A study of 26 people on bikes killed in LA County found some commonalities:
*speeds exceeding 35 miles per hour (38% of cases),
*multiple travel lanes for cars (77%),
*no bike facilities (85%), and
*nighttime (54%).
Note: I have not looked at the actual report. So, take what i'm going to say with a big chunky grain of salt.
This report goes to poor lighting as the cause for nighttime crashes. I believe (and cannot prove, just vibes) that another contributor to disproportionate nighttime ped & bike fatalities is the relatively empty roads designed for peak-period volumes that enable speeding to a degree that daytime congestion prevents.
Three of these four factors (speed, lanes, and bike facilities) probably covary to some degree.
But if i'm right, a community that committed to systematically reducing capacity by eliminating lanes and adding bike facilities would also see a disproportionate reduction in nighttime fatalities. Something to watch.
@szeis4cookie Probably. Definition of "Peaky" is key here. When I think "peaky" i think of the traffic engineering concept of the K-factor, what proportion of the day's traffic is during peak periods (7-10AM ish, 3-7pm ish)
A road with a lower k-factor distributes its volume across the day, including into the evenings when many 'nighttime' crashes happen.