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• What is already known on this topic: During the early pandemic phase, some cities experienced a drop in nonfatal road traffic collisions but a surge in fatalities, potentially linked to increased speeding in lighter traffic with reduced law enforcement. • What this study adds : Over an extended period beyond the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings show a decrease in pedestrian injuries since April 2020, and an increase in non-MVC bicyclist injuries leading to more ED visits and hospitalizations. • How this study might affect research, practice or policy : Non-MVC bicyclist injuries increased, raising important questions for further investigation. Background : The COVID-19 pandemic altered traffic patterns worldwide, potentially impacting pedestrian and bicyclists safety in urban areas. In Toronto, Canada, work from home policies, bicycle network expansion, and quiet streets were implemented to support walking and cycling. We examined pedestrian and bicyclist injury trends from 2012 to 2022, utilizing police-reported killed or severely injured (KSI), emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalization data. Methods: We used an interrupted time series design, with injury counts aggregated quarterly. We fit a negative binomial regression using a Bayesian modeling approach to data prior to the pandemic that included a secular time trend, quarterly seasonal indicator variables, and autoregressive terms. The differences between observed and expected injury counts based on pre-pandemic trends with 95% credible intervals (CIs) were computed. Results: There were 38% fewer pedestrian KSI (95%CI: 19%, 52%), 35% fewer ED visits (95%CI: 28%, 42%), and 19% fewer hospitalizations (95%CI: 2%, 32%) since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. A reduction of 35% (95%CI: 7%, 54%) in KSI bicyclist injuries was observed, but However, ED visits and hospitalizations from bicycle-motor vehicle collisions were compatible with pre-pandemic trends. In contrast, for bicycle injuries not involving motor vehicles, large increases were observed for both ED visits, 73% (95% CI: 49%, 103%) and for hospitalization 108% (95% CI: 38%, 208%). Conclusion: New road safety interventions during the pandemic may have improved road safety for vulnerable road users with respect to collisions with motor vehicles; however, further investigation into the risk factors for bicycle injuries not involving motor vehicles is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the background, setup, and results of a stated choice experiment investigating the influence of three different intersection based innovations on cyclists' route choice decisions. Next to commonly used route attributes, the following three intersection based innovations were investigated: 'Flo', a bicycle speed advice tool; 'Schwung', a bicycle - traffic light communication tool; and 'BikeScout', an intersection flashing system. The generated stated choice experiment was included in an online questionnaire that was filled out by 608 respondents who evaluated in total 3648 choice tasks. The evaluations were analyzed using a Multinomial Mixed Logit model. The model estimation results show that the commonly used route attributes (travel time, type of bicycle path facility, pavement quality level, motorized traffic speed, bicycle crowdedness, and number of traffic light intersections) have the highest influence on cyclists' route choice decisions. The impact of intersection based innovations on cyclists' route choice decisions is limited. • Most of the respondents indicated that they are not familiar with the included innovations (BikeScout and Flo/Schwung). • Most respondents indicated that they understand the meaning/working of the presented innovations after looking at movie. • Commonly used route attributes have the highest influence on cyclists' route choice decisions. • Impact of intersection related innovations on cyclists' route choice decisions is limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Being injured in a road traffic accident may affect individuals’ functional ability and in turn lead to sickness absence (SA) and disability pension (DP). Knowledge regarding long-term consequences in terms of SA and DP following a road traffic accident is lacking, especially comparing different groups of road users and compared to the general population. The aim was to estimate excess diagnosis-specific SA and DP among individuals of different road user groups injured in a road traffic accident compared to matched references without such injury. Methods: A nationwide register-based study, including all working individuals aged 20–59 years and living in Sweden who in 2015 had in- or specialized outpatient healthcare after a new traffic-related injury (n = 20 177) and population-based matched references (matched on: sex, age, level of education, country of birth, living in cities) without any traffic-related injury during 2014–2015 (n = 100 885). Diagnosis-specific (injury and other diagnoses) SA and DP were assessed during 5 years: 1 year before and 4 years following the accident. Mean SA and DP net days/year for each road user group and mean differences of (excess) SA and DP net days/year compared with their matched references were calculated with independent t-tests with bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: A third of all injured road users were bicyclists, 31% were car occupants, 16% were pedestrians (including fall accidents), and 19% were other and unspecified accidents. Pedestrians and other road users were the groups with the highest mean number of SA days during the first year following the accident (51 and 49 days/year respectively). The matched references had between 8 and 13 SA days/year throughout the study period. The excess SA days/year were elevated for all road user groups all five studied years. Excess SA due to injury diagnoses was 15–35 days/year during the first year following the accident. Excess SA due to diagnoses other than injuries were about eight days/year during the whole study period for pedestrians and car occupants and about zero for the bicyclists. The excess DP was low, although it increased every year after the accident for pedestrians and car occupants; for bicyclists no excess DP was seen. Conclusion: Higher levels of SA due to injury diagnoses were seen among all road user groups during the first year after the accident compared to their references. Pedestrians and car occupants had more excess SA due to other diagnoses and more excess DP four years after the accident than bicyclists and other road users.

Due to the recognition of active transportation as a beneficial alternative to more traditional modes of transportation, there is increasing interest in designing infrastructure systems to promote the safe use of forms such as bicycling. Collision data, which are typically used in road safety studies, may be incomplete and the use of such data is reactive as it requires collisions to have already taken place. Additionally, collisions involving bicyclists and vehicles are less common than those between vehicles. As a result, alternative approaches for evaluating the safety effect of various infrastructure attributes, such as the use of surrogate safety measures, specifically traffic conflicts, could be considered. Most collisions between bicyclists and vehicles occur at intersections and of these, collisions between right turning vehicles and bicyclists form the majority. The main objective of this study was to use cross-sectional regression models to investigate various intersection characteristics, including geometry, signal phasing, and bicycle infrastructure, with a view to determining which attributes are associated with a significant effect on right turning conflicts and how this may vary with different conflict severity levels. Using data for 65 signalized intersection approaches across Canada, various intersection attributes were found to be associated with the frequency of right turning conflicts such as exposure levels, the lateral offset of the bicycle facility and the grade of the approach to the intersection. The significance levels of the associated effects of certain attributes were observed to change with the severity level of the conflicts.

