Safety and bicycle route choice: To what extent do accident risk and perceived safety influence bicycle route choice?

Safety is a major concern in bicycle traffic, and understanding safety-related factors that influence bicycle route choice is crucial for improving safety and promoting sustainable transportation. However, there is a notable lack of research on the impact of accident risk and perceived safety on cyclists' route choices. This study addresses this gap by investigating whether accident-prone areas or perceived insecure locations affect actual route choice decisions. The contribution explores this relationship by leveraging an extensive dataset comprising approximately 4000 trips from around 170 participants, alongside additional data on infrastructure, operations, exposure, accidents, and mobility diaries reporting critical incidents. The findings broadly confirm results from other studies regarding the influence of route characteristics (e.g., existence of cycling infrastructure, volumes of motorized traffic, or presence of signal-controlled intersections). Moreover, the study reveals that a high accident risk along a route does have a slight negative influence on route choice. Surprisingly, perceived safety does not significantly influence cyclists' route choice. © 2024 The Author(s)