Elderly people ride bicycles more frequently and keep up cycling longer than before – a positive development, as cycling benefits our health and quality of life and plays a crucial role in staying mobile. However, older cyclists are at a higher risk of falling and injuring themselves in the process (fig. 1). Approximately three-quarters of the incidents are one-sided incidents which do not directly involve other road users. The number of older people getting injured in cycling accidents is expected to rise to 15,000 a year by 2020.

figure 1: statistics first aid.

Research shows that one-sided incidents are frequently preceded by interactions with other road users. The aim of this study is to develop product prototypes for a safety system that helps prevent incidents by supporting cyclists by means of safety products such as a system that directly or indirectly intervenes when cyclists lose their balance, a system that warns the cyclist and/or fellow road users in case of danger, or a system that automatically adjusts cycling speed.

The aim of this project:

The main aim of this project is to select behaviour that precedes incidents and that can be prevented by technology resulting in safety system that supports the older cyclist during interaction with other road users. To reach our aim we will investigate in:

• record, analyse and categorize the behaviour of older cyclists in relation to their interaction with other road users.
• behaviour detection and fed back to the cyclists in a safe way without mentally overloading.
• study to what extent behavioural interventions are effective to keep the older cyclist mobile and safe.
• study the interventions influence of mental workload and comfort of the older cyclist.
• gathering knowledge about older bicyclist’s fears, road user interactions and the effects of behavioural interventions to development prototypes.

Based on the objective six work packages are described:

WP1: Literature review and user requirements. Coordinator: R. (Rosemary) Dubbeldam, Roesingh Research and Development. Read more…..

WP2: On-site camera observation and Naturalistic Cycling study. Coordinator: D. (Dick) de Waard, University of Groningen.  Read more…..

WP3: Product specifications and technical feasibilities. Coordinator: M. (Maurice) Tak, INDES.  Read more…..

WP4: Development of safety product components for the selected system(s) and system integration on bicycle. Coordinator: M. (Maurice) Tak, INDES.  Read more…..

WP5: Evaluation of product components and validation of user requirements. Coordinator: D. (Dick) de Waard, University of Groningen.  Read more…..

WP6: Final field evaluation with target end users. Coordinator: D. (Dick) de Waard, University of Groningen.  Read more…..