Behaviour of teenage cyclists at T-junctions

R H Breeze, D SouthallInstitute of Consumer Ergonomics, Loughborough

Cost: 45,000
Published: July 1990

Examination of statistics and recent research has indicated that accidents to child cyclists are significantly under-reported, and that the negotiation of T-junctions is a particular danger.

The Foundation contracted the Institute of Consumer Ergonomics to carry out a study of teenage cyclists at T-junctions, with analysis of video-recorded behaviour; this was undertaken during the summer and autumn of 1989.

The project's report stated that:

• advice contained in The Highway Code was widely ignored by teenage cyclists, but without necessarily putting themselves at risk;
• nearly two-thirds of those surveyed were not wearing brightly coloured clothing;
• only three per cent were seen with bicycle lights or carrying reflective material or safety aids;
• nearly two-thirds of newspaper delivery cyclists were judged to carry heavy loads unsafely;
• 25 per cent of cyclists were riding on the pavement;
• one-third of teenage cyclists took an incorrect route through a T-junction.