Abstract

In urban traffic, cyclists are often exposed to high risks especially when being in interaction with motorized traffic participants. Objectives of EU funded project XCYCLE (http://www.xcycle-h2020.eu) are to improve and increase cyclists’ safety. Focusing on urban traffic, the project addresses the use case of an intersection with right turning motorized traffic (especially HGV’s) and privileged cyclists going straight on."br" One of the main project activities lies in developing an infrastructural supported cooperative advanced driver assistance system (C-ADAS). Infrastructural detection and computations allow it to send situation and risk related information to the given road users (esp. the motorized traffic participant) using wireless communication standards like ITS-G5. As parts of the cooperative overall system equipped trucks and bicycles will also receive a warning. In this paper, the focus is on the concept, construction and triggering of a visual road instrumentation positively influencing gaze behavior of drivers of non-instrumented vehicles.

Abstract

"jats:p"Environmental pollution in cities is an increasingly popular issue tackled in research. One of the elements with a significant impact on the state of urban ecosystems is transport with its pressure on individual components of the environment. Sustainable urban transport is gaining prominence as a postulate expressed in cities’ strategic documents, constituting an element alleviating the negative effects of anthropopressure. In the light of the need to introduce innovative solutions for clean forms of transport, numerous papers indicate the bicycle as an answer to some of those problems. The article presents a review of literature referring to the socio-economic aspects of using the bicycle in cities as a means of transport for daily commuting. The analysis is based on publications on cyclist safety in road traffic, the perception of the bicycle as a means of transport in cities, and the introduction of innovative solutions, such as bicycle-sharing systems. Document type: Article

Abstract

When driven at low speeds, cars operating in electric mode have been found to be quieter than conventional cars. As a result, the auditory cues which pedestrians and cyclists use to assess the presence, proximity and location oncoming traffic may be reduced, posing a safety hazard. This laboratory study examined auditory localisation of conventional and electric cars including vehicle motion paths relevant for cycling activity. Participants (N = 65) in three age groups (16–18, 30–40 and 65–70 year old) indicated the location and movement direction (approaching versus receding) of cars driven at 15, 30 and 50 km/h in two ambient sound conditions (low and moderate). Results show that low speeds, higher ambient sound level and older age were associated with worse performance on the location and motion direction tasks. In addition, participants were less accurate at determining the location of electric and conventional car sounds emanating from directly behind the participant. Implications for cycling safety and proposals for adding extra artificial noise or warning sounds to quiet (electric) cars are discussed.