Conspicuity issues for motorcycles and bicycles

1. Conspicuity issues for motorcycles and bicycles Narelle Haworth Presentation to National Road Safety Forum, Tasmania 2013

2. Outline • Active safety for two wheelers • Conspicuity concepts and measurement • Themes and methods in conspicuity research • Use of conspicuity aids • Effectiveness of conspicuity aids • Issues for the future

3. Active safety for two-wheelers • PTWs • traditionally, most focus in crash avoidance on driver training, not vehicle safety • development and evaluation of improved braking systems for PTWs • recent work on performance and acceptability of Advanced Rider Assistance Systems • Bicycles • little work in improving active safety of vehicle • recognition of benefits for VRUs of some active safety sytems for motor vehicles (ISA, automatic braking, blind spot reduction for HVs, V2V, V2I) (Steriu, 2012)

4. Major TW safety issues • 80% of on-road bicycle and 58% of motorcycle rider fatalities in Australia involve motor vehicles (DIT, 2012) • Plus at least 22% of hospital admissions for on-road bicycle crashes (Henley and Harrison, 2012) • Car driver mostly at fault in TW crashes • Evidence of looked but failed to see (LBFS)

5. Conspicuity • The object’s ability to attract visual attention • Perceptual or sensory conspicuity • Relates to physical characteristics such as colour, luminance, angular size, position in field of view, angular velocity, loudness • Cognitive conspicuity • Expectancy • Relates to frequency of stimulus, position, velocity, personal interest and experience

6. Importance of cognitive conspicuity • Examination of bicycle-car crashes found that bicyclists aren’t where drivers look (Rasanen and Summala, 1998) • This questions value of both sensory conspicuity improvements and passing distance requirements • Car drivers with motorcycling experience (dual drivers) less likely to be involved in motorcycle crashes or be at fault (Brooks & Guppy, 1990; Magazzu et al., 2006) • Dual drivers know where to look for motorcycles • Roge et al. (2012) dual drivers detected mcycs in rear vision at greater distance in simulator • Crundall et al. (2008) car drivers with motorcycling experience held more positive beliefs about motorcyclists than other car drivers

7. Themes of conspicuity research • Benefits of motorcycle daytime lights • Effects of DRL for other vehicles on VRU detectability • Patterns of use of conspicuity aids and factors predicting use • Factors underlying looked but failed to see • General studies of factors contributing to mcyc and bicycle crashes with conspicuity as one factor

8. Discussion of methods used in conspicuity research • Laboratory experiments • Priming “respond when you see a motorcycle” or too many TWs • Detection versus recognition and reaction • Often static images or lack of competing tasks • Simulator • Surveys of rider attitudes and behaviours • High distances ridden, adults, road bikes, low severity crashes • Observational studies • Crash data and indepth analyses • Sometimes inappropriate comparisons, other confounding factors

9. Reported use of conspicuity aids by cyclists • Always use rear light in dark/low-light conditions • 92% NZ, 90% Qld • Always use front light in dark/low-light conditions • 87% NZ, 84% Qld • Wear fluoro clothing/accessories • 30% always NZ, 14% always/almost always Qld • higher for females NZ • Wear bright coloured clothing/accessories • 43% always/almost always Qld • Wear reflective clothing/accessories • 21% always/almost always Qld (NZ: Thornley et al., 2011, Qld: unpublished CARRS-Q data)

10. CASR cyclist observations • Adelaide CBD commuter cyclists (Raftery & Grigo, 2013) • 38% of cyclists had high frontal conspicuity; 8% wore high visibility vests • 18% of cyclists had high rear conspicuity • 57% of cyclists with high frontal conspicuity had obscured rear conspicuity, mainly backpacks (particularly males) • High visibility vest more common if wearing non-cycling clothing and aged 30-59 (cf 20-29)

11. Effectiveness of conspicuity aids • Taupo Bicycle Study (Thornley et al., 2011) • riders who always wore fluorescent colours had 8x fewer days off work from bicycle crash injury in last year (cf never wear) • controlled for age group, gender, average cycling speed, years of experience, bunch riding, distance ridden per year • Motorcycle case-control study (Wells et al., 2004) • high visibility clothing associated with 37% lower injury risk

12. Effectiveness of conspicuity aids • Cochrane Review (Kwan & Mapstone, 2009) • Daytime: • fluorescent yellow, red and orange improved detection and recognition • yellow was best non-fluoro • Night-time: • lamps and flashing lights • retroreflective material in red and yellow • Other factors: road condition, contrast, weather, street lighting, background clutter, vehicle roadworthiness • Survey: Riders and pedestrians over-estimate their own visibility (Wood et al., 2009) • Promising approaches focus on incorporating movement into lighting

