Streetcar tracks may be a factor in almost a third of all bicycle crashes in Toronto, new research suggests.

Of 276 Toronto cyclists interviewed, 90 reported that streetcar tracks were directly involved in their crashes, says Kay Teschke, a professor in the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health.

About half of those track-related crashes occurred when a bike tire got caught, according to Teschke, while the rest happened when bike tires slipped on the tracks.

Teschke’s team interviewed a total of 690 cyclists in Toronto and Vancouver who were hurt badly enough to go to a hospital emergency room during an 18-month period from 2008 to 2009.

Their study sought data on which bike routes are safest and most desirable by asking injured cyclists to retrace the routes they were taking when they were hurt.

The findings, published Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health, suggest that cyclists are safest riding in lanes with physical barriers instead of on streets with parked cars and no cycling infrastructure installed.

“What I really hope is that transportation engineers and planners will take these results very seriously and really have some ammunition now to build differently for cyclists, to do the same thing we’ve done for pedestrians for years (by building sidewalks),” Teschke said.

Jared Kolb, a spokesman for Cycle Toronto, said cycling crashes aren’t taken as seriously as motor vehicle crashes and as a result, there’s a lack of data in the city around how cycling injuries happen.

“Understanding that is a key part of any viable solution,” he said.

Kolb had a crash-course on streetcar tracks the very first time he rode downtown on his bike, going down without even realizing the tracks were there.

“That’s a common story that I hear from people,” he said.

Improved signage around streetcar tracks that warns riders about the risks could help reduce the number of crashes, Kolb suggested.

In August, a man died after falling and hitting his head on the pavement when his bike tire jammed in unused streetcar track on Wychwood Ave., near Bathurst St. and St. Clair Ave. W.