Identifying behavioral norms among bicyclists in mixed-traffic conditions

Abstract

This study examines the presence of behavioral norms while riding a bicycle in mixed-traffic conditions. We assess car and bicycle on-street interactions by asking bicyclists to consider how they would respond when driving a car and encountering a bicyclist behaving in ways that might be perceived as reckless, rude, and/or illegal. We hypothesize that individuals have preconceived notions of what constitutes appropriate bicycling established, in part, by their own experiences as bicyclists. These experiences as bicyclists themselves inform what they deem acceptable behavioral norms by other bicyclists, and in turn, the nature of their response (e.g. aggressive or benevolent) towards other bicyclists.We use data drawn from an online survey that posed hypothetical, mixed-traffic scenarios to those that bicycle and also drive. Reactions to various scenarios are operationalized as dependent variables in logistic regression models. Independent variables include socio-demographic factors, general perceptions of bicycling, and measures of specific bicycling behaviors. Regression results indicate that as an individual’s own bicycling experience increases, their likelihood of an aggressive response to bicyclists in a mixed-traffic encounter is reduced. Additionally, we find that increasingly aggressive responses to other bicyclists may be evidence of altruistic punishment, wherein bicyclists ascribe and seek to enforce their own behavioral norms regarding appropriate bicycling behavior in mixed traffic. Such norms, however, reflect personal experience rather than existing traffic laws. Multi-modal education, infrastructure, and revised traffic laws are needed to clearly ascribe appropriate travel behavior by all modes and facilitate safe, efficient, multi-modal interactions.