RESEARCH ABOUT THE SAFETY AND BENEFITS OF COMPLETE STREETS AND BIKE LANES

Bike lanes make streets safer for all users

• Bike lanes are a proven safety countermeasure by the US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. - USDOT 

• Protected bike lanes make streets safer for all users - NYC 2014 

• Bike lanes reduce injury crashes for ALL road users between 40 and 50% - NYC 2011

• Bike lanes reduce vehicle crashes 30-50% - USDOT FHWA

• Bike lanes reduce injury rates for pedestrians between 12 and 52%. - NYCDOT 2013

Bike lanes increase bike ridership

• In seven US cities, adding protected bike lanes significantly increased bike ridership between 21% to 171%. - NACTO 2016

• NYC had a 64% growth in daily cycling between 2013 and 2023 as it grew its bike lane network. - NYC DOT

Bike lanes make riding safer for bicyclists

• Bicyclists are at 3-4 times higher risk on roads without bike lanes compared to roads with bike lanes. - Science Direct 2010 

• In five US cities, the number of bicyclists killed or severely injured declined from 2007 to 2014, even as bike ridership and bike lanes increased. - NACTO 2016 

Benefits of Delineators for Bike Lanes

• Delineators (“flex posts”) reduce maximum vehicle speeds by 28% - Rutgers 2014

Benefits of Green Paint on Bike Lanes 

• Green paint in bike lanes reduces driving speeds - Transportation Research Board Journal 2019

• Green paint reduces driving in the bike lane by more than half - NACTO 2011

• Fewer cars driving over lines may also lead to longer life for the paint.

Benefits of Parking Protected Bike Lanes

• Protecting bike lanes with a lane of parked cars is free and logistically simpler for street clearing than installing delineators to protect a bike lane.

Benefits of Daylighting Intersections

• Daylighting = removing parking next to intersections to improve safety

• “Daylighting, Explained” Video” - Transportation Alternatives

• How ‘daylighting’ helped Hoboken make its streets safer—and how other cities can follow its lead - Fast Company 2024

Bike lanes are good for business and real estate.

• Bike lanes increased nearby property values in multiple localities - Urban Land Institute, 2016

• Retail sales up 49% and vacancies down 49% in NYC along bike lanes - NYC DOT 2012

Bikes are not a significant risk to pedestrians, but cars are

• No pedestrian fatalities attributed to bicycles or ebikes in NJ

• Hoboken reported no pedestrian injuries attributed to bicycle crashes in 2023-2024 - Bike Hoboken

• Yet, 691 people were killed by car crashes in NJ in 2024, including 223 pedestrians, the highest level in more than three decades. - NJ Monitor

• NYPD reported that 99% of pedestrian injuries in 2024 were from cars/trucks and only 1% from e-bikes - Streetsblog

More Research at Better By Bike (betterby.bike)

• Bicycle and safe streets research and articles, compiled by Maplewood Bicycling Working Group member Rob Howley

Learn More about Complete Streets 

• About NJ Complete Streets - NJ Bicycle & Pedestrian Resource Center