Efforts to advance Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) have taken on a central role in research and development in recent years and will have a significant influence on road traffic in the future. Research on AVs has mainly focused on the technology itself and the direct users of AVs and their acceptance. However, the role of bicyclists, interacting with AVs in traffic, is not yet researched as thoroughly. Using a mixed methods approach, we combine quantitative results from a survey among bicyclists (N = 889) and qualitative results from a focus group (N = 19) to give insights into bicyclists’ attitudes and expectations towards self-driving cars. The results showed that bicyclists’ affinity for technology is a significant predictor for both their trust and perceived safety towards self-driving cars, as well as an effect of age and gender on these variables. Both from the quantitative and qualitative results, it is clear that flawless functioning of the technology of AVs is a prerequisite for bicyclists encountering and interacting with AVs in traffic, and that the status of the vehicle (autonomous vs. non-autonomous) is very important as well as easy to understand signals that indicate the next manoeuvres of the AV. For supporting interaction with AVs, we found that bicyclists are open to External Human Machine Interface (eHMI) solutions, as long as these ensure inclusion and support the easily-accessible nature of bicycling. Our findings can inform the design of eHMIs that help shape the interaction between bicyclists and AVs in the future, and provide insights on which factors determine the perception of AVs and, ultimately, the acceptance of AVs as part of road traffic.

The recent deployment of sidewalk autonomous delivery robots (SADRs) across university campuses has offered students, staff, and faculty a convenient option for food delivery to their residences or workplaces. However, these low-speed automated food delivery services, which were first commercially deployed on American campuses in early 2019 and continued to offer an important contactless delivery service during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, traverse campuses on pathways originally designed for pedestrians and bicyclists, creating a potential for conflicts among the different pathway users and potentially unsafe transportation conditions. This study examines one week of field-recorded video from ten locations across the Northern Arizona University campus to help understand the prevalence and severity of SADR-involved interactions with pedestrians and bicyclists. The severity of SADR-involved interactions was quantified by using the surrogate safety measure of post-encroachment time, which was then modeled as a function of conflict- and site-level characteristics to identify predictors of moderate or dangerous conflicts between SADRs and human pathway users. Findings from this study, which provides initial real-world insights into the impacts of SADRs sharing pathways with pedestrians and bicyclists, are intended to help inform facility management strategies capable of supporting the safe introduction of this emerging autonomous freight technology on shared-use facilities in current and potential future settings.

• Inexperienced drivers may be a contributing factor in car and TW collisions. • How drivers with different riding experiences behave during risky interactions. • RF used the extracted features from the predefined window to classify the drivers. • Drivers experience influences driver behaviour when interacting with two-wheelers. Car drivers are primarily responsible for crashes between cars and bicycle and motorcycle riders (two-wheelers; TWs). A lack of exposure and riding experience with TWs among car drivers may contribute to the occurrence of these crashes. The current research investigates if car drivers with different TW riding experience levels act differently during risky interactions with both types of TWs. A total of 69 drivers completed a 10-minute driving session using the CARRS-Q advanced driving simulator, which included five interactions with TWs based on common crash types. These interactions involve driving manoeuvres in which TWs were initially positioned in front of or at a right angle to the driver. The drivers were divided into two categories based on whether they possessed TW riding experience or not. For analysis, several response features were calculated using the speed and time to collision (TTC) during the time window covering the interaction. Then, a random forest algorithm used the extracted features from the predefined window to classify the drivers. Classification accuracy was calculated using leave one out cross-validation. To test the association between the speed, TTC features and experience as a TW rider, the drivers' labels were randomly permuted. The random forest models were trained using these permuted labels, and the average classification accuracy was calculated. Overall, the comparison between the average of the original data classification accuracy and the randomly permuted data revealed a statically significant difference. This study found that two-wheeler experience influences driver behaviour when interacting with two-wheelers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The safety-in-numbers effect in the severity aspect is explored at macro-level. • Two fractional split multinomial logit models are developed. • The results imply the existence of safety-in-numbers effect in injury severity. • Other sociodemographic factors have effects on injury severity. Objective: Several studies have confirmed the existence of a safety-in-numbers effect in relation to vulnerable road users. The safety-in-numbers effect refers to a phenomenon wherein the number of bicyclists/pedestrians on a road is higher, and consequently, the risk of each bicyclist/pedestrian being involved in a crash is lower. Nevertheless, the existence of the safety-in-numbers effect in the aspect of injury severity in traffic crashes has not yet been investigated. Thus, this study aimed to explore whether traffic injuries are more (less) severe with fewer (more) pedestrians/bicyclists at the county level. Method: Using two fractional split multinomial logit models, the relationships between the number of bicyclists/pedestrians and the proportion of crashes involving bicyclists/pedestrians based on crash severity were investigated at the county level using crash data from Florida. In other words, we explored whether differing number of bicyclists/pedestrians could change the distribution of traffic injury severity levels. Results: The modeling results clearly revealed a lower proportion of severe injuries caused to bicyclists/pedestrians at a higher level of daily bicycle/pedestrian flows, indicating existence of the safety-in-numbers effect. Several variables (e.g., the percentage of people aged 65 years and older, the percentage of commuters using public transportation, and the proportion of recreational land use) were found to have a significant effect on the distribution of traffic injury severity among bicyclists/pedestrians. Conclusion: This study proves that a safety-in-numbers effect exists in the aspect of injury severity among bicyclists and pedestrians. Practical applications: These findings are expected to provide recommendations for promoting the use of active transportation, which will improve the safety of vulnerable road users in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More and more cities worldwide are striving for sustainability and livability. Measuring the service or performance of local-scale spaces for pedestrians and bicyclists to better understand how to provide "walkable" and "bikeable" environments is key in this endeavor to enhance active transportation. These pedestrian and bicycle service or performance indicators, such as Level of Traffic Stress or Level of Service, relate measurable characteristics with a perceived proxy of the performance or service, such as comfort, satisfaction, or quality of service (QoS). The purpose of this study is to propose and validate a framework that integrates user-oriented inputs to the existing traditional supply-oriented variables to explain the QoS in segment roadways in urban environments for active modes. The conceptual framework underlying this study considers the contribution of individual perceptions, in addition to the traditionally considered operational and geometry variables, to explain the perceived QoS of pedestrian and bicyclist infrastructure. The framework is tested via two separate and independent surveys for pedestrians and bicyclists. Evidence determined the relative importance