The aim of this study is to investigate which effects the introduction of the new legislation for bicyclestreets has on road users. The focus has been on studying road users' compliance, accessibility andexperience of bicycle streets. Since the legislation came into force in December 2020, vehicles entering abicycle street have a duty to give way to road users on the bicycle street and drivers of motor vehicleshave to adapt their speed to the bicycle traffic. There is also a general speed limit of 30 km/h and parkingis only allowed in designated areas.The report consists of three main sections, the first of which reviews the history and dialogue behind thecurrent legislation and addresses some of the main points of criticisms leveled at it. This was exploredthrough a detailed review of the available documents and studies dealing with bicycle streets. Thesecond part aims to review the conditions for cycle streets in Sweden and to provide an overview of theopportunities and challenges that exist. This part includes, among other things, thorough examinationsof previous studies of bicycle streets, existing bicycle streets in Sweden, similar legislation and aninternational outlook where bicycle streets in other countries in Northern Europe are studied. The lastpart is a case study of one of Sweden's first bicycle streets in Varberg where, among other things,speeds, movement patterns and yielding behavior of road users are studied. This was investigatedthrough radar measurements, video analysis and visual observations on site. Furthermore, two differentsurveys were carried out, one of which aimed to find out the opinions and experiences of road users onthe bicycle street in Varberg. The second survey was of a more general nature and aimed to collect roadusers' opinions on issues related to bicycle streets.The results indicate that there is a general consensus among experts, planners and road users thatbicycle streets have the potential to improve cyclists' accessibility and road safety and, in the long term,to encourage more people to cycle. However, several shortcomings are found in the existing legislationthat many believe prevent the bicycle street from achieving its purpose. For example, there are currentlyno official guidelines on how a bicycle street should be designed and there is also older legislation thatprevents cyclists from being able to use the whole roadway and cycle side by side. The case study revealsseveral interesting findings that confirm several points of criticism of bicycle streets and its legislation.Among other things, the majority of the observed cyclists chose to take up space in the roadway and alsoride side by side. The survey results also indicate that a change in traffic regulations to allow this onbicycle streets is something that is desired by a majority. Based on the results of the study, severalsuggestions are made for regulation changes that would make the bicycle street better serve its purpose.For example, it is suggested that cyclists should always be allowed to use the whole roadway and rideside by side on bicycle streets. It is also recommended that the responsible authorities develop nationalrecommendations for the physical design of cycle lanes as soon as possible. As for other common viewson regulatory changes, such as whether or not overtaking of cyclists should be allowed and what speedlimit should apply on bicycle streets, further studies need to be carried out before any conclusions canbe drawn.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:kth-314600 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Kyläkorpi, Joel |
| Publisher | KTH, Transportplanering |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | TRITA-ABE-MBT ; 22374 |
Page generated in 0.0021 seconds