The Polytechnic of Milan presented the Italian Atlas of deaths and serious injuries on bicycles, the most complete mapping of cycling accidents ever carried out in Italy. The project, the result of the work of the Competence Center on Anti-Fragile Territories (CRAFT) and coordinated by Paolo Bozzuto of the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU), collects data from 2014 to 2023 and offers an analytical and geographical vision of the accidents.
Five interactive dashboards
The Atlas is made up of five interactive dashboards, freely available online, designed for administrators, technicians and citizens interested in understanding risk and designing targeted interventions. These allow you to analyze data on a municipal, provincial, regional and national scale, including indicators of lethality, severity and mortality. A dynamic map shows all georeferenced accidents from 2022-2023, distinguishing between deaths and injuries.
The project uses an original data-mining methodology to extract and reprocess ISTAT data on road accidents involving cyclists. Thanks to the precise geolocation of the 2022 and 2023 accidents, it is possible to precisely identify the most dangerous points and analyze the characteristics of the roads, such as pavement, signs, visibility and type of route. This approach allows data to be transformed into an operational tool to improve urban and extra-urban safety, providing useful information for targeted interventions.
The impressive numbers
Between 2014 and 2023, over 164,000 cycling accidents were recorded, with more than 3,000 deaths and over 150,000 injuries, of which 17,000 were serious in 2023 alone. The region with the highest number of accidents is Lombardy, followed by Emilia-Romagna and Veneto. The research shows how the risk changes based on geography: some provinces such as Padua and Ferrara have a high accident rate despite the widespread use of cycling. The majority of accidents (73%) occur on urban roads, but almost half of the victims are recorded on extra-urban routes, where speed is higher and protection is less.
The profile of cyclists at risk
The most vulnerable cyclist is the man between 45 and 64 years old, often a commuter or athlete, while lethality increases drastically over the age of 65. The most frequent accidents are lateral or front-lateral collisions, especially at intersections and roundabouts, and in 68% of cases they involve cars. Bad weather has very little impact, with over 90% of accidents occurring with clear skies and dry surfaces.
Knowledge is prevention
The Atlas is not just an archive of numbers: it is a useful and effective tool for those who want to understand how to reduce accidents and save lives. The project, born as an independent initiative without external financiers, represents the third mission of the university, putting scientific knowledge at the service of society. Knowing where the most accidents occur, in what conditions and with what dynamics, allows you to plan targeted interventions such as the installation of protected cycle paths, the revision of signs, the regulation of traffic flows and the creation of dedicated zones or lanes. Behind every statistic there are lives and stories of people and the Atlas can transform this data into concrete actions.
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