of these supply-oriented and user-oriented factors to explain the QoS. The superior explanatory power of the perception variables and in terms of the variables that explain the individuals' perceived QoS justify the framework for both pedestrians and bicyclists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety in density (SID) potentially explains the safety in numbers (SIN) phenomenon by positing that ‘the SIN effect can be reproduced simply through encouraging behaviour that leads to the formation of higher-density cyclist groups’. The study further explores this hypothesis using event-based exposure, queues and groups of road users. Using three different definitions of encounters between road users, these were manually counted at signalized intersections, and their relationship to traffic volume was assessed. Based only on the frontmost motor vehicle in a queue and one cyclist among the several passing in front of that vehicle, the results show a less than linear relationship between meetings and traffic volume. An increase in the number of cyclists entails a general increase in cyclists passing in front of each motor vehicle, and an increase in motor vehicles increases queue lengths. However, crash data from the Swedish accident database (STRADA) show that it is exceedingly rare for multiple cyclists to be injured in the same crash. Together with results from a crash-encounter model, this suggests that the SID hypothesis may help to explain SIN

Poor sensory conspicuity and poor visibility of bicycles are key factors that correlate strongly with bicycle-vehicle accidents. Although researchers have explored how to improve detection distances, i.e., the distances from which bicycles can be recognized by other road users, there is a dearth of research on ways to signal bicyclists' presence on the road. This study investigates how to enhance, at minimum cost, the level of visibility and sensory conspicuity of bicycles; it also considers ways to signal their presence to other road users, without necessitating any active behavior by bicyclists themselves. In the first study, the level of visibility of 6 rear-end components of bicycles was analyzed according to Adrian's model; the sensory conspicuity of these same components was analyzed via respondent perceptions in conditions of sunlight, twilight with no car headlights, twilight with car headlights, and night with car headlights. The level of visibility and sensory conspicuity of the 6 rear-end components were compared with considering angular size of the components under 4 lighting conditions. The level of visibility of the rear fender was good under sunlight and night-time conditions; in other conditions, the level of visibility was directly affected by painting the fender a silver color with reflectivity and also by the fender's angular size. However, the rear tire, among the 6 components tested, had a higher visible area when used with a short fender; it also produced rotational effects during riding conditions with no extra effort by the cyclists. In the second study, adhesive tape with specific patterns and 6 different color combinations were applied to the rear tire of a bicycle under the same lighting conditions, with the aim of creating a strong signal of the bicycle's presence for other road users. Among the 6 combinations, white stripes overlaid on the color red provide an optimal combination in terms of detection distance. The mean detection distance of white stripes on red in sunlight was 138.67 m, 94.67 m in twilight without car headlights, 94 m in twilight with car headlights, and 53.67 m at night with car headlights. In addition, this combination strongly signals the presence of the bicycle to other road users with no extra effort by the cyclists, thereby reducing the likelihood of drivers looking but failing to see bicycles. In sum, the study recommends that bicyclists install white stripes overlaid on red, in order to increase visibility and conspicuity and signal the presence of their bicycles, thereby reducing the likelihood of cyclist-vehicle collisions.

This study uses cluster analysis on a sample of regular cyclists from six European countries (the U.K., the Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary, Italy, and Spain) to shed light on common cycling patterns, demographic characteristics, and attitudes. Participants completed an online survey on cycling behaviour, attitudes towards cycling, discomfort while cycling in mixed traffic, cycling environment and comparative cycling risk perception. A two-step cluster analysis was performed to identify segments of cyclists based on cycling patterns, and a multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to profile the segments. The two-step cluster analysis yielded three components. Leisure-time cyclists cycled almost exclusively for leisure/training, had a clear preference for car use relative to bicycle, and low riding frequency. Resolute Cyclists were characterised by a high variety of cycling trip purpose, a clear preference for bicycle use relative to the car, and high riding frequency. Convenience Cyclists were characterised by cycling for personal business or leisure/training but not for commuting, no evident preference for bicycle vs car, and medium riding frequency. The value of the present study is to highlight commonalities in patterns, characteristics, and attitudes of cyclists in Europe. Our study showed that cycling patterns and habits are linked to psychosocial variables such as attitudes and the cycling environment, explicitly highlighting the importance of discomfort in mixed traffic and the relationship with cycling culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduced a new intersection design, the double contraflow intersection (DCI), that could help at big, busy suburban sites, and explored how well it would work. The DCI uses contraflow left turn lanes on each approach to minimize the conflicting traffic flows. The DCI has the potential to provide slightly better capacity than the continuous flow intersection (CFI) and median U-turn (MUT), and much better capacity than a comparable conventional intersection, while mitigating some of the known limitations of the CFI and MUT. Our results showed that the DCI was generally superior to the CFI, MUT, and conventional designs in capacity and travel time. The DCI likely looks about as safe as the conventional and CFI designs, and is as good in through progression as the CFI. The DCI looks to be generally behind the MUT in pedestrian service, and behind the CFI in bicyclist service, but not by much in either case. The DCI looks to be generally behind the conventional design, but better than the CFI, in driveway service and right-of-way needed. In sum, the DCI looks like it could have a future in helping relieve traffic congestion at some suburban intersections and deserves attention from researchers and project teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media coverage of traffic crashes involving people walking and bicycling tends to frame crashes as isolated events rather than as a public health problem that disproportionately affects vulnerable populations. This study assessed public health framing in local media coverage of traffic crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists in Hawai‘i. We systematically searched the websites of all major local news sources (newspapers and local television stations) to identify articles about Hawai‘i traffic crashes involving pedestrians/bicyclists that were published in 2019. Using content analysis, we extracted information on title and article attributes, crash details, language patterns, and public health framing elements. After screening 738 news articles for inclusion, 162 articles comprised the final sample. These articles reported on 164 crash events, representing 57 unique crash events. Most articles described the crashes factually as isolated events. Language patterns in article titles were non-agentive (77%) and focused on the pedestrian or bicyclist (77%) without mentioning the driver or vehicle (69%). When articles ascribed agents, vehicles (53%) were mentioned more often than drivers (13%). One-quarter of articles contained a counterfactual that subtly assigned responsibility for the crash to the person walking or bicycling. About 15% of articles described a traffic safety solution. These findings serve as a benchmark for local media coverage and can be used to inform state-level actions to improve local media reporting. Media coverage that considers the contextual and systematic factors contributing to the crash could better support local government policy change to protect pedestrians and bicyclists.

