Passing distance, speed and perceived risks to the cyclist and driver in passing events

Many studies have examined the level of risk perceived by cyclists when they are being passed by motor vehicles (e.g., Beck et al., 2021; Rasch et al., 2022) and others have reported that drivers with negative attitudes towards cyclists self-report higher levels of driver aggression towards cyclists (e.g., Delbosc et al., 2019; Fruhen & Flin, 2015; Haworth et al., 2018). However, self-reported behaviours may not reflect a driver's observable behaviour (Fruhen et al., 2019). Lamondia and Duthie (2012) proposed that LPD is an indicator of the driver's degree of respect for a cyclist but other driver factors may also be important. Little is known about how accurately drivers canjudge lateral passing distance (Haworth et al., 2018) or whether some unsafe passes could simply reflect poor driver understanding of cyclist needs when sharing roadways. The general finding that LPDs are lower when there are parked cars or oncoming vehicles (Rubie et al., 2020), suggests that drivers may leave inadequate LPDs if they perceive that moving into the opposite side of the road poses a risk to themselves or their vehicle. Rasch et al. (2022) is one of the few studies to measure drivers' perceptions of the risk to themselves in overtaking cyclists. Some studies have examined how different motor vehicle speeds influence perceived risk of the passing motor vehicle for cyclists (Apasnore et al., 2017; Garcia et al., 2020; Llorca et al., 2017; Rasch et al., 2022) or drivers (Rasch et al., 2022), generally finding that cyclists perceive higher motor vehicle speeds are more hazardous. This paper examines (1) whether negative attitudes towards cyclists influence perceptions ofrisk: to the cyclist in passing events, (2) the factors associated with driver perceptions of the risk to themselves, and (3) if increases in motor vehicle speed are associated with higher levels of perceived risk to the cyclist and driver in the passing event. [From: Introduction