Decreasing the likelihood of cycling accidents by signalling intentions to other road users through a lighting system: A feasibility study

A new intelligent lighting system for on a bicycle was designed so that road-users can easily interpret cyclist’s intentions and behaviour. The system conveys speed, breaking- and turning intentions to other road users through lighting signals. The effect the system has on other cyclists’ behaviour needs to be explored, but no general guidelines for setting up a test like this exist. For this reason, an exploratory feasibility study is carried out. This study aims to answer whether the distance between cyclists can be reliably measured, whether time-to-collision(TTC) is a useful indicator for cycling safety, and whether the System usability Scale (SUS) can be used for systems with less (complex) functions. Results show that participants were generally positive about the lighting system, mostly about the turning- and breaking signal. The distance between two cyclists can be measured reliably, but speed cannot. Therefore TTC is a less useful indicator than following distance. The SUS can be used for systems with less (complex) functions. Other recommendations to improve the validity of a follow-up study were made. Finally, it is recommended that feasibility studies in general are conducted and reported on more often, so that the exploratory nature of research is stressed more clearly.