13. Biomotion (biological motion) • Visual sensitivity to patterns of human motion can be used to improve the conspicuity of bicyclists at night • Wood et al. (2012) on-road experiment showed • Knee and ankle reflectors increased drivers’ detection distances over reflective vest alone or black clothing alone • Knee and ankle reflectors compensated for poorer detection by older drivers • Static or flashing bicycle light did not enhance detection

14. Phi-phenomenon • Illusion of movement (and greater size) when two flashing lights (Gershon & Shinar, 2013) • Motorcycles detected more often and more quickly with ABLS cf bright colours, especially in clutter and dusk

15. Issues for the future • Growth in both motorcycle and bicycle use • Enough to change cognitive conspicuity?? • Electric bicycles may not have the speed profiles expected for bicycles • More cars with DRL? • Acceptability of conspicuity enhancements • Will car-based systems for detecting VRUs solve the problem? • Issue of age of vehicle fleet

16. Take-home messages • Bright colours and lights are good but not enough • Moving lights may be more effective than stationary • Driver experience is an important determinant of whether TWs are seen

17. Questions? n.haworth@qut.edu.au Mark your Diaries! International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety Conference (2013) 25-28 August 2013, Brisbane Registrations now open! http://t2013.com CRICOS No. 00213J

18. References (1) • Brooks, P. & Guppy, A. (1990). Driver Awareness and Motorcycle Accidents. Proceedings of the International Motorcycle Safety Conference, 2(10), 27–56. • Crundall , D., Bibby, P., Clarke, D., Ward, P., & Bartle C. (2008). Car drivers’ attitudes towards motorcyclists: A survey. Accident Analysis and Prevention , 40, 983–993 • DIT. (2012). Australian road deaths database. http://www.bitre.gov.au/statistics/safety/fatal road crash database.aspx • Gershon, P. & Shinar, D. (2013). Increasing motorcycles attention and search conspicuity by using Alternating-Blinking Lights System (ABLS). Accident Analysis and Prevention , 50, 801-810. • Goldenbeld, C., Houtenbos, M. & Ehlers, E. (2010). The use of portable media players and mobile phones while cycling; Results of a large-scale internet survey (R-2010-5). SWOV:Leidschendam, The Netherlands. (Dutch with English abstract) • Henley, G., Harrison, J.E. (2012). Trends in Serious Injury Due to Land Transport Accidents, Australia 2008–09. INJCAT 143. Injury Research and Statistics Series no. 67. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra.

19. References (2) • Kwan, I. & Mapstone, J. (2004). Visibility aids for pedestrians and cyclists: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 36(3), 305–312. • Magazzu, D., Comelli, M. & Marinoni, A. (2006). Are car drivers holding a motorcycle licence less responsible for motorcycle–car crash occurrence? A non-parametric approach. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 38, 365–370. • Raftery, S.J. & Grigo, J.A.L. (2013). The conspicuity of South Australian cyclists: • implications for safety (CASR113). • Rasanen, M. & Summala, H. (1998). Attention and expectation problems in bicycle–car collisions: an in-depth study. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 30(5), 657–666. • Steriu, M., 2012. Raising the Bar – Review of Cycling Safety Policies in the European Union. European Transport Safety Council, Brussels.

20. References (3) • Thornley, S.J., Woodward, A., Langley, J.D., Ameratunga, S.N., Rodgers, A. (2008). Conspicuityand bicycle crashes: preliminary findings of the Taupo Bicycle Study. Injury Prevention, 14(1), 11–18. • Wells, S., Mullin, B., Norton, R., Langley, J., Connor, J., Lay-Yee, R. (2004). Motorcycle rider conspicuity and crash related injury: case-control study. British Medical Journal, 328, 828–857. • Wood, J.M., Lacherez, P.F., Marszalek, R.P., King, M.J. (2009). Drivers’ and cyclists’ experiences of sharing the road: incidents, attitudes and perceptions of visibility. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 41(4), 772–776. • Wood, J.M., Tyrrell, R.A., Marszalek, R., Lacherez, P., Carberry, T., Chu, B.S. (2012). Using reflective clothing to enhance the conspicuity of bicyclists at night. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 45, 726–730. • Yuan, W. (2000). The effectiveness of the ‘ride-bright’ legislation for motorcycles in Singapore. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 32(4), 559–563.