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Driver behavior during bicycle passing maneuvers in response to a Share the Road sign treatment
- Source :
- Accident Analysis & Prevention. 70:92-99
- Publication Year :
- 2014
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2014.
-
Abstract
- The interaction of motorists and bicyclists, particularly during passing maneuvers, is an area of concern to the bicycle safety community as there is a general perception that motor vehicle drivers may not share the road effectively with bicyclists. This is a particular concern on road sections with centerline rumble strips where motorists are prone to crowd bicyclists during passing events. One potential countermeasure to address this concern is the use of a bicycle warning sign with a “Share the Road” plaque. This paper presents the results of a controlled field evaluation of this sign treatment, which involved an examination of driver behavior while overtaking bicyclists. A series of field studies were conducted concurrently on two segments of a high-speed, rural two-lane highway. These segments were similar in terms of roadway geometry, traffic volumes, and other relevant factors, except that one of the segments included centerline rumble strips while the other did not. A before-and-after study design was utilized to examine changes in motor vehicle lateral placement and speed at the time of the passing event as they relate to the presence of centerline rumble strips and the sign treatment. Centerline rumble strips generally shifted vehicles closer to the bicyclists during passing maneuvers, though the magnitude of this effect was marginal. The sign treatment was found to shift motor vehicles away from the rightmost lane positions, though the signs did not significantly affect the mean buffer distance between the bicyclists and passing motorists or the propensity of crowding events during passing. The sign treatment also resulted in a 2.5 miles/h (4.0 km/h) reduction in vehicle speeds. Vehicle type, bicyclist position, and the presence of opposing traffic were also found to affect lateral placement and speed selection during passing maneuvers.
- Subjects :
- Rural Population
Automobile Driving
Engineering
business.industry
Accidents, Traffic
Video Recording
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Poison control
Human Factors and Ergonomics
Rumble
Crowding
A share
Bicycling
Transport engineering
Accident Prevention
Logistic Models
Overtaking
In vehicle
Humans
Environment Design
Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
business
Operating speed
Sign (mathematics)
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 00014575
- Volume :
- 70
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Accident Analysis & Prevention
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....395bdfaa54a71c7ed7daa13e5a9d3787