title: The role of intersection and street design on severity of bicycle-motor vehicle crashes.
abstract: Safety concerns are a major barrier to cycling. Intersection and street design variables such as intersection angles and street width might contribute to the severity of crashes and the safety concerns. In this study we examined whether these design variables were associated with bicycle-motor vehicle crashes (BMVC) severity.
  
  
  
  Using the geographical information system and latitudes/longitudes recorded by the police using a global positioning device, we extracted intersection angles, street width, bicycle facilities, posted speed limits and annual average daily traffic from 3266 BMVC data from New York City police records. Additional variables about BMVC, including age and sex of the bicyclist, time of the day, road surface conditions, road character, vehicle type and injury severity, were obtained from police reports. Injury severity was classified as severe (incapacitating or killed) or non-severe (non-incapacitating, possible injury). The associations between injury severity and environment design variables were examined using multivariate log-binomial regression model.
  
  
  
  Compared with crashes at orthogonal intersections, crashes at non-orthogonal intersections had 1.37 times (95% CI 1.05 to 1.80) and non-intersection street segments had 1.31 times (95% CI 1.01 to 1.70) higher risk of a severe injury. Crashes that involved a truck or a bus were twice as likely to result in a severe injury outcome; street width was not significantly associated with injury severity.
  
  
  
  Crashes at non-orthogonal intersections and non-intersection segments are more likely to result in higher injury severity. The findings can be used to improve road design and develop effective safety interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Center for Injury Epidemiology, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Morteza
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3391-6918
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asgarzadeh
authors.affiliation: Center for Injury Epidemiology, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Santosh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.affiliation: MCPHS University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Rania A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Mekary
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Center for Injury Epidemiology, Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, Hopkinton, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Theodore K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Courtney
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Christiani
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001642:Bicycling / Q000293:injuries* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D004779:Environment Design; D005260:Female; D040362:Geographic Information Systems / Q000295:instrumentation; D006260:Head Protective Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D018986:Motor Vehicles / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Outcome of Injury