Factors affecting bicycle fatal and serious injury crashes in Victoria, Australia

Bicyclists are among vulnerable road users, so the bicyclists’ safety on the road network has been one of the main concerns of researchers and authorities in the last decade. Each year, an average of 35 cyclists are killed and over 2500 cyclists are seriously injured in Australia. Between 2011 and 2013, in Australia, 120 fatalities were cyclists. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the bicyclists’ serious casualty problem in order to reduce the risk of fatality and serious injury crashes on the road network. This study utilized logistic regression modelling technique to understand the factors affecting fatal/serious injury compared to minor and non-injury bicycle crashes in Victoria, Australia from 2004 to 2013. It examined the effects of human characteristics (i.e. age, gender and helmet use), road characteristics (i.e. road classification, road alignment and intersection type), environmental characteristics (i.e. weather condition) and crash characteristics (i.e. crash time and crash spatial characteristics) on severity of bicycle crashes. The results of this study showed that crash time, bicyclist’s age, helmet use, speed zone, lighting condition, bicyclist’s intent, other road user’s intent and traffic control for other road user’s approach were the significant variables affecting crash severity of two-vehicles in which at least one bicyclist was involved. This study provided a better understanding of the factors contributing to bicycle serious casualty problem to design and implement safer infrastructure on Victoria's road network. The results of this study would also help to prioritize bicycle crash countermeasures more efficiently and to identify the most appropriate solutions for bicycle crash issues in Victoria, Australia.