A new study out of Australia supports a 2003 report entitled “Safety in Numbers” by Peter L. Jacobsen, a public-health consultant in Sacramento, California who found that crashes between motor vehicles and pedestrians/bikers declined with increases in the numbers of walkers and bicyclists, partly because motorists in biking and walking communities are themselves more likely to bike or walk occasionally, and thus give greater consideration to others who are doing it. Read the new study here.

It’s a virtuous cycle,” says Dr Julie Hatfield. “The likelihood that an individual cyclist will be struck by a motorist falls with increasing rate of bicycling in a community. And the safer cycling is perceived to be, the more people are prepared to cycle.