Background: Serious injuries and fatalities among vulnerable road users on two wheeled motorised vehicles have increased across Australia and internationally in the past decade yet fallen for motor vehicle occupants. Almost half of all reported motorcycle injury crashes cause serious injury or death, nearly double that of motor vehicle police-reported crashes. This study explores associations with sociodemographic and pre-injury health characteristics and health outcomes after a road traffic injury; aiming to compare motorcyclists with other road users and inform recovery care.Methods: An inception cohort study recruited 1854 individuals aged > 17 years, injured following land-transport crashes in New South Wales, Australia (July 2013-November 2016). Interviews conducted at baseline, 6-and 12-months post-injury elicited demographic, socioeconomic, and self-reported health conditions.Results: Primary analysis involved 1854 participants who were recruited at baseline as three distinct road user groups; 628 (33.9%) motorcyclists, 927 (50%) vehicle occupants and 299 (16.1%) bicyclists. At baseline, injury patterns differed significantly between road user groups; motorcyclists were more than twice as likely to sustain lower extremity injury (p < 0.001); to have more severe injury severity scores (p < 0.001) and longer hospital stays versus vs vehicle occupants and bicyclists (< 0.001) across these measures. Injured motorcyclists were predominantly male (88.1%, p < 0.001), were younger on average (38 years) than bicyclists (41.5 years), had lower income and education levels, and poorer pre-injury physical health than other road user groups. Despite these differences, at 12 months post-injury motorcyclists had better physical health (SF12-PCS 2.07 (0.77, 3.36), p = 0.002) and reported lower pain scores (- 0.51 (- 0.83, - 0.2), p < 0.001) than vehicle occupants. Motorcyclists displayed less evidence of psychological distress than vehicle occupants, but more than bicyclists across several measures used.Conclusions: Road user types differ in important characteristics, including pre-injury health status and recovery after injury. As vulnerable road users experiencing transport crash and considering their higher initial injury severity, the degree of recovery among motorcyclists compared with other user types is remarkable and unexplained. Health and recovery outcomes after land-transport crashes is least favourable among vehicle occupants despite their higher levels of protection in a crash. This information is valuable for targeting early intervention strategies by road user type during the post-crash care phase, to improve long-term recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies have been rapidly advancing. One benefit of AVs is that the technology could eliminate many driver errors and also mitigate many pedestrian and bicyclist collisions. Real-world AVs have been tested in many cities. Five companies are running around 50 AVs in Pittsburgh, following the autonomous testing guidelines. BikePGH, a non-profit organization located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania conducted a follow-up survey in 2019 (the first survey was conducted in 2017) to understand non-motorists' opinions of AVs. This study examined how pedestrians and bicyclists perceived AV safety based on their understanding and experiences. At first, this study performed a comparison group test to determine which questions vary by participants' AV safety rating. The responses were later analyzed with a data mining method known as 'association rules mining.' A new performance measure, known as the rule power factor, was then used to identify the significant patterns in the form of rules. The participants also provided their thoughts in responses to the open-ended questions. Using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA), a topic modeling algorithm, 40 topic models were developed based on five open-ended questions. The findings show that the non-motorists showed comparatively fewer negative opinions towards AVs than positive assessments. The results also show that perception patterns vary by the participant's rating on AV safety. Findings of this study would be beneficial for the AV stakeholders in making AVs and roadways safer for non-motorists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor sensory conspicuity and poor visibility of bicycles are key factors that correlate strongly with bicycle-vehicle accidents. Although researchers have explored how to improve detection distances, i.e., the distances from which bicycles can be recognized by other road users, there is a dearth of research on ways to signal bicyclists' presence on the road. This study investigates how to enhance, at minimum cost, the level of visibility and sensory conspicuity of bicycles; it also considers ways to signal their presence to other road users, without necessitating any active behavior by bicyclists themselves. In the first study, the level of visibility of 6 rear-end components of bicycles was analyzed according to Adrian's model; the sensory conspicuity of these same components was analyzed via respondent perceptions in conditions of sunlight, twilight with no car headlights, twilight with car headlights, and night with car headlights. The level of visibility and sensory conspicuity of the 6 rear-end components were compared with considering angular size of the components under 4 lighting conditions. The level of visibility of the rear fender was good under sunlight and night-time conditions; in other conditions, the level of visibility was directly affected by painting the fender a silver color with reflectivity and also by the fender's angular size. However, the rear tire, among the 6 components tested, had a higher visible area when used with a short fender; it also produced rotational effects during riding conditions with no extra effort by the cyclists. In the second study, adhesive tape with specific patterns and 6 different color combinations were applied to the rear tire of a bicycle under the same lighting conditions, with the aim of creating a strong signal of the bicycle's presence for other road users. Among the 6 combinations, white stripes overlaid on the color red provide an optimal combination in terms of detection distance. The mean detection distance of white stripes on red in sunlight was 138.67 m, 94.67 m in twilight without car headlights, 94 m in twilight with car headlights, and 53.67 m at night with car headlights. In addition, this combination strongly signals the presence of the bicycle to other road users with no extra effort by the cyclists, thereby reducing the likelihood of drivers looking but failing to see bicycles. In sum, the study recommends that bicyclists install white stripes overlaid on red, in order to increase visibility and conspicuity and signal the presence of their bicycles, thereby reducing the likelihood of cyclist-vehicle collisions. • Assess the visibility and conspicuity of rear-end components of bicycle • Color modify of tire of bicycle to evaluate the enhancement of detection distance • White stripes overlaid on red (WRED) color combination increase the visibility and conspicuity and signal of presence of bicycle [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safety in density (SID) potentially explains the safety in numbers (SIN) phenomenon by positing that 'the SIN effect can be reproduced simply through encouraging behaviour that leads to the formation of higher-density cyclist groups'. The study further explores this hypothesis using event-based exposure, queues and groups of road users. Using three different definitions of encounters between road users, these were manually counted at signalized intersections, and their relationship to traffic volume was assessed. Based only on the frontmost motor vehicle in a queue and one cyclist among the several passing in front of that vehicle, the results show a less than linear relationship between meetings and traffic volume. An increase in the number of cyclists entails a general increase in cyclists passing in front of each motor vehicle, and an increase in motor vehicles increases queue lengths. However, crash data from the Swedish accident database (STRADA) show that it is exceedingly rare for multiple cyclists to be injured in the same crash. Together with results from a crash-encounter model, this suggests that the SID hypothesis may help to explain SIN • The relationship between traffic counts and three different types of encounters were investigated. • A SIN effect was found when considering only the frontmost vehicle and when including only one of several cyclists in a "group". • Crash data offer further support for the Safety in Density hypothesis as a potential explanation for the Safety in Numbers phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To study the prevalence of alcohol and drugs in biological samples from drivers, motorcycle riders, bicyclists, and pedestrians involved in fatal road traffic crashes (RTCs) during 2016-2018 in Norway, both among fatally injured victims and those who survived fatal RTCs.Methods: Anonymous information was extracted from police data. No personal data were recorded.Results: There were 330 fatal RTCs with 349 killed road users and 384 survivors during the study period; this included 179 passengers who were excluded from the study. In total, 90% of the studied killed road users and 67% of the survivors were investigated for alcohol or drug use by analyzing biological samples. Alcohol or drugs in concentrations above the legal limits were detected in 21% of the analyzed samples. The proportion impaired by alcohol or drugs (blood alcohol concentrations equal to or greater than 0.05%, or drug concentrations above equivalent limits) was highest among killed bicyclists (43%), higher than among killed pedestrians (24%), car and van drivers (28%) and motorcyclists (20%), and significantly higher than among drivers who survived fatal crashes (4%).Conclusions: Impairment due to use of alcohol or drugs was often a contributing factor among bicyclists, pedestrians and motor vehicle drivers who died in RTCs. Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs was more often a contributing factor in cases where the motor vehicle driver was killed than in cases where the driver survived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safe Routes to Transit (SR2T) was initiated in 2004 with the adoption of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Regional Measure 2 which established a $1 increase in Bay Area bridge tolls. The intended purpose of this funding was to support various transportation projects within the region in order to reduce congestion along the seven state-owned toll bridge corridors. Consistent with this purpose, the SR2T Program was awarded $20 million to fund enhancements to increase walking and cycling to regional transit stations.SR2T funds were used for the following improvements, among others: ssecure bicycle storage at transit stations; safety enhancements for pedestrian and bicycle station access to transit stations/stops; removal of pedestrian/bicycle barriers near transit stations; and system-wide transit enhancements to accommodate bicyclists or pedestrians.MTC collaborated with Fehr & Peers and the UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) to oversee the assessment of the SR2T program on mode share, perceived traffic safety, traffic behaviors and perceived air quality. Additional data was collected to obtain economic feedback on spending behavior as related to mode choice. Transit stations were chosen based on key variables associated with travel behavior and mode choice, such as population density, employment density, and the percentage of households living beneath the poverty line. The transit stations included in the before and after study were the Balboa Park, Bay Fair, Civic Center, Glen Park, Lafayette, and Pittsburg BART stations, as well as the Palo Alto Transit station. Fremont and Rockridge BART stations were the control sites.

