The Norwegian authorities want to limit the extent of car use in city areas to existing levels. Such a limitation would help combat climate change, improve health of citizens, and alleviate congestion. This implies that any further increase in transport needs will have to be met by walking, cycling and use of public transport. Reaching this ambitious goal requires knowledge about cyclists' preferences concerning operation and maintenance (M&O) of roads and foot/cycle paths. Previous research suggests that M&O have great implications for travel mode choice, bicycle route/path choice, safety, security, and comfort. With the need to serve bicyclists of all ages and genders, this study additionally explores which M&O of roads and foot/cycle the different demographic groups perceive positively or negatively. This article reports results from a nationwide survey in the summer of 2019. Two thousand three hundred seventy-six cyclists across Norway (55% male; 29% <40; 17% >60) participated to determine the cyclists' perceptions about year-round M&O of roads and foot/cycle paths. Respondents, rather than being randomly selected, completed an internet-linked survey. The variables included maintenance of foot/cycle paths in terms of salt and snow plowing and operation and maintenance of roads in terms of glass, holes/bumps, and conditions. Our results suggest that female cyclists suffer more from adverse conditions than do males. We also find that males are more likely to cycle during winter, which is an additional indication that adverse conditions affect women and men differently. Surprisingly, older cyclists report to be less affected by poor conditions than younger cyclists. Self-selection to participate in the survey among older cyclists might be an important explanation for this result. Cycling conditions vary greatly between geographical areas, reflecting the large climatic variations across Norway. Most respondents have experienced a cycle accident where conditions contributed, and many sometimes forfeit cycling due to adverse conditions. Implications for future research and practice of M&O are discussed.
There is great political motivation to improve conditions for cyclists to help solving the transport needs of the future. We used eye-tracking to collect data and analysed it using a novel machine learning approach. 40 cyclists in total were tasked with navigating a set route through the Oslo city centre. One group before the new infrastructure was in place and one group after. The analysis focused on developing a method that could be used to investigate how a new signage strategy impacted cyclists in Oslo. Improving signage could create safer traffic conditions for cyclists, while avoiding adding distracting elements. The algorithms developed were able to detect and categorize a variety of important objects. The signage system itself seemed to result in some route change among cyclists, but not all followed the suggested route. Qualitative analyses suggests that those who deviated cycled faster and looked less at signs, than those who chose the suggested route. The paper discusses strengths and weaknesses involved in this approach. While useful, one should be careful to conclude that gaze behaviour reflects the true inner consciousness of cyclists.
The current paper presents the results of behavioural observations in a field experiment with automated shuttles in Oslo, Norway. Video observations were conducted at five fixed locations along a challenging 1.2 km automated shuttle line with varying traffic conditions. Observed interactions between vulnerable road users and automated shuttles were coded using a predefined codebook, which allowed a structured quantitative analysis. The paper identified several potentially risky types of situations in which the automated shuttles did not always behave according to the traffic rules. Generally, the automated shuttles failed to give way to pedestrians at pedestrian crossings in 26%–50% of the interactions. Right-turning shuttles failed to yield to cyclists going straight in 38% of the interactions at observation Site 1 (the only location where the automated shuttle takes a right turn). In majority of same direction interactions between cyclists and automated shuttles, the interactions resulted in the cyclist overtaking the automated shuttle, usually on the left-hand side. Generally, the paper found little evidence of road users trying to bully or otherwise take advantage of the defensive driving style of the automated shuttles and identified only a limited number of interactions in which a vulnerable road user behaved ignorant or aggressive towards the automated shuttles. In addition, the paper found very little indication of temporal effects that suggest changes in the interaction patterns over time.
Automated shuttles are already seeing deployment in many places across the world and have the potential to transform public mobility to be safer and more accessible. During the current transition phase from fully manual vehicles toward higher degrees of automation and resulting mixed traffic, there is a heightened need for additional communication or external indicators to comprehend automated vehicle actions for other road users. In this work, we present and discuss the results from seven studies (three preparatory and four main studies) conducted in three European countries aimed at investigating and providing a variety of such external communication solutions to facilitate the exchange of information between automated shuttles and other motorized and non-motorized road users.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.