Investigators at the Highway Safety Research Center are using virtual reality technology to learn how road and traffic conditions affect the perceived risks bicyclists face.
By simulating real-world road conditions, researchers want to find out how lane widths, traffic speed and traffic volume affect riders' willingness to take risks. Thirty-five riders wearing a special head-mounted display were asked to evaluate 16 different virtual reality roadway situations and rate each by how safe they felt.
Riders literally were immersed in the artificial world. When they looked down, they saw the bike's handle bars, while a glance behind them showed approaching cars and trucks.
They evaluated situations from a cyclist's viewpoint, then experienced the same conditions from a driver's perspective. They also viewed tapes of the conditions from the sides of the roads with and without cyclists present and rated each for risk factors.
"In the real world, it takes a lot of time and money to find sites that have the various conditions we want to research," said Ronald Hughes, manager of human factor studies for the center. "Also, there just isn't a way to put people on a bicycle, then behind the wheel of a car and then on the roadside, and then do an evaluation in a reasonable amount of time and at a reasonable cost."
David Harkey, center staff associate for roadway engineering studies, also is participating in the investigation, which will be completed later this spring. The study was funded by the Florida Department of Transportation.
Student David Banker rides a stationary bike as part of a UNC project to learn how to make roads safer for cyclists.
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