A methodology to estimate the number of unsafe vehicle-cyclist passing events on urban arterials

Abstract

In this study interactions between motorized vehicles and bicycles were studied by analyzing the overtaking behavior of motorized vehicles when passing bicycles on urban arterials. A methodology is presented to estimate the number of ‘unsafe’ passing events on 4-lane urban arterials with no on-street bike lanes. A ‘critical passing distance’ is defined to classify expected passing maneuvers i.e. when a motorized vehicle overtakes a bicycle, into ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe’ passing events. The proposed method enables calculation of the expected number of ‘unsafe passing’ events based on the expected bicycle demand, road segment’s length, AADT, speed limit, and traffic signal timing parameters. The ‘critical passing distance’ is an input parameter and can be set by the planner. Given the number of expected ‘unsafe passing’ events, and institutional safety objectives and standards in terms of acceptable risk levels for cyclists, transportation planning departments can use the proposed methodology to decide whether provision of a specific cycling facility is necessary for a given road segment.