A strategy for avoiding collisions between heavy goods vehicles and cyclists

Abstract

Heavy goods vehicles turning left across the path of a cyclist cause approximately 40% of the most serious injuries and fatalities to cyclists. A collision avoidance strategy is proposed in this study. Based on measurement of the current position and motion of the cyclist relative to the heavy goods vehicle, the future position of the cyclist after a short period is predicted by assuming constant acceleration and constant yaw rate. The brakes on the heavy goods vehicle are applied if the predicted future cyclist position overlaps the future envelope of the heavy goods vehicle. A parametric study shows that a high portion of potential collisions could be prevented in this way. Nineteen fatal accidents involving left-turning heavy goods vehicles and cyclists are reconstructed in simulation from police report files and the collision avoidance system is simulated. It is concluded that the introduction of the proposed collision avoidance strategy could possibly have prevented up to 18 of the 19 deaths in these accidents.