Excellent study on Bicycle/Motor Vehicle collisions by Wayne Pein, who was formerly a Research Associate at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center. He has been involved in a number of Federal Highway Administration and state level bicycle and pedestrian research projects.
Lessons Learned:
In Bicycle/Motor Vehicle collisions where the motorist is "at fault":
1. 87% of the collisions occur at intersections, including driveways and parking lots.
2. In 95% of the collisions the bicycle was hit on the side. The bicycle was rear ended by a motor vehicle in only 5% of the collisions*.
Conclusion: Bicycle lights need to be designed more to prevent side collisions instead of head on or rear end collisions, especially at intersections, where being seen at a 30-60 degree angle at a distance of 50-300 ft is far more important than at a distance of 600ft(or more), either directly ahead or directly behind, which is the current design criteria**.
Steve Scott
See the complete analysis at: http://www.bicyclinglife.com/Library/TaleOfThree.htm
*The figures of 87% for intersection collisions and 95% for side collisions are computed by Steve Scott from the study data and are not part of the original study by Wayne Pein.:
**Current Florida law requires bicycle lights to be "visible" from 600ft behind and 500ft ahead. 600ft = two football fields or a little more than .1 mile(528ft).
 |
| Spoke Lights are easy to snap on to your spokes and are so important for side visibility! (Deena Leiman) |
DontGetHit.com
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]