Why doctors support bike lanes
Recent polling from the Angus Reid Forum shows an impressive 80 per cent of Torontonians support the construction of a “safe network of bicycle lanes.” As physicians, we are not at all surprised by bike lanes’ huge popularity. Cycling is very effective in promoting good physical and mental health, and it’s precisely infrastructure like protected lanes that makes widespread bike use possible.
In the absence of these lanes, many folks don’t feel bicycles are safe. But when we build the lanes, bike ridership soars. In the weeks following the launch of the Bloor St. bike lane, for example, the number of people cycling on the street rose 36 per cent — from 3,300 per day to 4,500, according to data from the city of Toronto.
The claim that bike lanes make cycling safer isn’t just anecdotal. It’s also backed by solid science. In 2014, Toronto Public Health released its “Healthy Streets Evidence Review,” which summarized some of the research in this area. Among its findings:
A 2009 paper published in the journal Environmental Health compared the risk to cyclists of riding in various places including sidewalks, major roads and routes with “bicycle facilities” such as bike lanes. Its conclusion: “The presence of bicycle facilities . . . was associated with the lowest risk.”
A study published in the journal Injury Prevention in 2011 compared injury rates of cyclists on streets with and without cycle tracks (protected bike lanes). Its conclusion: the streets with “cycle tracks had a 28 per cent lower injury rate.”
A study published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2012 looked at cyclists’ injury risks on a variety of routes in Toronto and Vancouver. Conclusion: “Of 14 route types, cycle tracks had the lowest risk . . ., about one-ninth the risk of the reference: major streets with parked cars and no bike infrastructure.”
More recently, our organization, Doctors for Safe Cycling, reviewed the very latest research and found it consistent with Toronto Public Health’s findings. For instance, a December 2016 paper in the American Journal of Public Health, “Safer Cycling Through Improved Infrastructure,” examined cycling in the U.S. and concluded that bike-network expansion is associated with a 25-per-cent to 75-per- cent decrease in the number of crashes and a 43-79 per cent reduction in fatalities and severe injuries.
Importantly, the authors note that cyclists are safest when protected from cars by a physical barrier: “It is not simply a matter of expanding bicycle infrastructure . . . The specific type of bicycle infrastructure matters. Several studies show the crucial importance of physical separation of cycling facilities from motor vehicle traffic on heavily travelled roads.” As physicians, we want to see Toronto build its cycling network right across the city. But that means more than just painting lines on the pavement. It means creating lanes in which cyclists are physically separated from automobiles by “flexiposts,” raised curbs or planters.
Cycling is beneficial to many aspects of health. A study published in the prestigious British Medical Journal in April 2017 showed some remarkable outcomes: people who cycle to work have a much lower risk of getting heart disease (by 50 per cent), of getting cancer ( by 40 per cent) and of dying of any cause ( by 40 per cent). Other studies have reached similar conclusions.
Of course the benefits are not restricted to cyclists themselves. As we move folks from four wheels to two we also improve air quality and tackle climate change — which is a boon to everyone.
But in order to attain these marvellous outcomes we need to get residents — in increasing numbers — to make cycling a part of their everyday routine. And that means instituting changes in our road system — including reducing speed limits and building separated cycle tracks — so that getting on a bike doesn’t mean risking your life.