Identifying Cycling Patterns, Related Psychosocial Characteristics and Predictors Of Bicycle Crashes

Cycling is a cheap and flexible mean of transportation which holds many benefits in terms of personal and public health. However, it still holds risks in term of safety. Several studies have explored factors related to cycling use and cycling safety, but many authors argued that psychosocial factors are still somewhat neglected in cycling studies. The present thesis attempts to address these issues to yield insights that policymakers and professionals can use. Our work comprises four studies. In Study 1, we attempted to identify cyclists' clusters based on cycling motivation and patterns at a European level and profiled the membership to each cluster according to socio-demographics and attitudes. We showed that cycling patterns and habits are linked to culture as well as attitudes and evaluation of the cycling environment, explicitly highlighting the importance of the feeling of discomfort in mixed traffic and the evaluation of cycling infrastructures. In Study 2 we focused on inequalities of the population in bicycle use, particularly investigating gender differences. We found gender differences in attitudes towards cycling to be small in terms of effect size or non-significant, with women having more positive attitudes in personal benefits rather than mobility benefits. In Study 3 we investigated gender differences in bicycle crashes, using routinely recorded crash data. Results revealed that, compared to women, men were more likely to be involved in a crash regardless the age. Lastly, in Study 4 we aimed to investigate the role of attitudes, e-bike use, and perception of driving behaviour of motorists in predicting bicycle crash involvement and severity while controlling for various factors. Bicycle crash severity was associated with lower affective attributes, higher instrumental attributes, and the perception of good driving behaviour of motorists. In the last chapter of the thesis, we discussed the theoretical and practical implication of our results.