Paul Schepers (right) accepts the 2012 Liberty Mutual Award from Jon Berman (left), president of the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors
May 07, 2012
HOPKINTON, MA – Researchers from the Netherlands received the 2012 Liberty Mutual Best Paper Award for their scientific paper, “What do cyclists need to see to avoid single-bicycle crashes?” The paper, published in Ergonomics (Vol. 54, No. 4, pp. 315-327, April 2011), discusses a scientific study that examined visual characteristics of cycling facilities (i.e., pavement markings on bicycle paths) in an effort to improve cycling safety. The winning researchers include Paul Schepers, M.Sc., M.A., road safety consultant with the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, Centre for Transport and Navigation (Delft), The Netherlands, and Berry P.L.M. den Brinker, Ph.D., researcher and director of the Scientific Institute for Low Vision Use Research and Vrije Universiteit, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The award was presented at the recent Annual Conference of the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors Annual Conference held in Blackpool, United Kingdom.
“The number of single-bicycle crash victims is substantial in countries with high levels of cycling,” says Paul Schepers. “Prior research (Ormel, et al., 2008 from the Dutch Consumer Safety Institute) has found that single-bicycle crashes comprise nearly three quarters of all cyclist traffic incidents and one-third of all traffic incident victims in the Netherlands.” To better understand the high incidence of these crashes, Schepers and den Brinker examined the role of visual characteristics of the infrastructure, such as pavement markings and the visibility of bollards, in single-bicycle crashes.
The investigation had two phases. First, the researchers obtained information from 734 bicycle crash victims treated at accident and emergency departments. The accident victims completed a questionnaire comprising both open-ended and closed questions about the crash and circumstances. With these data, the researchers applied a logistical model to study the relationship between the crashes and age, light condition, alcohol use, gaze direction, and familiarity with the crash scene. The results showed that crashes occur more often with cyclists with worsened vision and visual circumstances, including older cyclists and cyclists who drank alcohol prior to the crash.
The second study phase helped the researchers to establish a relationship with the characteristics of the visual design. Specifically, researchers looked at visibility in terms of visual periphery. To judge the visibility of critical information in the visual periphery, researchers applied the Image Degrading and Edge Detection method (IDED-method). The IDED-method blurs the image to simulate lowered visual acuity in the visual periphery (Image Degrading) and then marks all contrast differences above a minimal level of contrast (Edge Detection). The researchers applied this method to investigate the visual characteristics of 21 crash scenes that researchers could photograph under the same viewing, weather, and light conditions. Schepers explains the importance of visibility in the visual periphery, “If a cyclist approaches a row of bollards that protects a cycle track from cars, the cyclist has to detect the danger and subsequently has to steer through the gap between the bollards without fixating on them. Both detection and safe steering are guaranteed by the visibility of the bollards in the visual periphery. The IDED-method helped us to measure this and confirmed that the critical information was poorly visible at crash scenes.”
The combined results of the study indicate that crashes, in which the cyclist hit a bollard, collided due to a road narrowingor veered off the road, were related to the visual characteristics of bicycle facilities. The findings support recommendations for improving the visibility of cycling facilities with edge markings, especially in curves of bicycle tracks and improved bollards conspicuity to help reduce crashes. Recently Fietsberaad, the Dutch Centre of expertise on bicycle policy, has included the recommendations on edge-off track markings in the 2011 ‘Guideline on Cyclist Safety’.
“We are very proud that our paper has been chosen,” says Schepers. “The award acknowledges that the problem of single-bicycle crashes is large and interesting enough to receive serious scientific attention. We hope that it stimulates road authorities to improve the visual design of bicycle facilities so that older people and people with low vision are able to use their bicycles safely.”
“The winning paper was selected for making a major contribution in its field,” says Roger Haslam, coordinating editor of Ergonomics. “The investigation represents a significant advancement for contemporary ergonomics. In particular, the editors considered the work to be an important and innovative study addressing cycling safety. We were impressed with the use of mixed methodologies, including a new approach to analyzing the visual characteristics of crash locations.”
The Best Paper Award promotes excellence in safety and health research. The annual Award, established in 2005 by the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety and the UK Institute for Ergonomics and Human Factors (formerly the Ergonomics Society), recognizes the paper published in the journal Ergonomics that best contributes to the advancement of ergonomics. The winning article is selected by the editors of Ergonomics from the 120 papers published in the journal each year.
About Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety
Owned and operated by Liberty Mutual Insurance, the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety has helped to improve the occupational safety and health of millions of workers for more than 50 years. Through laboratory and field-based investigations, the Research Institute seeks to advance scientific, business-relevant knowledge in workplace and highway safety and work disability. Research findings are shared with the worldwide health and safety community, and are ultimately used to develop recommendations, guidelines, and interventions that help reduce risk and control costs.
About Liberty Mutual Insurance
"Helping people live safer, more secure lives" since 1912, Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance is a diversified global insurer and the third largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on A.M. Best Company's report of 2010 net written premium. Liberty Mutual Insurance also ranks 82nd on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2010 revenue. As of December 31, 2011, Liberty Mutual Insurance had $117.1 billion in consolidated assets, $99.3 billion in consolidated liabilities, and $34.7 billion in annual consolidated revenue.
Liberty Mutual Insurance offers a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, workers compensation, property, commercial automobile, general liability, global specialty, group disability, reinsurance and surety. Liberty Mutual Insurance employs over 45,000 people in more than 900 offices throughout the world.
About Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors
The Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, founded in 1949, is the professional body for researchers and practitioners in the field of ergonomics, with an international membership in excess of 1600. Its aim is to promote the awareness, education and application of ergonomics in industry, commerce, public sector and government.
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