Intersection scenarios between cars and bicycles are regarded as among the most dangerous situations in traffic, and 8 out of 10 car-bike accidents have been found to occur there. This is due to both driver and cyclist behaviour, and both aspects are addressed within the MeBeSafe project. Car drivers have reported that cyclistst simply appear in front of them out of nowhere, with no time to spot them. If both cyclists and car drivers adapt their speed ahead of an intersection, there will be more time to spot each other and react. This report describes the development of a nudge to make cyclists reduce their speed and increase their attention to traffic. It also describes various ways to influence cyclists' trajectories. The process has involved researching current literature and holding a focus group on traffic problems, coming up with various ideas, testing the ideas and changing them based on the results and finally evaluating the most promising ones, all based on results, opinions and requirements from various stakeholders. Both visual and haptic nudges have been tried. Six different visual nudges to reduce speed were tried. Adaptive digital speed signs showed the greatest speed reduction, but is dependent on the signs being seen. Transverse stripes placed increasingly closer together as well as progressively naroowing down the road had an equal but somewhat smaller effect (12% greater decrease than baseline scenarios). However, these latter two are completely independent of being noticed, indicating that they act upon cyclists on a subconscious level. All visual nudges were accepted by cyclists. Six different haptic nudges to reduce speed were also tried. These included softer variants of speed bumps and rumble strips, soft asphalt, spongy asphalt and coarse alphalt and an upward slope. The speed reductions were very small, and appreciation very mixed. Cyclists clearly preferred visual nudges. In addition, trajectory-altering nudges were tried. It was found that lines when merging two biking lanes together may help make collisions less likely. A plan was set up for how to measure the nudges' effect over time, and nudges were selected based on formulated requirements. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting