Exploring Drivers’ Attitudes and Behaviors toward Bicyclists: The Effect of Explicit and Implicit Attitudes on Self-Reported Safety Behaviors

Bicycling in the United States is disproportionately unsafe as a transportation mode. Despite comprising a smaller share roadway users, bicyclists are twelve times more likely to be killed in a traffic crash with a car than car occupants (Pucher and Dijkstra, 2003). Bicyclists involved in a collision with a car are three times as likely to suffer a serious injury (Rivara et al., 1997) and significantly more likely to suffer a traumatic brain injury (Juhra et al., 2012) than bicyclists in non-automobile-involved crashes. Existing research into crash causation has focused on instrumental factors (e.g. intersection type, vehicle speed) but little research has probed the role of attitudes in interactions between roadway users (Musselwhite et al., 2010). Drivers’ attitudes toward bicyclists, and how those attitudes may affect drivers’ behavior, are a largely unexplored area of research, particularly in the United States. Bringing together social psychological theories with existing techniques for measuring driver attitudes and behavior, this research utilizes an online survey to measure drivers’ explicit attitudes and self-reported behaviors and test drivers’ implicit attitudes toward bicyclists. Understanding drivers’ attitudes toward bicyclists, and whether those attitudes predict behaviors, is integral to advancing goals of community livability that incorporate safety and environmental sustainability.

• Record URL:
  http://nitc.trec.pdx.edu/research/project/989

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $15000
• Contract Numbers:

  NITC_989

  DTRT1-G-UTC27

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  Portland State University

  Urban Studies and Planning
  P.O. Box 751
  Portland, Oregon  United States  97207
• Managing Organizations:

  TREC at Portland State University

  1900 SW Fourth Ave, Suite 175
  P.O. Box 751
  Portland, Oregon  United States  97201
• Project Managers:

  Hagedorn, Hau

• Performing Organizations:

  Portland State University

  Urban Studies and Planning
  P.O. Box 751
  Portland, Oregon  United States  97207
• Principal Investigators:

  Goddard, Tara

• Start Date: 20170915
• Expected Completion Date: 20171215
• Actual Completion Date: 20170601
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attitudes; Bicycle crashes; Bicycle travel; Crash causes; Crash injuries; Drivers; Fatalities; Traumatic brain injuries
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01629454
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Institute for Transportation and Communities
• Contract Numbers: NITC_989, DTRT1-G-UTC27
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Mar 17 2017 11:15AM