Sunday, January 12, 2014

A study on the behavior of drivers overtaking bicyclists... wow. Nothing about the cyclist matters, drivers suck


In a recently published study by the British Universities "University of Bath" and "Brunel University" the issue of how being overtaking by motorists is affected by different remarkable clothes of bicyclists.

Measured with an ultrasonic sensor, the distance between car and cyclist with a total of 5690 overtaking cars, was modulated only with the clothing of biking subjects.

The tests were carried out with seven types of garments. In addition to the clothing types "commuter", "everyday cyclists" and "High Visible cyclists" there was the "road racers" with a fitted dress and three types of garments with different designed safety vests. The type "Novice Cyclist" carried the message "Pass Slowly" On the back. The type "police" was decorated with a police-like logo and the indication that the drive is taken up by video. The third safety vest carrier was the type of "friendly cyclists" with the request "Please Slow Down!" On the back. Except for the everyday cyclist who was wearing a hat or a baseball cap, all biking subjects had a helmet on his head.

The tests took place in daylight and good visibility, the cyclists were traveling at a speed 16-28 km / h and drove at a distance between 50 and 80 centimeters from the roadside, with no complicating conditions such as cars parked on the road or intersections.

In one to two percent of overtaking the cyclists were overhauled at a distance of 50 centimeters. This overtaking distributed uniformly to all types of garments. Contrary to expectations, "Beginners" and "Experienced road cyclists" were treated equally bad. Only the reference to the video recording and the police-like clothing motivated drivers to comply with a slightly larger average distance when overtaking.

The team led by Dr. Ian Garrard and Dr. Ian Walker concluded that cyclists can hardly do anything against dangerous overtaking. http://opus.bath.ac.uk/37890/1/Walker_2013.pdf

Found on http://www.rad-spannerei.de/blog/

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