Intersection Roadway Marking Design: Effects Over Cyclist’s Safety Perception

Abstract

Bicycles as a transport mode, has many advantages to improve quality of urban life for carbon less cities, traffic congestion reduction and good for resident’s health. Despite these advantages, the number of new cyclists does not increase in cities with low cycling maturity. There is a large percent of residents interested but concerned about safety to cycling in urban streets. We developed an experiment with images simulating a cyclist’s route in an urban road intersection to evaluate the level of safety perception in different types of cycling infrastructure. Three variables were studied: traffic density, cycleway types and intersection designs. A set of images was shown to 300 individuals online who rated each image in a four-point scale related to their perception of safety. Safety perception was higher for: low traffic density, painted cyclist lane and separation of cyclists from traffic. The simple presence of colored markings increased the safety perception relatedly with no design in the intersection environment. The more complex studied intersection design increased even more the safety perception. Naturally, the interventions of cycle design that include specific measures for cyclists needs increase not only the level of their safety perceived, but the likelihood of using bicycles. The complex design (Dutch model safety intersection design) is a good approach to increase security awareness. In conclusion, there is a clear interaction between the visual design on roads and the cyclist, this interaction has a positive effect on the perception of safety and to improve cycling.