• A combined inductive and deductive qualitative data analysis approach was applied. • Pedestrians and bicyclists had direct road sharing experiences wih AVs. • AVs followed traffic rules appropriately and drove safer than human drivers. • Fewer negative perceptions towards AVs were provided than the positive perceptions. • Respondents mentioned several oncerns/issues about AV technology. Public perception assessment is important for gaining a better understanding of the acceptance of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and identifying potential ways to resolve public concerns. This study investigated how pedestrians and bicyclists perceived AVs based on their knowledge and road sharing experiences, applying a combined inductive and deductive data analysis approach. Survey responses of pedestrians and bicyclists in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA collected by Bike Pittsburgh (BikePGH) in 2019, were analyzed in this research. AVs following traffic rules appropriately and AVs driving safer than the human drivers were the most notable positive perceptions towards AVs. Pedestrians and bicyclists showed comparatively fewer negative perceptions towards AVs than positive perceptions. Negative perceptions mostly included a lack of perceived safety and comfort around AVs and trust in the AV technology. Respondents also concerned about AV technology issues (e.g., slow and defensive driving, disruptive maneuver), while sharing the road with AVs. Perceptions of the respondents were significantly influenced by their views on AV safety, familiarity with the technology, the extent respondents followed AV on the news, and household automobile ownership. Regulating AV movement on roadways, developing safety assessment guidelines, and controlling oversights of improper practices by AV companies were the major suggestions from the survey participants. Findings of this study might help AV companies to identify potential improvement needed in AV technology to increase pedestrians and bicyclists acceptance, and policymakers to develop policy guidelines to ensure safe road sharing among pedestrians, bicyclists, and AVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Being injured in a road traffic accident may affect individuals' functional ability and in turn lead to sickness absence (SA) and disability pension (DP). Knowledge regarding long-term consequences in terms of SA and DP following a road traffic accident is lacking, especially comparing different groups of road users and compared to the general population. The aim was to estimate excess diagnosis-specific SA and DP among individuals of different road user groups injured in a road traffic accident compared to matched references without such injury., Methods: A nationwide register-based study, including all working individuals aged 20-59 years and living in Sweden who in 2015 had in- or specialized outpatient healthcare after a new traffic-related injury (n = 20 177) and population-based matched references (matched on: sex, age, level of education, country of birth, living in cities) without any traffic-related injury during 2014-2015 (n = 100 885). Diagnosis-specific (injury and other diagnoses) SA and DP were assessed during 5 years: 1 year before and 4 years following the accident. Mean SA and DP net days/year for each road user group and mean differences of (excess) SA and DP net days/year compared with their matched references were calculated with independent t-tests with bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals (CIs)., Results: A third of all injured road users were bicyclists, 31% were car occupants, 16% were pedestrians (including fall accidents), and 19% were other and unspecified accidents. Pedestrians and other road users were the groups with the highest mean number of SA days during the first year following the accident (51 and 49 days/year respectively). The matched references had between 8 and 13 SA days/year throughout the study period. The excess SA days/year were elevated for all road user groups all five studied years. Excess SA due to injury diagnoses was 15-35 days/year during the first year following the accident. Excess SA due to diagnoses other than injuries were about eight days/year during the whole study period for pedestrians and car occupants and about zero for the bicyclists. The excess DP was low, although it increased every year after the accident for pedestrians and car occupants; for bicyclists no excess DP was seen., Conclusion: Higher levels of SA due to injury diagnoses were seen among all road user groups during the first year after the accident compared to their references. Pedestrians and car occupants had more excess SA due to other diagnoses and more excess DP four years after the accident than bicyclists and other road users., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests Emilie Friberg reports financial support was provided by AFA Insurance. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Reducing the road traffic injuries burden is relevant to many sustainable development goals (SDG), in particular SDG3 – to establish good health and well-being. To describe the spatial-temporal trends and identify hotspot regions for fatal road traffic injuries, a Bayesian hierarchical Poisson model was used to analyze data on vulnerable road users (bicyclist, motorcyclist and pedestrians) in Brazil from 1999 to 2016. During the study period, mortality rates for bicyclists remained almost unchanged (0.6 per 100,000 people) but rose dramatically for motorcyclists (from 1.0 in 1999 to 6.0 per 100,000 people in 2016) and decreased for pedestrians (from 6.3 to 3.0 per 100,000 people). Spatial analyses accounting for socio-economic factors showed that the central and northeastern microregions of Brazil are hotspot areas for fatal injuries among motorcyclists while the southern areas are for pedestrians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated a less explored autonomous vehicle (AV) related topic (non-motorists and AVs) through the following two research questions: (1) Does the perception towards AVs differ in non-motorists based on stakeholder nature? and (2) Does prior interaction with AVs alter perception on AVs? The present study examined survey data collected by BikePGH in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This study used multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) to identify the response patterns of participants and sort the responses into several clusters. The results show that perception measures vary among participants based on the nature of the stakeholder. The reception of AVs among the participants was mixed. The results also show that participants with real AV interactions have higher expectations and interest in AVs than the participants with no experience. Additionally, the findings show that participants who see no safety potentials for AVs are also against using Pittsburgh as an AV proving ground. It is anticipated that the results will help in improving the strategic management of AVs to make non-motorist mobility safer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at examining drivers' behavior in the presence of bicyclists utilizing the side of rural highways. Specifically, the study focuses on how drivers react to the presence of bicyclists while passing them along a recreational route consisting of a two-lane rural road. This study may be useful for touristic areas such as state and national parks and forests which have seen increasing use by bicyclists in recent years. Using field data collected via radar traffic recorders and video cameras at two study sites, several variables were tested for the influence bicyclists have on driver behavior. Two indicators of drivers' reaction were used: vehicle speed and the lateral position in the travel lane. Three other variables were tested for their effect on the two aforementioned variables: time to vehicle arrival in opposing lane, time between a bicycle and a vehicle arriving at the site, and vehicle class. There were 189 bicycles observed at site 1 and 182 at site 2 resulting in 530 motor vehicle data points for site 1 and 437 for site 2. Study results suggest vehicle speed and lateral position are both affected by the presence of bicyclists. Further, the affects were primarily seen when the vehicle was observed within 10 seconds or less of a bicycle passing the site, or within approximately 400 feet of distance. There was still some affect up to 20 seconds. Study findings also showed a correlation between vehicle lateral position and selected travel speeds during bicycle passing events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Cyclists are very often unaware of whether mandatory helmet law applies in their countries. • The effect of mandatory helmet laws for cyclists is mediated by the knowledge of the law. • Frequency of use of the bycycle helmet is related to the believe that a mandatory helmet law exists in a country. To improve the safety of bicycle users, some countries have enacted, or considered enacting, mandatory helmet legislation. Of course, the enactment of such legislation in a country assumes that its citizens will be well-informed of it, and consequently, will use the helmet more frequently than before. However, in the survey described in this paper we found that many people are not aware of the legislation in force in their own country, or, even if they know, they may not necessarily behave as dictated by the law. Thus, the effects of mandatory helmet legislation may be somewhat different than desired or expected. