The Effect of Overtaking Distances on the Stress Occurrence of Cyclists in Urban Areas

To further promote the share of cyclists in urban and rural areas, the focus lieson both improving objective road safety and increasing the subjective feeling of safety among cyclists. The subjective feeling of insecurity often forms a barrier to more frequent bicycle use for people who have so far cycled little or not at all, and who are therefore important for increasing the cycling share in urban and rural areas.
The focus of the research is to examine overtaking interactions involving bike and car traffic. Overtaking cars is one of the main causes of stress for cyclists. Not only does overtaking have physical suction and pressure effects on bike traffic because of air displaced by the car body, but also psychological stressors. There are proximity boundaries where people feel unsafe when someone does not maintain them, especially when imposed upon by large, fast vehicles. During overtaking interactions, there is no direct opportunity for communication due to the separation effect of the car body. The cyclist also cannot confirm that the driver is aware of their presence.
Since 2020, Germany has mandated that car drivers may only overtake cyclists on the roadway with a distance greater than 1.5 m in the inner city, and 2.0 m out of town. ... mehrOther countries have similar regulations for overtaking interactions involving cyclists. France, Portugal and Spain have also adopted the 1.5 m law, in Australia, the distance is usually 1 meter on roads with speed limits less than 60 km/h and 1.5 meters on roads with higher speed limits. Distances set in the traffic regulations across different countries are primarily based on court rulings. Research is missing on which overtaking distance cyclists feel most safe and at which distance they are stressed.
This paper analyzes the effect of overtaking distances on cyclist stress. The research is based on test rides with 14 cyclists on urban streets. The bikes were equipped with sensors measuring the lateral distance between the bikes and overtaking cars. With the help of a stress-measuring method using medical fitness wristbands, stress-inducing overtaking interactions could be detected. The distance of the overtaking car and the stress events were compared by geometric and temporal coincidence. Through the Pearsons chi-squared test and the use of Cramer´s V, the results show a statically significant between closer overtaking distances and stress-triggering effects on cyclists: At distances under 1.6 meters, significantly more overtaking situations triggered stress.
The research has shown that the distance of cars overtaking cyclists has a big effect on the subjective safety of cyclists. The research also suggests that the 1.5 m approach is close to the measured “feel-safe” distance for cyclists and therefore supports regulations and enforcement around this value when planning streets to improve the safety of cyclists.