References

1. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) is the regional planning agency for the Boston metropolitan area, with 101 member communities. The other project, which is ongoing, is an employer-based incentive program for bicycle commuting.

2. Cross, K. A Study of Bicycle/Motor-Vehicle Accidents: Identification of Problem Types and Countermeasure Approaches. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Transportation, September, 1977. Contract No. DOT-HS-00982 (Available from NTIS); Williams, J. "'Crossing' Your Accident Statistics" in Bicycle Forum, Volume 8 (Winter, 1981-1982), pp. 22-23.

3. Environmental Protection Agency, Bicycling and Air Quality Information Document (Office of Transportation and Land Use Policy, September, 1979), p. 18.

4. Cross, p. 1.

5. The similarity of the sample to all reported accidents in the study area was examined on the variables of month and city/town of accident. A high City/Town; correlation was found (Pearson's Chi-Square, p < .05, 34 df "p G 02, 34 df, Month).

6. This sample size allows generalization of the distribution of accident classes to the study area as a whole at a confidence level of approximately 90 percent. Any other breakdown of the data, such as into accident types or age groups, will differ in the extent to which they can be generalized.

7. U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Computer and Manual Accident Typing For Bicyclist Accidents: Administrator's Guide (DOT-HS-806344), January, 1983, p. 6.

8. Readers are encouraged to contact Wendy Plotkin at MAPC (617-451-2770) to request a detailed written description of the methodology. This will include a discussion of the problems involved in obtaining a record of bicycle-motor vehicle accidents, selecting a sample, retrieving the data (both from centralized state and local police files), using the data and classifying the accidents. This may be useful for other groups considering undertaking a similar study. The Manual Accident Typing Administrator's Guide contains a good discussion of potential problems as well (see Note 7).

9. In calculating the percentages for the frequencies, only the cases in which information was available on the variable being studied were included.

10. Significance tests for all comparisons in Sections II and III are being computed and will be available in February, 1984.

11. Buckley, C.. A.. Bicycle Traffic Volumes in Metropolitan Boston (Central Boston, MA. Transportation Planning Staff," December, 1982), pp. 11-12.

12. Traffic control information on the operators' reports proved to be unreliable when checked against the reviewer's knowledge of the intersection. This was generally true where the operator reported "No Controls." For this reason, all intersections where this choice was checked off on operators' reports were verified with the local police department. The figures above are based on the verified information.