the crashes hurt and people can be killed regardless of the participants
Not what I recall from accident stats, assuming Belgium is somehow representative. Bike and pedestrian hardly lead to death, same for bike and bike, only bike and cars did.
I’m obviously not advocating for bikes to go anywhere without respecting others (my own rule of thumb is to be always be more mind of the small or slower people share the space) but I don’t think considering risk regardless of participants is realistic either.
TL;DR: yes I prefer separation whenever possible but there is a big difference between separating car with others.
From what I recall there are some documented deaths due to bicycle/pedestrian collisions. Mostly old people who can’t really afford to eat a faceful of pavement.
The reality is that it’s situational. A 10 m wide street with a peak of maybe 100 people/hour of traffic (like the OP) is not a 2 m wide path with 1000 people/hour of traffic. Segregating traffic in the former is way overkill, in the latter it’s absolutely necessary for public safety. Cyclist/pedestrian conflicts are a real problem that not only causes injuries but also simply makes pedestrians feel unsafe, which is unfair.
I expect most bike and pedestrian accidents are not reported. None that I know of had been reported. No deaths, but a lot of pain caused by irresponsible people.
Not what I recall from accident stats, assuming Belgium is somehow representative. Bike and pedestrian hardly lead to death, same for bike and bike, only bike and cars did.
I’m obviously not advocating for bikes to go anywhere without respecting others (my own rule of thumb is to be always be more mind of the small or slower people share the space) but I don’t think considering risk regardless of participants is realistic either.
TL;DR: yes I prefer separation whenever possible but there is a big difference between separating car with others.
From what I recall there are some documented deaths due to bicycle/pedestrian collisions. Mostly old people who can’t really afford to eat a faceful of pavement.
The reality is that it’s situational. A 10 m wide street with a peak of maybe 100 people/hour of traffic (like the OP) is not a 2 m wide path with 1000 people/hour of traffic. Segregating traffic in the former is way overkill, in the latter it’s absolutely necessary for public safety. Cyclist/pedestrian conflicts are a real problem that not only causes injuries but also simply makes pedestrians feel unsafe, which is unfair.
I expect most bike and pedestrian accidents are not reported. None that I know of had been reported. No deaths, but a lot of pain caused by irresponsible people.
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