Analysis of the Influence of Sport Cyclists on Narrow Two-Lane Rural Roads Using Instrumented Bicycles and Microsimulation

Sara Moll, Griselda López and Alfredo García
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Sara Moll: Highway Engineering Research Group, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Griselda López: Highway Engineering Research Group, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Alfredo García: Highway Engineering Research Group, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-17

Abstract: It is frequent to see cyclists on Spanish two-lane rural roads, both riding individually and in groups. However, these roads were designed only for motorized vehicles, most of them having a narrow section with a null or impassable shoulder. Currently, drivers and cyclists have to share roads and interact, affecting both safety and traffic operation. The possibility of overtaking offers an improvement in traffic operation, however on narrow roads it can be difficult, meaning a greater invasion of the opposite lane thus creating more dangerous situations and implying a higher overtaking duration. To analyze the phenomenon, field data from instrumented bicycles and naturalistic videos were collected, then some performance measures to characterize safety and traffic operation were obtained. To increase the number of overtaking manoeuvres and performance measures obtained from observations, microsimulation has been used by adapting a model to include cyclists and their interaction with motorized vehicles. The traffic microsimulator was calibrated and validated with field data. The results show that cycle traffic presence decreases motorized vehicle average travel speed and increases percent followers and delays. Microsimulation can be used to study other traffic scenarios and can help road administrations to safely and efficiently integrate cyclists to vehicular traffic on rural roads.

Keywords: sport cyclist; traffic microsimulation; two-lane rural road; traffic operation; instrumented bicycle; overtaking cyclist manoeuvre; bicycle safety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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