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to ascertain the role of cyclists' knowledge of the law in their country as a mediator between the law and the actual use of the helmet. Respondents from seventeen countries participated in an international survey about cyclists' habits, and answered questions about helmet legislation, and frequency of helmet use. The results indicate that the main effect of mandatory helmet legislation on the frequency of use of the helmet is mediated by the perception that such a law exists in their country—even when in fact sometimes it does not exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A Cycling Behaviour Questionnaire designed to measure the behaviour of Chinese bicyclists is explored. • The questionnaire-based investigation was conducted among 547 bicyclists in Hefei, China. • Factor analysis showed that the data best fitted the four-factor solution, which explained 47.28% of the total variance. • The factors were named "rule and aggressive violations", "ordinary violations", "personal control errors" and "distractions". • Rule and aggressive violations, ordinary violations and distractions were related to self-reported crashes. The current study developed the Chinese Cycling Behaviour Questionnaire (CCBQ) to measure the behaviours of Chinese bicyclists, investigated the factorial structure of aberrant cycling behaviour, and assessed which types of behaviour were related to bicyclists' self-reported crashes. The questionnaire-based investigation was conducted among 547 bicyclists in Hefei, China, and 25 items were ultimately found to have good reliability and validity. Factor analysis showed that the data best fit the four-factor solution, which explained 47.28% of the total variance. The factors were named rule and aggressive violations , ordinary violations , personal control errors and distractions. On average, male bicyclists reported higher rates of rule and aggressive violations , ordinary violations and distractions than females, and young bicyclists were more prone to these aberrant behaviours than older bicyclists. The results of multiple regression analysis indicated that rule and aggressive violations , ordinary violations and distractions were related to self-reported crashes. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to investigating which countermeasures may effectively reduce the crash involvement of bicyclists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • This study used the data provided by 1064 cyclists of Europe, Latin and North America. • Risky behaviors, risk perception, rule knowledge and cycling intensity influence cycling crashes. • Risky behaviors mediate relationships among study variables and crash rates. • The path model for explaining crash rates slightly varies according to the age group of cyclists. Abstract The growing rates of traffic crashes involving cyclists are currently recognized as a major public health and road safety concern. Furthermore, risky behaviors on the road and their precedent factors have been conceptualized as potential determinants for explaining, intervening and preventing traffic injuries of cyclists. Objectives This study aimed at examining whether individual factors and self-reported risky behaviors could explain the crash rates of cyclists in a period of 5 years. Methods A sample of 1064 cyclists was used, with a mean age of 32.83 years. Participants answered a survey assessing demographic data and information on risky behaviors, risk perception, knowledge of norms, and suffered cycling crashes. Results Using Structural Equation Models, it was found that crash rates in cyclists could be explained through risky behaviors, risk perception, knowledge of traffic norms and cycling intensity. Through a multi-group path model differentiating cyclists by age group, it was also found that cycling intensity has a differential impact on self-reported crashes in older (age > 25) and younger (age<=25) cyclists. Conclusions This study suggests that risky behaviors mediate the relationship between the individual factors and the crash rates of cyclists, and that age exerts an important effect in the variation of the explanatory structure of the model. The design of educational tools would be useful for promoting not only the avoidance of risky behaviors, but also a generalized awareness on road safety issues. Practical applications This research provides an empirical precedent in the study of the impact of factors related to risky behaviors on the road and to safety outcomes of cyclists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • UK drivers passed a bicyclist closer on average when the bicyclist wore a helmet. • Passing distances decreased on average by 0.23 standard deviations with the helmet. • The effect could vary slightly with the rider's road positioning. Abstract There is a body of research on how driver behaviour might change in response to bicyclists' appearance. In 2007, Walker published a study suggesting motorists drove closer on average when passing a bicyclist if the rider wore a helmet, potentially increasing the risk of a collision. Olivier and Walter re-analysed the same data in 2013 and claimed helmet wearing was not associated with close vehicle passing. Here we show how Olivier and Walter's analysis addressed a subtly, but importantly, different question than Walker's. Their conclusion was based on omitting information about variability in driver behaviour and instead dividing overtakes into two binary categories of 'close' and 'not close'; we demonstrate that they did not justify or address the implications of this choice, did not have sufficient statistical power for their approach, and moreover show that slightly adjusting their definition of 'close' would reverse their conclusions. We then present a new analysis of the original dataset, measuring directly the extent to which drivers changed their behaviour in response to helmet wearing. This analysis confirms that drivers did, overall, get closer when the rider wore a helmet. The distribution of overtaking events shifted just over one-fifth of a standard deviation closer to the rider – a potentially important behaviour if, as theoretical frameworks suggest, near-misses and collisions lie on a continuum. The paper ends by considering wider issues surrounding this topic and suggests public health research might be best served by shifting focus to risk elimination rather than harm mitigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Undisputedly, traffic crashes constitute a public health concern whose impact and importance have been increasing during the past few decades. Specifically, road safety data have systematically shown how cyclists are highly vulnerable to suffering traffic crashes and severe injuries derived from them. Furthermore, although the empirical evidence is still very limited in this regard, in addition to other human factors involved in cycling crashes, distractions while cycling appear to be a major contributor to the road risk of cyclists. Objectives The main objectives of this study were, first, to explore the prevalence and trends of cycling distractions within an international sample of bike users, and second, to determine the influence of such distractions on road crashes suffered by cyclists, simultaneously considering the explanatory role of risky behaviors (errors and traffic violations) as potentially mediating variables between cycling distractions and traffic crashes. Methods For this cross-sectional study, we analyzed the data obtained from 1,064 cyclists—61.2% male and 38.8% female—from 20 different countries, who answered an on-line questionnaire on cycling-related features, habits, behaviors and accidents. Results The prevalence of different cycling distractions oscillated between 34.7% and 83.6%. The most common distractions were those related to the behavior of other users, physical elements of the road, weather conditions and phone calls. Age trends and differences were also found, thus establishing a positive association between age and distractibility during cycling. Furthermore, the effect of distractions on traffic crashes of cyclists was significant when tested together with age, risk perception and risky behaviors on the road. Conclusion The results of this study support the hypotheses that distractions have a major prevalence among bike users, and that they play a significant role in the prediction of the traffic crash rates of cyclists, through the mediation of risky behaviors.

