A strategy for avoiding collisions between heavy goods vehicles and cyclists

Abstract

Heavy goods vehicles turning left across the path of a cyclist cause approximately 40% of the most serious injuries and fatalities to cyclists. A collision avoidance strategy is proposed in this study. Based on measurement of the current position and motion of the cyclist relative to the heavy goods vehicle, the future position of the cyclist after a short period is predicted by assuming constant acceleration and constant yaw rate. The brakes on the heavy goods vehicle are applied if the predicted future cyclist position overlaps the future envelope of the heavy goods vehicle. A parametric study shows that a high portion of potential collisions could be prevented in this way. Nineteen fatal accidents involving left-turning heavy goods vehicles and cyclists are reconstructed in simulation from police report files and the collision avoidance system is simulated. It is concluded that the introduction of the proposed collision avoidance strategy could possibly have prevented up to 18 of the 19 deaths in these accidents.

Field Testing of a Cyclist Collision Avoidance System for Heavy Goods Vehicles

“…Consequently the driver may not be able to see a cyclist in dangerous proximity. Secondly, HGVs often 'cut the corner' in urban streets, encroaching into the area where cyclists travel [5]. A simulation of a typical articulated HGV traversing a standard 90 degree left corner of radius 10m showed that the vehicle can encroach into the inner boundary of the traffic lane by 1.6m at maximum.…”

“…To make matters worse, false alarms are distracting and annoying for the driver, and therefore may be ignored or shut down. It is shown in [5] that some collisions between HGVs and cyclists could be prevented by suitable intervention in the motion of the vehicle. A braking manoeuvre, if introduced in time, could slow down or stop the HGV and let the cyclist escape.…”

“…A detailed simulation study for the proposed CAS was performed in [5], where two case studies were investigated. The first case study modelled articulated and rigid vehicles turning a fixed corner, alongside a cyclist.…”

“…It was concluded that 18 out of the 19 fatalities could have been prevented by the proposed CAS. See details in [5]. On the basis in this analysis it was decided to build and test the system described in this paper.…”

“…Based on the research presented in [5] and [6], it was decided to build and test a prototype collision avoidance system (CA). This paper discusses testing of the prototype CAS in real time for verification of its effectiveness in preventing potential collisions between cyclists and HGVs.…”