When bike sharing first began, many commentators and critics expressed concern that shared bicycle systems would lead to high crash and injury rates. Bikesharing has some qualities that appear inherently unsafe for bicyclists. Most prominently, helmet usage is documented to be quite low in most regions. Bikesharing is also used by irregular bicyclists who are less familiar with the local terrain.
Yet the injury and overall crash rate for bike share use has been extremely low. The researchers at the Mineta Transportation Institute examined why this is so. Experts and focus group participants independently pointed to bikesharing rider behavior and bikesharing bicycle design as possible factors. Data analysis also explored whether there was evidence of a “safety in numbers benefit” that resulted from bikesharing activity.
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