Crime Occurs Closer Than You Think

Writing in The Atlantic Cities, Eric Jaffe gives the highlights (or lowlights, as the case may be) of a paper in the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation. The paper reports the results of a survey of 2,000 Montreal cyclists conducted by Dea van Lierop and colleagues at McGill University in an attempt to better understand the problem of bike theft.

Jaffe extracts from the paper what he calls "the most important—and, from a perspective of urban mobility, most depressing—statistics." I list them below, but by all means go read Jaffe's full treatment:

• About half of all active cyclists have their bikes stolen.
• Few riders report bike theft, and fewer register their bikes.
• But only 2.4 percent of stolen bikes were recovered.
• Year-round cyclists are 90 percent more likely than others to have a bike stolen.
• The crime occurs closer to home than cyclists believe.
• Only 37 percent of cyclists are willing to pay for better parking.
• 76 percent of stolen bikes cost less than $500.
• 7 percent of victims never replaced their bikes.

Could be a follow-up post on the paper later, after I've had a chance to read and digest it myself.