Mauro D’Apuzzo, Vittorio Nicolosi

Institutions: European Union, Università degli studi di Cassino e del Lazio Meridionale, University of Rome Tor Vergata

Language: English

Topic: Traffic and Road Safety

Subfield: Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

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

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,930