The visual control of bicycle steering: The effects of speed and path width

Abstract

Although cycling is a widespread form of transportation, little is known about the visual behaviour of bicycle users. This study examined whether the visual behaviour of cyclists can be explained by the twolevel model of steering described for car driving, and how it is influenced by cycling speed and lane width. In addition, this study investigated whether travel fixations, described during walking, can also be found during a cycling task. Twelve adult participants were asked to cycle three fifteen meter long cycling lanes of 10, 25 and 40cm wide at three different self-selected speeds (i.e., slow, preferred and fast). Participants' gaze behaviour was recorded at 50Hz using a head mounted eye tracker and the resulting scene video with overlay gaze cursor was analyzed frame by frame. Four types of fixations were distinguished: (1) travel fixations, (2) fixations inside the cycling lane (path), (3) fixations to the final meter of the lane (goal), and (4) fixations outside of the cycling lane (external). Participants were found to mainly watch the path (41%) and goal (40%) region while very few travel fixations were made (<5%). Instead of travel fixations, an optokinetic nystagmus was revealed when looking at the near path. Large variability between subjects in fixation location suggests that different strategies were used. Wider lanes resulted in a shift of gaze towards the end of the lane and to external regions, whereas higher cycling speeds resulted in a more distant gaze behaviour and more travel fixations. To conclude, the two-level model of steering as described for car driving is not fully in line with our findings during cycling, but the assumption that both near and far regions are necessary for efficient steering seems valid. A new model for visual behaviour during goal directed locomotion is presented.

A pilot study of road lighting, cycle lighting and obstacle detection

“…5 Eye tracking studies used to investigate cyclists' visual behaviour have tended to use artificial settings such as watching a video 6 and artificial, straight lanes marked out in a gymnasium. 7 For pedestrians, natural settings and videos lead to different gaze allocation 8 and the same is expected for cyclists. Vansteenkiste et al 9 studied the visual gaze behaviour of five cyclists along a city centre route and found a greater proportion of gazes were toward the road surface when the surface quality was low than when it was high, suggesting that detection of potential obstacles was an important task.…”

The effects of cycle lanes, vehicle to kerb distance and vehicle type on cyclists’ attention allocation during junction negotiation

“…The research presented in the present paper draws on and extends the work of Frings et al (2012), Parkin et al (2007) and Vansteenkiste et al, (2013) that with a cycle lane it is also the case that motor traffic may pass closer to a cycle user than they would if the cycle user and the motor vehicle driver were sharing the same lane (Parkin and Meyers, 2010). No evidence has shown directly that cycle lane presence reduces the perceived risk of cycling.…”

“…Thus, examining how cyclists divide their attention and how this interacts with the effects of contextual factors on attention allocation tells us how such factors affect cyclists' overall situational awareness and, in particular, their awareness of offside passing opportunities. Recent research using eye tracking methodology suggests that in the absence of junctions or other traffic, cyclists divide their attention between the goal (a visible end point to their journey) and the path they are travelling on, with little attention directed outside these areas (Vansteenkiste, Cardon, D'Hondt, Philippaerts, & Lenoir, 2013).…”

Lighting for cycling in the UK—A review

“…41 So far, eye-tracking studies used to record cyclists' visual behaviour have tended to use artificial settings such as watching a video 42 and artificial, straight lanes marked out in a gymnasium. 43 For pedestrians, natural settings and videos lead to different gaze allocation 44 and the same is expected for cyclists. One study 45 has used eye tracking to investigate gaze in a natural setting, but did not employ a dual task or similar to reveal critical fixations from all gaze fixations.…”