"The Dilemmas of Bicycle Planning" By Paul Schimek was originally presented at the 1996 Joint International Congress of the American and European Associations of Schools of Planning. Dr. Schimek was with the USDOT Volpe National Transportation Systems Center and the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

http://danenet.wicip.org/bcp/dilemma.html

See the full document on the web for the bibliographic citations endnotes and cross-references to parts of the document omitted here.

Highlights from Paul Schimek's "Dilemmas of Bicycle Planning"

While they are afraid of being hit from behind, novice bicyclists are insufficiently afraid of other common dangers, and often act in a way that increases these dangers. First, they are insufficiently afraid of cross traffic. Intersections are known to be the greatest source of danger - they are the areas where drivers' intended paths frequently intersect. Riding on the sidewalk or in the wrong direction places the cyclist outside the flow of traffic and into positions where they are not visible or not expected. A bicyclist riding at speed on the sidewalk may suddenly appear in an intersection at the moment a motorist on the parallel roadway is turning right into a side street. In such cases the motorist has the impression that the bicyclist appeared "from nowhere." ...

The paths and trails favored by inexperienced cyclists have their own dangers. Roadway crossings can be hazardous because of insufficient sight distance and confusion about who has the right of way....

The safety hazards of bicycle paths have already been mentioned. They are often too narrow for bicycle use, and much too narrow given their use by pedestrians, roller skaters, and other non-bicyclists....

The other potential hazard of paths is intersections with roadways. The ideal bicycle path runs along a river, canal, or shore line with only grade-separated or fully signalized intersections....

A bicycle path immediately adjacent to a roadway but separated from it ("sidepath") is increasingly recognized as a dangerous type of facility. Cycling on such a path has most of the dangers of using a sidewalk. When the path is on one side of the road only, half of the bicyclists will be riding against traffic, making intersections even more hazardous. The AASHTO Guide to Bicycle Facilities presents a long list of the problems of sidepaths but stops short of recommending against them.

Although bicycle advocates sometimes believe that path construction is vital for getting more people, especially parents and children, interested in bicycling, path use does not build the skills necessary for bicycling in traffic (Forester 1994). Many path users put bicycles on automobiles and drive to the path, ride back and forth, and drive home. They feel confined to the limits of the path. If they leave the path they may in fact put themselves at risk because they do not know basic traffic skills.