Red-light running behavior of cyclists in Italy: An observational study

Abstract

Accident analysis and studies on traffic revealed that cyclists' violation of red-light regulation is a typical infringement committed by cyclists. Furthermore, an association between cyclists' crash involvement and red-light violations has been found across different countries. The literature on red-light running cyclists' behavior in relation to their characteristic is still scarce. The present study, adopted an eye-observational methodology to investigates differences in cyclists' crossing behavior at intersections, with a particular attention to their demographical characteristics. The classification of cyclists' red-light behavior in risk-taking, opportunistic and law-obeying, was adopted and re-adapted to reflect more objective behaviors, eliminating any inference or judgment. Two researchers at a time observed unobtrusively at four different intersections, during morning and late afternoon peak hours, 1381 cyclists approaching the traffic light during the red phase. More than 60% of the observed cyclists violated the traffic control. Results showed that the visual search strategy displayed by the cyclists and the presence of other cyclists at the intersection are important factors in predicting the probability of red-light running behavior.

Visual Eye Gaze While Cycling: Analyzing Eye Tracking at Signalized Intersections in Urban Conditions

“…More germane to this work, Prati et al adopted an eye-observational methodology to investigate differences in cyclists' crossing behavior at intersections, paying particular attention to demographic characteristics [25]. Results here, for example, showed that visual search strategies across different types of cyclists moderated the probability of running a red-light.…”

Personality and Behavioral Predictors of Cyclist Involvement in Crash-Related Conditions

“…Among all the aforementioned factors, the behavior of road users has been proven to be the most immediate determinant of crash involvement [26], with cyclists not being an exception [27]. It is estimated that 60% of the fatal crashes involving cyclists are incurred by their undesirable behaviors such as red-light running, distracted riding, and the occupation of motorized vehicle lanes, and a large proportion of cycling-related crashes involve more than one dangerous cycling behavior [25,28,29]. Martínez-Ruiz et al, [30] noticed that when carrying a passenger or cycling under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the risk of being involved in single-vehicle crashes and collisions with another vehicle was substantially increased.…”

Understanding Electric Bikers’ Red-Light Running Behavior: Predictive Utility of Theory of Planned Behavior vs Prototype Willingness Model

“…So far, most existing evidence has revolved around the red-light infringement behavior of cyclists. Specifically, investigations have been performed on the influence of demographics [11][12][13][14][15], psychological factors [11][12][13], and other risk behaviors (e.g., unhelmeted riding, carrying passengers, using a phone, and listening to music) [14,16,22,23] on cyclists' RLR behavior. However, due to the differences in weight, speed, and acceleration of e-bikes and regular bicycles, there are some discrepancies in the riders' psychology.…”

“…Some studies reported that the speed and weight of e-bikes were both higher than those of regular bicycles, thereby leading to more injuries and fatalities [9]. In addition, previous findings showed that traffic violating behaviors, especially red-light running (RLR) behavior at signalized intersections, partially contributed to e-bikers-related accidents and fatalities [10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. us, studies on e-bikers' RLR behavior are needed, especially for countries with high e-bike ownership and e-bike-involved accidents.…”