Environmental factors associated with perceived cycling safety along adolescents’ home-to-school routes

Abstract

In Flanders (Belgium), one in three journeys between home and school by adolescents (12-18 years) is made by bike. Sadly, most cycling accidents also occur in this age group. Although research and cycling policies advocate for safer school environments, their focus is often limited to a restricted area near the school gate. Not only school environments but also trajectories to school and adolescents' experience along it should be considered when designing cycling policies. Therefore, we investigated perceived cycling safety and its relation with the environment along home-to-school routes of adolescents in Flanders. Data were collected using a location based service (LBS) developed for secondary schools. Relations between perceived cycling safety and a wide range of both subjectively scored and objectively measured environmental data were analysed using multilevel linear regressions, at the level of routes, road segments, and intersections. The models show that traffic volume and cycling infrastructure have the strongest associations with perceived safety, and that accident data have a significant relation as well. Therefore, we believe that decreasing traffic volume and enhancing cycling infrastructure will increase adolescents' cycling safety perception. Furthermore, the results of this study underline the promising value of LBS to develop proactive and stimulating cycling policies.