Evaluating bicyclists' risk perception using video clips: Comparison of frequent and infrequent city cyclists

- Bicyclists rated the level caution continuously while watching video clips.
- Frequent and infrequent bicyclists were compared.
- Frequent bicyclists had higher number of caution estimate rises.
- Overall level of caution was not directly related to rises.
- Overall level of caution was elevated for fast bicyclists on sidewalks.

Hazard and risk perception has been studied extensively among car drivers, and their link to crash involvement is established. Bicyclists, in particular, are vulnerable road users. Better understanding of their risk and hazard perception could help to improve their traffic safety.In this study, we investigated the risk perception of bicyclists in a city environment. Two groups of bicyclists were compared: 19 frequent and 19 infrequent bicyclists. Participants were shown video clips taken with a camera attached to the handlebar of a bicycle, and they were asked to continuously indicate with a slider how much caution the situation needed.The frequent cyclists had more frequent rises in the caution estimate, which suggest that they anticipated or detected more hazards than infrequent cyclists. This is in line with the classical hazard perception results, which link the car driving experience to faster and more accurate hazard perception. The overall level or caution was not directly related to the rise event rate or bicycling frequency. Those cyclists who reported typically cycling faster than others showed elevated overall level of caution on sidewalks compared with others, but there was no difference on bike paths.