The relation between cyclists’ perceptions of drivers, self-concepts and their willingness to cycle in mixed traffic

This study looks at cyclists’ willingness to share the road with drivers through the lens of the Symbolic Interaction Theory. The hypothesis is that the willingness to share the road relates to (i) how cyclists perceive themselves, (ii) how cyclists perceive drivers, and (iii) how cyclists believe that drivers perceive them. A survey was designed to collect information about these three self-concepts as well as preferences for a short route in mixed traffic over a longer route on dedicated cycling infrastructure. Data were collected for a sample of 474 cyclists in Israel and a hybrid choice model allowed to uncover the relations between the choice of sharing the road and the latent constructs pertaining to the Symbolic Interaction Theory. Results show that: (i) the belief that drivers perceive cyclists as aggressive leads to more assertive cycling behaviour and in turn to higher willingness to share the road; (ii) the perception of drivers as aggressive, as opposed to the perception of them as attentive, leads to more cautious cyclist behaviour and in turn to lower willingness to cycle in mixed traffic; (iii) cyclists are not willing to share the road if they have physical negative experiences with near-misses and incidents, as well as emotional negative perceptions of the road sharing experience.