Safety relevant driver and bicyclist behaviors resulting from bicycling rolling stops observed in a networked driving and bicycling simulator

Bicycle Rolling Stop (BRS) laws refer to legislation that allows bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs. Many states have passed statutes or attempted to pass similar statutes with varying permissive actions for bicyclists in response to stop signs. Previous research has focused on crash data analysis and motivating factors of bicyclists performing a rolling stop when illegal under prevailing law. However, there is still no available research that evaluates the efficacy of BRS laws or analyzes the effect of BRS in states where it is permitted. To that end, this research used a networked driving and bicycling simulator experiment to evaluate drivers and bicyclists understanding of the BRS law. Sixty participants successfully completed a networked simulator experiment where a “live interaction” occurred at a stop-controlled intersection between a participant in the driving simulator and a participant in the bicycling simulator. Participants encountered 16 scenarios while riding or driving in the simulators. Time-space diagrams demonstrated that after receiving education related to the BRS law, bicyclists preferred to yield at stop signs and had a higher average speed through intersections. Driving participants’ trajectories showed that drivers approached intersections either slower or at a similar speed after education of the BRS law. Live interactions in the networked simulators validated results where bicycling participants interacted with virtually controlled passenger cars. The results from this method concluded that more outreach is needed with regard to BRS laws, and this research provides decision-makers with information to support future legislative policies, program educational initiatives, and design enforcement practices regarding BRS laws.