“Ping if you care”: Identifying safety hotspots for cycling in Brussels

Aim is to map major cycling safety hot spots in the region and thus inform and optimise cycling policy. Cyclists are invited to flag such bottlenecks when they encounter them, by simply pushing a bluetooth button which can be mounted to their bike, jacket or trousers. The location is saved and sent immediately through a smartphone app. In the app, cyclists can also specify afterwards why they have indicated the location as unsafe.

The number of cyclists in Brussels has increased substantially over the last years, but data on cycling accidents and where they occur are hardly available. This project aims to fill that information gap. The Brussels Region aims to make use of the data collected in heatmaps, for the further development of its cycling policy. The testing phase kicks off in May. The aim is to recruit 1000 cyclists to participate in the project, to which Brussels Secretary of State for road safety Bianca Debaets (CD&V) has allocated 123.500 euro.