Interactions with vulnerable road users

Rapport, 2017

Within UDRIVE there has been a specific focus on pedestrians, cyclists and Powered Two Wheelers (PTWs). These groups of road users are particularly vulnerable in traffic because they lack the protective shell that helps preventing serious injury once involved in a collision. In addition, these transport modes have several features that make them more prone to getting involved in a crash, e.g. related to reduced conspicuity and for the two-wheelers the difficulty to remain in balance, either or not in combination with high speeds. This type of factors make that pedestrians, cyclists and PTWs have a high risk of getting fatally or seriously injured in traffic. Within UDRIVE, a large amount of ‘naturalistic’ data was collected to get more in-depth insight in the interactions of these groups with passenger cars and trucks. The aim was to identify and understand the everyday behavioural patterns in these interactions as well as the circumstances of conflicts or safety critical events in these interactions. The current Deliverable reported on the analyses and results of a number of specific interaction types.