PROFESSIONAL BRIEFING DOCUMENT

AUGUST 2006

D river s overtak in g bic yc lis ts

Objective measures of overtaking
Backg round
Collisions as drivers overtake cyclists are
Photo: University of Bath
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Weighted near:far overtaking ratio

often serious[1], but little is known about what affects the distance drivers leave when passing. This study collected objective measures of passing behaviour to investigate effects of riding position, helmet use, vehicle type and apparent gender on overtaking proximities.

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KEY FINDINGS When overtaking the test bicycle, drivers passed closer when the experimenter: rode towards the centre of the lane rather than the edge wore a helmet appeared male rather than female The helmet effect is likely the result of drivers judging cyclists skill levels from their appearance and adjusting their overtaking accordingly Drivers of buses and heavy goods vehicles got signicantly closer than other vehicles

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0.00 0.25m 0.50m 0.75m 1.00m 1.25m Bicyclist's distance from road edge

Method
A bicycle subtly tted with a video camera and ultrasonic distance sensor recorded around 2,300 vehicles overtaking on a range of urban/suburban road types similar to those encountered on a commute. Further data were then collected with the (male) experimenter wearing a feminine wig, in order that he appeared to be a woman to drivers approaching from behind.

Helmet

No helmet

contrary to what many experienced bicyclists believed should happen. Drivers also tended to pass notably closer to the rider when he wore a helmet (white circles) than when he did not (black squares). Riding position and helmetwearing accounted for 8% of the variance in overtaking proximities. The helmet effect was due to shifts in overtaking distributions a similar way. A second analysis calculated the likelihood of a given overtaking event being particularly near to the rider or particularly far away. The graph above shows the ratio of particularly near to particularly far events, demonstrating that drivers were more likely to get particularly close when the rider was towards the centre of the road or wearing a helmet. A logistic regression was relatively successful (15.2% better than chance) at predicting whether a driver would come close or not from the riders position and helmet status. rather than qualitative changes. The position effect operated in

Results
Riding position and helmet Drivers passed closer to the rider the further out into the road he was. This is
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Mean overtaking proximity (m)

1.35 1.30 1.25 1.20 1.15 1.10 1.05 1.00 0.25m 0.50m 0.75m 1.00m 1.25m Bicyclist's distance from road edge Helmet No helmet

UNIVERSITY OF BATH, UNITED KINGDOM

Photo: Sarah Hardingham

www.bath.ac.uk | www.drianwalker.com/overtaking

PROFESSIONAL BRIEFING DOCUMENT

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Passing distance (m)

AUGUST 2006
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The riding-position effect suggests drivers simply do not change their overtaking paths very much as a function of where a rider is: if a cyclist rides further into the road, they will on average be closer to passing vehicles as a result. However, there are also plenty of reasons why riders should not just stick to the road edge, e.g., debris, car doors, and drivers attention patterns at junctions. Long vehicles can need to cross into the opposite lane for several seconds to overtake a cyclist. Drivers should be reminded about how they get too close, and cyclists might also better understand how difcult it is for these vehicles to nd overtaking opportunities in urban environments.

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Mean overtaking proximity (m)

ers approaching from behind, passing trafc gave signicantly more leeway Time of day effects Overtaking varied as a function of time. There was an increasing quadratic trend, with the curve accounting for 64% of variance in the graph above. In general, drivers passed closer earlier in the day. Note that the graph shows one-hour bands (so 0700 means 0700-0759). Accordingly, there seem to be differences between the morning and evening rushhours.

Vehicle type As shown above, professional drivers of large vehicles tended to get particularly close when passing. Close proximities for large vehicles were particularly seen towards the end of overtaking manoeuvres. We believe a reluctance to travel on the wrong side of the road for the time taken to pass a cyclist (4-5s) leads to drivers often moving back across before it is really safe to do so. Gender effects When the experimenter was wearing a wig, so that he appeared female to driv1.50 1.45 1.40 1.35 1.30 1.25 1.20 1.15 1.10 1.05 1.00 Female Appearance Male

References
1. Murphy Jones, C. & Walker, I. (submitted). How types of pedal cycle accidents in Oxfordshire, England vary with age and sex of cyclist. 2. Basford, L. et al. (2002). Drivers Perceptions of Cyclists. TRL Report 549. 3. Haddad, H. (2005). Cycling Stereotypes and Identity. Unpublished Masters thesis, University of Surrey. A full account of this study is to be published soon: Walker, I. (in press). Drivers overtaking bicyclists: Objective data on the effects of riding position, helmet use, vehicle type and apparent gender. Accident Analysis and Prevention. The work was funded by the EPSRC and the instrumented bicycle was designed and constructed by Jeff Brewster from the University of Bath Mechanical Engineering Department. Ian Walker can be contacted at i.walker@bath.ac.uk

Discussion
Research suggests drivers tend to believe helmeted cyclists are more serious and less likely to make unexpected moves [2,3]; the helmet effect seen here is likely a behavioural manifestation of this belief. The gender effect could be the result of female cyclists being rarer than male cyclists in the UK, or it may again be related to drivers perceptions of rider experience and predictability. Motorists might protably be warned not to make assumptions about a bicyclists likely experience, or their likely actions during an overtaking manoeuvre, based on their appearance, as in reality gender and helmet-wearing will not be particularly valid signs of experience.

Mean overtaking proximity (m)

UNIVERSITY OF BATH, UNITED KINGDOM

www.bath.ac.uk | www.drianwalker.com/overtaking