ROAD SAFETY FOR CYCLISTS BASED ON THE CALORIES NEEDED

Abstract

Cyclists are a vulnerable group of road users, especially when no separate infrastructure for cyclists is provided. Then, road factors such as distance and altitude differences can indirectly affect cyclists safety. Therefore, the authors proposed a procedure based on the geometric characteristics of the road that can determine riding difficulties for cyclists. The proposed procedure can be used both by the public authorities who manage cyclists safety and as a method of classifying the road network for cycling. The proposed procedure, based on the use of pattern recognition techniques, analyses data from a sample of nine riders who travelled on rural roads within the Municipality of Messina (Italy) to classify the roads according to their cycling difficulty. For each rider, duration, distance, road slope, altitude difference and spent calories have been measured and analysed. The collected data were used for the development of a model capable of predicting the cyclist’s physical effort as a function of the road alignment itself. Knowing the effort required to cycle along a route can contribute to a more complete assessment of road classification, commonly defined according to motor vehicles. Moreover, it may constitute a measure determining the safety of cycling by encouraging cyclists to travel along roads compatible with their physical abilities.