Two cycling tourists killed in Ghent. A 72-year-old cyclist dies in an accident in Wervik. These are some news reports from recent weeks that give the impression that cycling remains a dangerous activity in Flanders. Yet the statistics paint a completely different picture. In the last seven years, the risk of dying while cycling has fallen by as much as 40 percent.
The explanation for this lies in the spectacular increase in the number of bicycle kilometers traveled. In 2015, 78 cyclists were killed. That year, 3.13 billion kilometers were traveled. This results in 24.9 deaths per billion kilometers. In 2022, which is the latest figure, 79 cyclists died, but 5.3 billion kilometers were also cycled. The number of deaths per billion kilometers fell to 14.9.
With this trend, Flanders is moving considerably towards cycling country the Netherlands (14.8 deaths per billion kilometers in 2020). The figures were released at a study day on the occasion of ten years of the Fietsberaad knowledge center.
Traffic experts talk about safety in numbers, the phenomenon whereby it becomes safer as there are more cyclists. These then become more visible, causing motorized road users to take them more into account. But strangely enough, this numerical security was not available for a long time in Flanders. Until now.
Wout Baert, coordinator of Fietsberaad, said he was amazed by the figures. “The number of kilometers has grown by 70 percent in seven years, which is enormous,” he says. “The rise of the electric bicycle has a lot to do with this, as does the doubling of commuting by bicycle. Those who cycle electrically also cover longer distances.”
In the last three years, the share of bicycles in traffic increased from 14 to 19 percent. This amounts to 1 million additional bicycle trips per day. The figures go back to the Flanders Travel Behavior Survey, a sample in which families keep track of their journeys in traffic.
To zero deaths
Speedpedelecs are not included in the figures, so as not to complicate comparisons with Denmark and the Netherlands (where super-fast vehicles are rarer than ours).
The number of road fatalities is an international standard for comparing countries. An equally important parameter for assessing safety are injury accidents. The evolution is also favorable there: the risk over seven years decreased by 23 percent – with the caveat that it increased slightly in 2022.
Wout Baert believes that the heavy investments of recent years are starting to pay off. This involves more attention to zone 30, the introduction of bicycle streets, the construction of separated cycle paths and the reconstruction of intersections.
In any case, 79 dead cyclists is still a lot. It is the highest number in the last twelve years, together with 2018. The Flemish government has set the target of zero road fatalities among pedestrians and cyclists by 2040.
“We are not there yet,” Baert acknowledges. “To achieve the target, the number would have to drop by five every year. There is still room for improvement. For example, 30 kilometers per hour should become standard in the built-up areas of even more municipalities, except on access roads. There is still potential in conflict-free intersections, just like in even more separated cycle paths along roads with faster car traffic.”
Less heart disease
In the period 2020-2023, just over one billion euros have been invested in safer cycling infrastructure, by the Flemish government, the provinces and the cities and municipalities together. These investments more than pay for themselves, Fietsberaad calculated using a calculation module from the Vito research institute and the Flemish Institute for Healthy Living.
In twenty years, that billion euros invested would yield a health bonus of 7.5 billion. How did that happen? Cyclists, like other people who are physically active, are less likely to suffer from conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, breast and colon cancer and depression. More cycling therefore means saved health costs. These benefits exceed the negative effects (accidents, breathing polluted air). And we are not even talking about the benefits for the environment (no exhaust fumes) and climate (no CO₂ emissions).
“That return will still be a conservative estimate,” says Luc Int Panis, who has been researching the link between cycling and health at Vito for years. “We previously calculated the beneficial effects of a bicycle bridge in Berchem, and we concluded that the health benefits were fourteen times higher than the costs.”