Background. Undisputedly, traffic crashes constitute a public health concern whose impact and importance have been increasing during the past few decades. Specifically, road safety data have systematically shown how cyclists are highly vulnerable to suffering traffic crashes and severe injuries derived from them. Furthermore, although the empirical evidence is still very limited in this regard, in addition to other human factors involved in cycling crashes, distractions while cycling appear to be a major contributor to the road risk of cyclists. Objectives. The main objectives of this study were, first, to explore the prevalence and trends of cycling distractions within an international sample of bike users, and second, to determine the influence of such distractions on road crashes suffered by cyclists, simultaneously considering the explanatory role of risky behaviors (errors and traffic violations) as potentially mediating variables between cycling distractions and traffic crashes. Methods. For this cross-sectional study, we analyzed the data obtained from 1,064 cyclists-61.2% male and 38.8% female-from 20 different countries, who answered an on-line questionnaire on cycling-related features, habits, behaviors and accidents. Results. The prevalence of different cycling distractions oscillated between 34.7% and 83.6%. The most common distractions were those related to the behavior of other users, physical elements of the road, weather conditions and phone calls. Age trends and differences were also found, thus establishing a positive association between age and distractibility during cycling. Furthermore, the effect of distractions on traffic crashes of cyclists was significant when tested together with age, risk perception and risky behaviors on the road. Conclusion. The results of this study support the hypotheses that distractions have a major prevalence among bike users, and that they play a significant role in the prediction of the traffic crash rates of cyclists, through the mediation of risky behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Even though child bicyclists are highly vulnerable in traffic only few studies focused on providing child bicyclists with means to enhance their abilities to deal with the complexity of dynamic traffic situations. The current study therefore evaluated whether a brief hazard perception intervention might be effective to improve hazard perception skills in child bicyclists towards a level more comparable to adult bicyclists. Methods Eighty children of the fourth grade (9.03 ± 0.43 years; 34 girls) and forty-six adults (34.67 ± 14.25 years age; 24 woman) first performed a Hazard Perception test for bicyclists. Response rate, reaction times, first fixation, duration of the first fixation, dwell time and total number of fixations on the events were measured. Next, the children took part in the HP intervention in which video clips of dangerous traffic situations were presented. The intervention comprised two classroom sessions of one hour (1/week). A post-test was performed one day after and the retention-test three weeks after the intervention. Results Children responded to more covert hazards immediately after the intervention (p < 0.05), but did not improve their response rate for overt hazards. Reaction times for the covert hazards improved on the post-test (p < 0.001) compared to the pre-test but this effect was reduced on the retention test. There was no effect of the intervention for entry time of the first fixation but the duration of the first fixation increased for the covert hazards (p < 0.05). Children made fewer fixations on the event compared to adults (p < 0.001), except for the covert hazards on the retention-test. The training also increased the number of fixations for the overt hazards on the post-test (p < 0.001) and the retention-test (p < 0.001) but only increased on the retention test for the covert hazards (p < 0.001). Conclusion The results demonstrated that a brief intervention for training hazard perception skills in child bicyclists is able to improve children’s situation awareness and hazard perception for potential dangerous situations. The training, however, was too short to improve children to higher adult levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Little research has focused on the problem of alcohol impairment among pedestrians and bicyclists in the United States. The aim of the current study was to investigate the prevalence, trends, and characteristics of alcohol-impaired fatally injured pedestrians and bicyclists. Method Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) were analyzed for fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists 16 and older during 1982–2014. Logistic regression models examined whether personal, roadway, and crash characteristics were associated with high blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) among fatally injured pedestrians and bicyclists. Results From 1982 to 2014, the percentage of fatally injured pedestrians with high BACs (≥ 0.08 g/dL) declined from 45% to 35%, and the percentage of fatally injured bicyclists with high BACs declined from 28% to 21%. By comparison, the percentage of fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers with high BACs declined from 51% in 1982 to 32% in 2014. The largest reductions in alcohol impairment among fatally injured pedestrians and bicyclists were found among ages 16–20. During 2010–2014, fatally injured pedestrians and bicyclists ages 40–49 had the highest odds of having a high BAC, compared with other age groups. Conclusions A substantial proportion of fatally injured pedestrians and bicyclists have high BACs, and this proportion has declined less dramatically than for fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers during the past three decades. Most countermeasures used to address alcohol-impaired driving may have only limited effectiveness in reducing fatalities among alcohol-impaired pedestrians and bicyclists. Practical applications Efforts should increase public awareness of the risk of walking or bicycling when impaired. Results suggest the primary target audience for educational campaigns directed at pedestrians and bicyclists is middle-age males. Further research should evaluate the effectiveness of potential countermeasures, such as lowering speeds or improving lighting in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizens have historically become involved in response to disasters by helping both themselves and others. Recently, the idea has emerged of individuals providing this assistance in the response period using bicycles. Community events have been organized by bicycling enthusiasts in US cities to demonstrate how bicycles could potentially be of use in disaster situations. Yet, there has been no empirical research around the idea of citizen bicyclists in disaster response. This study explored the potential use of bicycles and their citizen riders in disaster events in the USA-specifically considering what role, if any, citizen bicyclists could play in such scenarios. Data were initially collected through 21 in-depth, telephone interviews with emergency management officials and bicycling advocates from bicycle-friendly cities in ten different states. Grounded theory was used to conceptualize the overall research design and analyze the data. Based on theoretical and snowball sampling, an additional six interviews were completed with individuals who had requisite knowledge and experiences applicable to the research question. Participants indicated that there are a variety of tasks and activities citizen bicyclists could undertake in disaster response; however, it would have to be an event of significant scope and magnitude for bicycle usage to be widespread-an unlikely occurrence for many jurisdictions. Concerns about training and integration with the formal emergency management structure were also identified. Implications for potential citizen bicyclists-and citizen