The research aims to deepen knowledge on the phenomenon of cycling accidents, investigating the risk factors and the multiple critical issues (spatial conditions, infrastructural facilities, road use practices, etc.) which, in Italian metropolitan, urban, and extra-urban contexts continue to cause deaths and injuries among cyclists who ride bikes for commuting, leisure, and sport. The widespread perception of a severe risk along Italian roads - and the consequent lack of will for people to use bicycles – is one of the main critical factors undermining the development of active and sustainable mobility in Italy today.

The research has introduced an innovative working methodology in Italy on the topic of cycling accidents, thanks to the construction of a system (database and algorithms) capable of operating "data mining" on the data collections released annually by ISTAT on road accidents (“Rilevazione degli incidenti stradali con lesioni a persone: microdati a uso pubblico”). This system can filter and analyze in detail all the information relating to cycling accidents, extracting it from the mare magnum of general road accidents and 'spatialise' it (geolocalising it), thus allowing precise mapping and investigation of the places where cycling accidents that have caused deaths and injuries occur in a given territorial context (from the national to the municipal scale), starting from the year 2014 and up to the last year of data released by ISTAT. It is a simple idea that requires complex activities, which was missing in studies on active mobility. Added to this is the ability to match ISTAT data with a plurality of other existing sources, capable of returning in substantially real-time (where regional and local databases allow it) the number and severity of cycling accidents that have occurred up to the day before processing. The system created by the research can carry out a similar activity to the study of pedestrian accidents (as demonstrated during the international conference "For a safe and inclusive active  mobility" organized by Sandro Balducci, Paolo Bozzuto, and Paola Pucci, at Politecnico di Milano, on 01.23.2024).