What is ‘CycleRAP’?

CycleRAP is an easy, affordable and fast method of evaluating road and bicycling infrastructure for safety. It aims to reduce crashes and improve safety specifically for bicyclists and other light mobility users by identifying high risk locations without the need for crash data.

CycleRAP will power software tools used for pinpointing and mapping where bicyclist and light mobility crashes are likely to occur. The model uses data about the features of a road, street or path to evaluate the risk of crashes for bicyclists and light mobility users—irrespective of the type of facility (or whether it is on or off road) and for all crash types. It can be used anywhere in the world.

Crashes which do not involve others

CycleRAP is intended to be used to:

• Improve bicycling-related asset management and maintenance planning
• Help prioritise investment and planning for bicycle and light mobility modes, and
• Provide safety key performance indicators and track performance over time.

What problem does CycleRAP help solve?

Road safety is a critical issue which needs to be addressed to ensure that bicycling and light mobility options can continue to support new and greener mobility choices. The overall aim of CycleRAP is to reduce the risk of road crashes for bicyclists and those using other types of light mobility vehicles. Bicycles and light mobility vehicles do not have the same in-built protection large vehicles have. Therefore, safe infrastructure is critical.

Monitoring, managing and addressing safety on facilities used by bicyclists and light mobility vehicles is a challenge, even for those with the most advanced bicycling networks. Specifications and manuals for road engineering and design for bicycling infrastructure, assessment tools such as road safety audit, and road asset management practices often neglect or ignore safe bicyclist infrastructure. CycleRAP aims to help fill this gap by providing a way to objectively measure and benchmark safety.

Who can use CycleRAP?

CycleRAP is intended for use by any transport authority or other organisation involved in addressing or advocating for safer facilities for bicyclists and users of other light mobility vehicles.

Specific uses could be:

• Addressing explicit or general safety concerns for bicyclists and light mobility users
• Evaluating existing network’s capacity to cater for rapidly increasing demand or increase in new vehicle types
• Prioritise funding and investment into bicycling and light mobility infrastructure
• Assist cities formalising rapid response measures for bicyclists during COVID19.

The CycleRAP model and data is expected to be of interest to a wide range of stakeholders, including:

Transport and urban planners	Bike share and micro mobility sharing service providers	Bicycle courier and food delivery companies	School communities
Policy makers and advocates for the environment, climate change and sustainability	Health services and insurance providers	Infrastructure and transport investors	Mapping and navigation providers

CycleRAP Advisory Group

A CycleRAP Advisory Group has been established to help guide the development of the CycleRAP model to ensure it can effectively underpin potential CycleRAP tools and applications and ultimately meet end user needs.

Membership is by invite only and aims to represent a range of skills, experience and expertise from across the world, including:

• Cycling safety experts and researchers
• iRAP-affiliated experts (such as Centres of Excellence and suppliers)
• Other organisations involved in road safety
• Potential CycleRAP suppliers.

The job of the Advisory Group is to:

• Peer review reports, model development and model documentation
• Attend update meetings and workshops to work through issues
• Inform the design of model outputs (e.g. risk scoring and safety treatment recommendations)
• Provide feedback on potential uses, pilot study opportunities and market analysis
• Review results from trials and pilot studies.

The CycleRAP Advisory Group members, all of whom generously volunteered their time and effort to the CycleRAP project, are:

Related documents & useful resources

Learn more about the CycleRAP model and how it works from our resident CycleRAP expert, Shanna Lucchesi in the video below.

Pilot projects

The CycleRAP model is being piloted as part of the Interreg SABRINA project to deliver safer bicycle routes across nine Danube area countries. To find out more, visit www.interreg-danube.eu/sabrina

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