Modeling the Vehicle-Bicycle Collision - The Analysis of the Projection Distance and Acceleration at the Cyclist's Head

Abstract

The ever-growing demand for transportation and the need to carry both people and goods has led to increased congestions of road traffic networks. Subsequently, the main negative effect is the multiplication of serious road accidents. Of the total number of serious road accidents, a significant increase has been registered among cyclists, with 13.9% in 2014 of total vehicles involved in traffic accidents, compared to 6.6% in 2010. The present paper underpins a close analysis of the kinematic and dynamic parameters in the event of a vehicle - bicycle – cyclist assembly – collision type. To study the vehicle-bicycle-collision type, we carried out a comparative analysis with regard to the distance the cyclist is thrown away following the collision, the speed variation of the vehicle and of the bicycle, and the speed variation in the cyclist’s head area, as well as the variation of the acceleration recorded on the vehicle, the bicycle and the cyclist’s head area. Hence, we modelled and simulated the vehicle – bicycle collision for two distinct instances, i.e. a frontal vehicle – rear bicycle collision and a frontal vehicle - frontal bicycle collision.