Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a system, called ProxiCycle, that logs when a passing car comes too close to a cyclist (four feet or less). A small, inexpensive sensor plugs into bicycle handlebars and tracks the passes, sending them to the rider’s phone. The team tested the system for two months with 15 cyclists in Seattle and found a significant correlation between the locations of close passes and other indicators of poor safety, such as collisions.
Deployed at scale, the system could support mapping or navigating cyclists on safer bike routes through cities .To start, researchers surveyed 389 people in Seattle. Respondents of all cycling experience levels ranked the threat of cars as the factor which most discouraged them from cycling, and said they would be very likely to use a map that helps navigate for safety.
The team found a significant correlation between close passes and both other indicators of cycling risk. They also found that this measure of close passes was a better indicator of actual safety than the surveyed perceived safety, which is the current standard used by policymakers to study safety when collisions are not enough.
Source: Science Daily