We used our new walking simulator to study how safe pedestrians feel

Being able to get around safely on foot or by bike in our daily lives allows us to participate in society and is undoubtedly good for our health. We therefore enjoy travelling this way, but we do not always feel safe and comfortable doing so. Conflicts can arise, especially when traffic areas are shared by pedestrians and cyclists. These range from harmless sidestepping to near-misses.

In the project “Quality of pedestrian facilities when cycling permitted” for the German Federal Highway and Transport Research Institute (BASt), we collaborated with the Department of Planning and Operation of Roads at TU Berlin to explore the challenges of harmonious coexistence on shared pathways. We surveyed people at eight different locations in Berlin to gather their experiences as pedestrians on sidewalks that are also open to bicycle traffic. The centerpiece of our work, however, was a VR study with 32 participants in our newly developed walking simulator.

In a simulation, environments and the behavior of other (virtual) road users can be systematically varied. In our study, these included, for example, the speeds of virtual cyclists and their number on the sidewalk. The environment was modeled after one of our study locations from the on-site survey. Our real pedestrian participants were able to walk through the VR world in an upright position using a walking aid and so-called CyberShoes.

In this project, we once again ventured into uncharted territory and developed an innovative solution to answer a complex research question. Using the results from the studies in our VR simulator, conducted on-site in Berlin, and from a workshop with visually impaired persons, we were able to derive recommendations aimed at increasing perceived safety and fostering a more conflict-free coexistence between pedestrians and cyclists. These recommendations can be found in the recently published project report.