Effects of heavy trucks on cyclists during overtaking manoeuvres: a controlled study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55329/gtaq6532Keywords:
aerodynamics, cycling, overtaking, safety, subjective rating, truckAbstract
Since December 2023, so-called High-Capacity Transport vehicles (up to 34.5 m length) are allowed on parts of the Swedish network of primarily divided roads. Investigations are ongoing under which premises longer HCT vehicles can be allowed on undivided rural roads, where cyclists and other active travellers may be present. On rural roads, overtaking manoeuvres are a frequently occurring encounter between cyclists and motorists. The fear related to dangerous overtakes is a major deterrent to rural cycling, and the aerodynamic load generated especially by large vehicles may pose a danger in that it could affect cyclist stability. To systematically investigate the effects of lateral distance, overtaking vehicle speed and truck length on cyclists stability and perception of discomfort, a controlled study was conducted in a laboratory setting. In a 700 m long tent, 23 experienced road cyclists rode on free rollers while being overtaken by a 16.5 m and a 32.5 m long truck combination at 50 and 80 km/h, with lateral distances of 1 m, 1.5 m and 2 m. Additionally, a reference overtake was run, reflecting a full lane change at reduced speed (16.5 m truck, 50 km/h, 3.5 m). Lateral distance had the largest impact on aerodynamic load and discomfort ratings, followed by speed. The length of the truck only had a minor effect. The cyclists’ lateral position on the rollers was not affected by any of the three factors, but increased slightly from before to during to after the overtaking manoeuvre, regardless of the condition. Based on these findings, a full lane change is recommended when overtaking cyclists. To which extent a speed adaptation is appropriate as compensatory measure needs to be investigated further.
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Author Biographies
Katja Kircher, Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, Sweden
Katja Kircher is a research leader at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) in Linköping and is associated with the Swedish Cycling Research Centre. Her main research interests are road user behaviour with a focus on active road users, especially cycling in rural and urban areas, and road user attention.
CRediT contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Resources, Writing—original draft.
Sogol Kharrazi, Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, Sweden
Sogol Kharrazi is a senior researcher at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI). She is also an adjunct associate professor at Linköping University. Her main topic of research is vehicle dynamics and safety.
CRediT contribution: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing—review & editing.
Lennart Cider, Volvo Group Trucks Technology, Sweden
Lennart Cider, Ph.D., is an expert in Product Development and Engineering at Volvo Truck Technology. He has been part of the team developing High-Capacity Transport in Sweden.
CRediT contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Resources, Writing—review & editing.
Jesper Sandin, Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, Sweden
Jesper Sandin is a senior researcher at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI). He holds a Ph.D. in vehicle safety and his main research topics are safety performance of heavy trucks and collision avoidance systems, as well as driver behavior.
CRediT contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing.
Lena Larsson, Volvo Group Trucks Technology, Sweden
Lena Larsson is an HCT expert and Transport Solutions Fellow. She received her MSc. in Mechanical Engineering from Chalmers University and her MBA from the School of Business, Economics and Law from the University of Gothenburg.
CRediT contribution: Funding acquisition, Project administration, Resources, Writing—review & editing.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Katja Kircher, Sogol Kharrazi, Lennart Cider, Jesper Sandin, Lena Larsson
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Funding data
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VINNOVA
Grant numbers 2019-03103
