Overtaking on rural roads – Cyclists' and motorists' perspectives

Cycling is good for health and the environment, and urban traffic planning is increasingly focused on making cycling easier and safer for everyone. Cycling in rural areas also has a high potential for increased cycling, but fundamental knowledge about rural road cycling is missing. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of rural cycling and the perceptions of cyclists and motorists on rural roads, especially in overtaking situations. Cross-sectional data from three surveys with 1899 respondents in total were used, whereof one survey provides results representative for Swedish adults in terms of age, gender, income, educational level and geographical regions. In total, 38 % of the respondents use rural roads as cyclists or pedestrians, 10 % never use rural roads and the remaining 52 % use rural roads as motorists only. Out of the latter, 44 % stated that they would like to cycle on rural roads, but do not do so for various reasons. The way overtaking manoeuvres are experienced differs between motorists with and without cycling experience. Qualitative analyses revealed which factors make cyclists uncomfortable during overtaking manoeuvres on rural roads. These should be considered when developing recommendations for appropriate overtaking manoeuvres. Examples of application are legislation, motorist information campaigns, driver coaching and future vehicle automation systems.