Citation

Terzano K. Accid. Anal. Prev. 2013; 57: 87-90.

Affiliation

School of Geographical Sciences & Urban Planning, Arizona State University, 975 S. Myrtle Avenue, Fifth Floor, Tempe, AZ 85287-5302, USA. Electronic address: terzano@gmail.com.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.aap.2013.04.007

PMID

23643938

Abstract

As planners and public health officials in many cities around the world seek to increase bicycle ridership, bicyclists who are performing a secondary task (such as listening to a portable music device) may pose a risk to public safety. This study examines bicycling safety and potentially distracted behavior in The Hague, the Netherlands, a place where bicycling is a common, everyday travel mode among all walks of life and where bicycling infrastructure is well developed. Based on 1360 observations of bicycling behavior, this study shows that bicyclists who were using a cell phone, listening to a portable music device, or talking with other bicyclists exhibited more unsafe behaviors than those bicyclists who were not performing a secondary task. Furthermore, bicyclists who were performing a secondary task also more frequently created situations where other people had to evade them to avoid an accident. As with distracted car driving, the performance of a secondary task while bicycling may be unsafe for the person engaging in the behavior as well as for other people around them.

Keywords: Bicyclist distraction

Language: en