@article{ref1,
title="Bicyclist safety behaviors in an urban northeastern, United States city: an observational study",
journal="Journal of trauma nursing",
year="2016",
author="Wolfe, Elizabeth Suzanne and Arabian, Sandra Strack and Salzler, Matthew J. and Bugaev, Nikolay and Rabinovici, Reuven",
volume="23",
number="3",
pages="119-124",
abstract="Bicycling is gaining popularity in the United States, and laws and safety recommendations are being established to keep bicyclists safer. To improve road safety for bicyclists, there is a need to characterize their compliance with road laws and safety behaviors. Adult bicyclists were observed at three high-traffic intersections in Boston, MA, with state recommendations of wearing a helmet and riding in a bike lane. State law compliance for displaying reflectors during the day and of a front light and a rear light/reflector at night, obeying traffic signals, and giving pedestrians the right of way was also observed. Variables were compared between personal and shared/rented bicyclists and analyzed by time of day. A total of 1,685 bicyclists were observed. Because of the speed of the bicyclists and obstructed views, only a sampling of 802 bicyclists was observed for reflectors/front light. Overall, 74% wore a helmet, 49% had reflectors/front lights, 95% rode in bike lanes, 87% obeyed traffic signals, and 99% gave the right of way to pedestrians. Compared with shared bicyclists (n = 122), personal bicyclists (n = 1563) had a higher helmet-wearing behaviors (77% vs. 39%, p =.0001). Shared bicyclists had a higher (p =.0001) compliance with reflectors/lights (100%) than personal bicyclists (39%, n = 265). Boston bicyclists ride in bike lanes, obey traffic signals, give pedestrians the right of way, and wear helmets while having suboptimal compliance with light/reflector use. Educational programs and stricter law enforcement aimed at these safety behaviors should be part of the effort to improve safety for all road users.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1078-7496",
doi="10.1097/JTN.0000000000000202",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/JTN.0000000000000202"
}