From flu on the bus to sinking ships, here are some of our favourite transport myths – busted

1. Public transport will make you ill: In fact, people who don’t catch the bus or tube to work are more likely to get the flu than those who do, according to a 2013 survey by doctors of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “How often does someone actually sneeze in your face on the tube?” Dr Alma Adler, a researcher in the field of infectious diseases, points out.

2. Planes should be loaded from back to front: Most airlines ask passengers to board this way, but a much quicker method would be for window-seat passengers to board first; failing that, even random boarding is faster than the current method.

3. Helmets make cyclists safer: An old favourite, this one is a source of pretty intense debate. The University of Michigan’s Mark Stewart argues that impact tests on helmets generally max out at 12.5mph, and that helmets increase the risk of the heads twisting on impact with the ground, which often causes the worst injuries.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Thirty-two people died when the Costa Concordia cruise ship hit rocks and ran aground off the island of Giglio on January 2012. Photograph: Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images

4. The captain goes down with the ship: Not technically: a captain, as set out in the Safety of Life at Sea convention, has ultimate responsibility aboard the ship, and all passenger ships must have a system for emergency management - which may or may not stipulate when the captain disembarks. But maritime moral codes of conduct run deep in popular sentiment; hence the universal outrage at captain Francesco Schettino’s early abandonment of the cruise ship Costa Concordia in 2012.

5. Cycle lanes protect cyclists: Another controversial one; on roads with 40mph or 50mph speed limits, University of Leeds academics found that cars leave themselves less space to pass bikes when there are lane markings. This may be because cars pay less regard to cyclists who appear to be in a different lane, says professor John Parkin of UWE.

6. Airports are the busiest transport hubs: In 2013 Heathrow - the busiest airport in Europe - had 72 million passengers arriving and departing from the airport. But according to recent figures, a whopping 96 million people entered and left London’s busiest train station, Waterloo, in 2012/13 and 77 million people passed through Victoria, the second busiest station.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Leisure and shopping both generate more traffic than commuting. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

7. Most traffic is caused by commuters: Only one in seven journeys in the UK is made by commuters. Leisure and shopping both generate more traffic than commuting, according to research by UWE.

8. Those who don’t drive to work take the train: No, more than one in 10 of us (11%) are lucky enough to walk to work, according to the latest Department for Transport statistics: 68% of people drive to work, 9% go by rail and 7% by bus.

9. Park and ride schemes reduce traffic: As it turns out, most of them increase traffic - and therefore traffic emissions. According to UWE’s professor Graham Parkhurst many people drive out of their way to reach park and ride locations, and some people who previously used solely public transport now drive part-way on journeys.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Between 2003 and 2012 there were 93 motorcyclist deaths per billion passenger kilometres, according to Department for Transport statistics. Photograph: Alamy

10. Motorcycling is dangerous: OK, you got me here - this one’s true. Motorcycling is very dangerous. Making up just 1% of road traffic, motorcyclists account for 19% of road deaths (331 motorcyclists died in road collisions in Great Britain in 2013).



Read more:

Sign up for your weekly Guardian Public Leaders newsletter with news and analysis sent direct to you every Thursday. Follow us on Twitter via @Guardianpublic