responders more broadly-are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speed humps have been used extensively across the world as effective traffic calming measures. Speed humps are typically used in areas where interactions between motorized and non-motorized users are expected, such as residential areas, urban areas, near school zones, and shopping areas. In these areas, various other users including pedestrians and bicyclists would be present. However, the impacts of speed humps on the non-motorized users have not been explored well so far. In this study, an attempt is made in this direction, focusing on discomfort of bicyclists while passing over speed humps. An experiment is conducted using nine volunteers who were asked to ride instrumented bicycles and motorized two-wheelers over speed humps of varying geometry at different speeds and report the level of discomfort they felt in Borg CR 10 scale. The vibration values were also recorded. When the responses of riders were considered, it was observed that for the same speed, the bicyclists experienced higher discomfort than that by riders of motorized two-wheelers while passing over the humps. For the same geometry, the critical speeds after which the riders feel discomfort are much lower (about 4 km/h) for bicyclists than that of riders of a motorized two-wheeler. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the differences of the head impact responses between bicyclists and motorcyclists in vehicle collisions. A series of vehicle-bicycle and vehicle-motorcycle lateral impact simulations on four vehicle types at seven vehicle speeds (30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60 km/h) and three two-wheeler moving speeds (5, 7.5 and 10 km/h for bicycle, 10, 12.5 and 15 km/h for motorcycle) were established based on PC-Crash software. To further comprehensively explore the differences, additional impact scenes with other initial conditions, such as impact angle (0, π/3, 2π/3 and π) and impact position (left, middle and right part of vehicle front-end), also were supplemented. And then, extensive comparisons were accomplished with regard to average head peak linear acceleration, average head impact speed, average head peak angular acceleration, average head peak angular speed and head injury severity. The results showed there were prominent differences of kinematics and body postures for bicyclists and motorcyclists even under same impact conditions. The variations of bicyclist head impact responses with the changing of impact conditions were a far cry from that of motorcyclists. The average head peak linear acceleration, average head impact speed and average head peak angular acceleration values were higher for motorcyclists than for bicyclists in most cases, while the bicyclists received greater average head peak angular speed values. And the head injuries of motorcyclists worsened faster with increased vehicle speed. The results may provide even deeper understanding of two-wheeler safety and contribute to improve the public health affected by road traffic accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Motor-vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death among children in the United States, and almost one-fourth of all trips by school-aged children are trips to and from school. This study sought to determine how children (5–18 years) travel to and from school and, among those living ≤ 1 mile of school, to explore the role of school bus service eligibility on school travel mode. Methods We used national 2012 survey data to determine prevalence of usual school travel mode, stratified by distance from school. For those living ≤ 1 mile of school, multivariable regression was conducted to assess the association between bus service eligibility and walking or bicycling. Results Almost half (46.6%) of all children rode in passenger vehicles (PV) to school and 41.8% did so for the trip home. Results were similar among those living ≤ 1 mile (48.1%, PV to school; 41.3%, PV to home). Among those living ≤ 1 mile, 21.9% and 28.4% of children walked or bicycled to and from school, respectively. Ineligibility for school bus service was strongly associated with walking or bicycling to school [adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR: 5.36; p < 0.001)] and from school (aPR: 5.36; p < 0.001). Conclusions Regardless of distance from school, passenger vehicles were a common mode of travel. For children who live close to school, the role that school bus service eligibility plays in walking or bicycling deserves further consideration. Practical applications Given the large proportion of children who use passenger vehicles for school travel, effective interventions can be adopted to increase proper child restraint and seat belt use and reduce crash risks among teen drivers. Better understanding of conditions under which bus service is offered to children who live close to school could inform efforts to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety for school travel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child bicyclists are at greater risk to get involved in a traffic accident. Although hazard perception tests between inexperienced and experienced car drivers revealed significant differences in perceptual-cognitive skills, a similar test for bicyclists is not yet existent. Therefore this study aimed to compare visual search patterns and reaction times of child bicyclists and adult bicyclists utilizing a hazard perception test for cyclists. Seventy-five children and forty-one adults were presented with eleven video clips filmed from the perspective of the bicyclist. The participants were required to press a response button whenever they detected a hazardous situation. Children were found to have significantly delayed reaction times and time until the first fixation on the latent covert hazards compared to adults. The inefficient visual search patterns in children may be attributed to an immature visual system. However, the finding that children fixated later on the hazards and only responded to the covert latent hazards when they became salient indicate difficulties with identifying possible hazards. Altogether, the findings of this study suggest that children’s situation awareness is dependent upon experience too, and not just maturation. Therefore, implications for training young bicyclists will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the evolution of the risk of cycling in Seville before and after the implementation of a network of segregated cycle tracks in the city. Specifically, we study the evolution of the risk for cyclists of being involved in a collision with a motor vehicle, using data reported by the traffic police along the period 2000–2013, i.e. seven years before and after the network was built. A sudden drop of such risk was observed after the implementation of the network of bikeways. We study, through a multilinear regression analysis, the evolution of the risk by means of explanatory variables representing changes in the built environment, specifically the length of the bikeways and a stepwise jump variable taking the values 0/1 before/after the network was implemented. We found that this last variable has a high value as explanatory variable, even higher than the length of the network, thus suggesting that networking the bikeways has a substantial effect on cycling safety by itself and beyond the mere increase in the length of the bikeways. We also analyze safety in numbers through a non-linear regression analysis. Our results fully agree qualitatively and quantitatively with the results previously reported by Jacobsen (2003) , thus providing an independent confirmation of Jacobsen's results. Finally, the mutual causal relationships between the increase in safety, the increase in the number of cyclists and the presence of the network of bikeways are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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