Assessing the Overtaking Lateral Distance Between Motor Vehicles and Bicycles - Influence on Energy Consumption and Road Safety

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to analyse the impacts of the overtaking lateral distance between a bicycle and a motor vehicle (MV) on road safety and energy consumption at two-lane urban roads. An on-board sensor platform was installed on a probe bicycle to measure the overtaking lateral distance and dynamic data. The Bicycle Specific Power (BSP) methodology was used to estimate human required power to ride a bicycle while Vehicle Specific Power (VSP) was used for MVs. The results showed that 50% of overtaking lateral distance were lower than 0.5 m in the peak hours. The BSP and VSP analyses for different values of overtaking lateral distance did not result in any relationship between variables. There was a good fit (R2 > 0.67) between traffic volumes and overtaking lateral distance in the peak hours. On average, the MVs energy consumption in the afternoon was 92% higher than the morning peak periods.