Safety-critical events in bicycle lanes in Jongno, Seoul

Increasing use of cycling is closely associated with bicycle safety on the street. This study investigates safety-critical events (SCEs) on the newly built bicycle lane in a highly populated area. To encourage the low level of bicycle use, Seoul municipal government started its first plan make rooms for a new bike lane on the existing Jongno street, a symbolic boulevard in the metropolitan city center, in 2018. The goal of the study is to evaluate bicycle safety after the installation of that bike lane on Jongno street for road safety. Based on the record data from the city’s traffic camera video, which are open to the public, 141 SCEs are found for 7 days. We could find SCE characteristics and most frequent SCEs in Jongno using descriptive analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis. As a result, six types of SCE clusters were extracted, and each has specific situations and meaningful implications. These findings help understand less-known traffic conflicts in the new practice of bicycle facilities in a car-oriented CBD street that are not yet familiar with bicycle culture.