Rachel Talbot

Fatal and serious collisions involving pedal cyclists and trucks in London between 2007 and 2011

ABSTRACT Objective: Increased numbers of people riding pedal cycles have led to a greater focus on pedal cycle safety. The aim of this article is to explore factors that are associated with fatal and a small number of serious-injury pedal cyclist crashes involving trucks that occurred in London between 2007 and 2011. Methods: Data were collected from police collision files for 53 crashes, 27 of which involved a truck (≥3.5 tonnes) and a pedal cycle. A systematic case review approach was used to identify the infrastructure, vehicle road user, and management factors that contributed to these crashes and injuries and how these factors interacted. Results: Trucks turning left conflicting with pedal cyclists traveling straight ahead was a common crash scenario. Key contributory factors identified included the pedal cyclists not being visible to the truck drivers, road narrowing, and inappropriate positioning of pedal cyclists. Conclusions: Crashes involving trucks and pedal cyclists are complex events that are caused by multiple interacting factors; therefore, multiple measures are required to prevent them from occurring.

The European road safety decision support system on risks and measures

The European Road Safety Decision Support System (roadsafety-dss.eu) is an innovative system providing the available evidence on a broad range of road risks and possible countermeasures. This paper describes the scientific basis of the DSS. The structure underlying the DSS consists of (1) a taxonomy identifying risk factors and measures and linking them to each other, (2) a repository of studies, and (3) synopses summarizing the effects estimated in the literature for each risk factor and measure, and (4) an economic efficiency evaluation instrument (E3-calculator). The DSS is implemented in a modern web-based tool with a highly ergonomic interface, allowing users to get a quick overview or go deeper into the results of single studies according to their own needs.

80 Developing the European road safety decision support system

Background The European Road Safety Decision Support System (DSS) is one of the key objectives of the European co-funded research project SafetyCube in order to better support evidence-based policy making. The SafetyCube project results will be assembled in the form of a Decision Support System that will present for each suggested road safety measure: details of the risk factor tackled, the measure itself, the best estimate of casualty reduction effectiveness, the cost-benefit evaluation and the analytic background. While the development and evaluation of the measures will be developed into a format and structure that will enable industry, policy-makers and other stakeholders to access the information in an efficient manner within the DSS. In order to provide policy-makers and industry with comprehensive and well-structured information about measures, it is essential that a systems approach is used to ensure the links between risk factors and all relevant safety measures are made fully visible. The DSS is intended to become a major source of information for industry, policy-makers and the wider road safety community; it will incorporate the knowledge base of accident causation, risks and measures that will be developed in the project and the underlying methodological systems. It will enable a considerable advance in the provision of evidence-based road safety policies. It will be developed in a form that can readily be incorporated within the existing European Road Safety Observatory of the European Commission DG-MOVE. Methods For the development of the European Road Safety Decision Support System a comprehensive common methodology is designed and applied in existing and new studies of road safety measures effectiveness evaluation. The DSS covers all types of road safety interventions, including the road user behaviour, infrastructure, vehicle, as well as road safety management. Results In this paper, the structure and the functioning of the European Road Safety Decision Support System will be presented, together with the first results of the application of the common methodology for the evaluation of road safety measures effectiveness. Conclusions The development of the European Road Safety Decision Support System presents a great potential to further support decision making at local, regional, national and international level, aiming to fill in the current gap of comparable measures effectiveness evaluation across Europe and worldwide.

296 Cyclist deaths in London: implications from a safe systems perspective

Background In 2013 the London Mayor committed to increasing cycling levels by 400% (from 2001) by 2026. Although the numbers of deaths per year are relatively low cycling in London has become highly politicised with significant media focus on every cycle death in the capital. This study was commissioned by Transport for London to explore contributory factors to cyclist deaths and implications for interventions. Methods This study involved an in-depth case review of 53 pedal cycle fatalities in London between 2007–2011. Police fatal reports were used in the analysis. The method involved application of a Haddon matrix approach to data analysis and a case by case review by a multidisciplinary team to explore the multifactorial nature of contributory factors from a safe systems perspective. Results Over half the crashes involved a truck (>3.5 tonnes) as the primary collision partner, most happened during daylight and the commute period, on low speed (30 mph) urban roads and at a junction, particularly at a complex junction. A notable finding was the involvement of trucks in fatalities, particularly for female cyclists, where the truck was turning left. For these crashes contributory factors were identified as poor visibility of the cyclist to the truck driver related to cab design and lack of mirrors, poor positioning by the cyclist and infrastructure issues such as lane narrowing creating a conflict point between cyclist and trucks. Conclusions Potential countermeasures to mitigate risks for cyclists include the design of trucks to create greater visibility of vulnerable road users, training of both drivers and cyclists to raise awareness of visibility and designing infrastructure and managing traffic to reduce the opportunities of conflicts arising in the first place. Few well designed intervention studies were identified. The overrepresentation of female cyclists in collisions with left turning trucks is an issue that warrants further investigation.