Het kijkgedrag van automobilisten en fietsers bij kruispunten met een tweerichtingsfietspad. [Viewing behaviour of drivers and cyclists at intersections with a two-way cycle track].

Abstract

Cyclist driving in the unexpected direction, the opposite direction of the motorized traffic, cause problems. For this type of accidents, drivers viewing behaviour seems to be important. The purpose of the study is to investigate in which way the viewing behaviour of drivers can be improved, so there will be less accidents at intersections with a two-way cycle track. Therefore, the viewing behaviour of drivers and cyclists was observed at two locations in the city of Groningen. Also at those locations a manipulation took place by installing a traffic sign that warns drivers for cyclists from both directions. This sign was used in two conditions, in a passive condition and in an active condition. In the active condition the flashing lights around the sign were manually switched on, whenever a car approached the intersection. Beside this warning sign the influence of a speed bump on viewing behaviour and viewing behaviour of cyclists was also studied. The results show that the viewing behaviour of drivers improved, but not significantly in the condition with a passive sign and even more in the condition with an active sign compared to the condition without a warning sign. Regarding the influence of the speed bump the results showed an opposite effect than expected on base of the theory. Finally, cyclists seem to hardly display viewing behaviour when crossing an intersection.