Evaluation of Cycling Safety and Comfort in Bad Weather and Surface Conditions Using an Instrumented Bicycle

Understanding how vulnerable road users (cyclists and pedestrians) behave enables the construction of better roadways with adapted geometric and surface design which leads to improve cycling safety and comfort. This study examines the behavior of cyclists using an instrumented city bicycle that allo...

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Main Authors: Murad M. Shoman, Hocine Imine, Ennia Mariapaola Acerra, Claudio Lantieri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2023-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10036416/
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author Murad M. Shoman
Hocine Imine
Ennia Mariapaola Acerra
Claudio Lantieri
author_facet Murad M. Shoman
Hocine Imine
Ennia Mariapaola Acerra
Claudio Lantieri
author_sort Murad M. Shoman
collection DOAJ
description Understanding how vulnerable road users (cyclists and pedestrians) behave enables the construction of better roadways with adapted geometric and surface design which leads to improve cycling safety and comfort. This study examines the behavior of cyclists using an instrumented city bicycle that allows collecting exact data about bicycle dynamics, trajectory, and speed, as well as essential information to study the behavior of the cyclists, their reaction to the different features of the road surface and geometric design, and their interaction with other road users such as pedestrians, vehicles and other cyclists. 22 cyclists participated in an experiment following a predetermined route in Stockholm, Sweden. The route consisted of a circuit with different types of cycling facilities in order to study the different interactions (cyclist-car and cyclist-pedestrian), the circuit was divided into 3 zones: the first is mixed traffic, the second is a separate cycling lane and the third is shared pedestrian-cycling path. The results show significant data to evaluate cycling safety and comfort in snowy weather conditions and the perception-reaction behavior of cyclists; accordingly, the infrastructure-related risks were evaluated from subjective and objective points of view. In this paper, we propose a new concept to evaluate cycling behavior. This concept allows us to evaluate cyclists’ behavior through the calculation of Behavioral Risk Indicator (BRI) based on different risk factors owing to weather, road and traffic conditions, interaction with other road users and reaction to infrastructure drawbacks. The applications of the proposed concept allow us to evaluate the risks caused by multiple traffic factors and infrastructural drawbacks and study cyclist–bicycle–road interactions and their influences on cycling safety. In addition, the concept provides a new foundation for establishing cycling safety measures that could be applied to improve the infrastructure and reduce traffic accidents in order to attract more people to ride bicycles.
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spelling doaj.art-90decc88d9684994b63de6bee292bf2a2024-12-11T00:04:07ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362023-01-0111150961510810.1109/ACCESS.2023.324258310036416Evaluation of Cycling Safety and Comfort in Bad Weather and Surface Conditions Using an Instrumented BicycleMurad M. Shoman0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6096-531XHocine Imine1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5377-6510Ennia Mariapaola Acerra2Claudio Lantieri3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2852-567XComponents and systems department (cosys), Laboratoire sur la Perception, les Interactions, les Comportements et la Simulation des usagers de la route et de la rue (PICS-L),, Gustave Eiffel University, Champs-sur-Marne, FranceComponents and systems department (cosys), Laboratoire sur la Perception, les Interactions, les Comportements et la Simulation des usagers de la route et de la rue (PICS-L),, Gustave Eiffel University, Champs-sur-Marne, FranceDepartment of Civil, Chemical, Environmental, and Materials Engineering (DICAM),, University of Bologna, Bologna, ItalyDepartment of Civil, Chemical, Environmental, and Materials Engineering (DICAM),, University of Bologna, Bologna, ItalyUnderstanding how vulnerable road users (cyclists and pedestrians) behave enables the construction of better roadways with adapted geometric and surface design which leads to improve cycling safety and comfort. This study examines the behavior of cyclists using an instrumented city bicycle that allows collecting exact data about bicycle dynamics, trajectory, and speed, as well as essential information to study the behavior of the cyclists, their reaction to the different features of the road surface and geometric design, and their interaction with other road users such as pedestrians, vehicles and other cyclists. 22 cyclists participated in an experiment following a predetermined route in Stockholm, Sweden. The route consisted of a circuit with different types of cycling facilities in order to study the different interactions (cyclist-car and cyclist-pedestrian), the circuit was divided into 3 zones: the first is mixed traffic, the second is a separate cycling lane and the third is shared pedestrian-cycling path. The results show significant data to evaluate cycling safety and comfort in snowy weather conditions and the perception-reaction behavior of cyclists; accordingly, the infrastructure-related risks were evaluated from subjective and objective points of view. In this paper, we propose a new concept to evaluate cycling behavior. This concept allows us to evaluate cyclists’ behavior through the calculation of Behavioral Risk Indicator (BRI) based on different risk factors owing to weather, road and traffic conditions, interaction with other road users and reaction to infrastructure drawbacks. The applications of the proposed concept allow us to evaluate the risks caused by multiple traffic factors and infrastructural drawbacks and study cyclist–bicycle–road interactions and their influences on cycling safety. In addition, the concept provides a new foundation for establishing cycling safety measures that could be applied to improve the infrastructure and reduce traffic accidents in order to attract more people to ride bicycles.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10036416/Bicycle instrumentationexperimentationcycling safety and comfortroad characteristicscycling risk indicator
spellingShingle Murad M. Shoman
Hocine Imine
Ennia Mariapaola Acerra
Claudio Lantieri
Evaluation of Cycling Safety and Comfort in Bad Weather and Surface Conditions Using an Instrumented Bicycle
IEEE Access
Bicycle instrumentation
experimentation
cycling safety and comfort
road characteristics
cycling risk indicator
title Evaluation of Cycling Safety and Comfort in Bad Weather and Surface Conditions Using an Instrumented Bicycle
title_full Evaluation of Cycling Safety and Comfort in Bad Weather and Surface Conditions Using an Instrumented Bicycle
title_fullStr Evaluation of Cycling Safety and Comfort in Bad Weather and Surface Conditions Using an Instrumented Bicycle
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of Cycling Safety and Comfort in Bad Weather and Surface Conditions Using an Instrumented Bicycle
title_short Evaluation of Cycling Safety and Comfort in Bad Weather and Surface Conditions Using an Instrumented Bicycle
title_sort evaluation of cycling safety and comfort in bad weather and surface conditions using an instrumented bicycle
topic Bicycle instrumentation
experimentation
cycling safety and comfort
road characteristics
cycling risk indicator
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10036416/
work_keys_str_mv AT muradmshoman evaluationofcyclingsafetyandcomfortinbadweatherandsurfaceconditionsusinganinstrumentedbicycle
AT hocineimine evaluationofcyclingsafetyandcomfortinbadweatherandsurfaceconditionsusinganinstrumentedbicycle
AT enniamariapaolaacerra evaluationofcyclingsafetyandcomfortinbadweatherandsurfaceconditionsusinganinstrumentedbicycle
AT claudiolantieri evaluationofcyclingsafetyandcomfortinbadweatherandsurfaceconditionsusinganinstrumentedbicycle