01624590

Component

Research has shown that cyclists’ safety, stress, and comfort levels greatly affect cycling routes and bicycle mode share. Some researchers have tried to categorize cyclists’ levels of traffic stress utilizing data that can be directly measured in the field, such as motorized travel lanes, travel speeds, and type of bicycle infrastructure. This research effort presents a novel approach to measuring cyclists’ stress: realworld, on-road measurements of physiological stress as cyclists travel across different types of bicycle facilities in various traffic volumes. Stress measurements are directly measured from several cyclists to study the impact of peak travel time, intersections, and facility types. Results show that on the same route: (a) stress levels during peak-hour traffic are higher than during off-peak traffic; (b) signalized intersections are hotspots for cyclists’ stress; and (c) average stress levels on on-street facilities are higher than on off-street facilities. Statistical tests clearly show that separated facilities are associated with lower stress levels than other types of facilities.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF20 Standing Committee on Bicycle Transportation.

01618707

17-06033

English

15p

2017

Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Photos; References; Tables

Bicycle facilities; Comfort; Cyclists; Safety; Stress (Psychology); Vehicle mix

Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2017 Paper #17-06033

PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 8 2016 12:26PM