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<\/a><\/p>\nThese safety gains have been achieved alongside a historic rise in cycling. Paris saw the most dramatic transformation, with the share of trips made by bicycle doubling from 5% in 2019 to 11% by 2023.<\/p>\n
The findings, published in the International Journal of Sustainable Transport, come as fuel prices for motor vehicles continue to soar internationally.<\/p>\n
Lead author Ralph Buehler, Professor in Urban Affairs and Planning, at Virginia Tech said: \u2018The bike boom sparked by COVID-19 lockdowns was not a temporary phase; it has now become a permanent shift in how urban populations move.<\/p>\n
\u2018While cycling levels had been increasing for three decades prior to 2019, the post-pandemic period saw an unprecedented acceleration in Paris and continued increases in the other three cities.<\/p>\n
\u2018Our results point to a \u2018safety in numbers\u2019 effect where instead of more injuries and fatalities occurring due to more trips, the opposite has occurred.<\/p>\n
\u2018In all four cities, the cornerstone for this achievement has been made through the expansion and improvement of cycling infrastructure, especially a focus on cycleways separated from motor vehicle traffic.<\/p>\n
\u2018As experience in these cities shows, it is crucial that cycling infrastructure be integrated into a continuous network.\u2019<\/p>\n
London\u2019s results were supported by the rapid expansion of its Cycleway network and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, which were associated with a 35% decrease in all injuries.<\/p>\n
New York City expanded its protected bike lanes from 223 km in 2019 to 413 km by 2023. Berlin, where nearly one in five trips (19%) is now by bicycle, adopted a new Mobility Law in 2018 and built 134 km of new bikeways between 2020 and 2023. Paris installed 503 km of bike lanes between 2005 and 2020, with 77% of pandemic \u2018pop-up\u201d lanes built with high-quality protection.<\/p>\n
The study emphasises that pro-cycling measures must be accompanied by car-restrictive policies. \u2018Pro-cycling measures alone will not be nearly as effective as when combined with car restrictions,\u2019 the authors note.<\/p>\n
Co-author, John Pucher, Professor Emeritus, at Rutgers University said: \u2018The data show that building high-quality, interconnecting cycling infrastructure is key to attracting not only more cyclists, but a greater demographic diversity of cyclists, including women, children, and older adults.<\/p>\n
\u2018The transition from emergency pandemic measures to permanent, high-quality cycling networks has fundamentally altered the safety profile of these cities. We are seeing a virtuous cycle: safer roads encourage more people to bike, and more people biking makes the roads even safer.\u2019<\/p>\n
While the results are positive, the researchers caution that cycling transformations remain incomplete, with spatial and social inequalities persisting. Nevertheless, the evidence suggests that the pandemic-fuelled \u2018bike boom\u2019 is not a temporary phase but a permanent shift in how millions of urban residents move.<\/p>\n