A Study on Safety Education Program "EPISODE" with Cycling Simulator for Older Adult Cyclists

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H04055
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Civil engineering project/Traffic engineering
• Research Institution: Tokai University (2017-2018); Tokyo Institute of Technology (2015-2016)
• Principal Investigator: SUZUKI Mio 東海大学, 工学部, 准教授 (20573926)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 平田 輝満 茨城大学, 理工学研究科(工学野), 准教授 (80450766) ; 屋井 鉄雄 東京工業大学, 環境・社会理工学院, 教授 (10182289)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 交通安全 / 高齢者 / 電動アシスト自転車

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Older adult cyclists on sidewalks are going to increase in Japan. So in this study, I investigated the attributes and behavior of them.
At first, it is found that older adult cyclists who live in the urban area start to ride electrically assisted bicycles when they feel their leg muscles weak, and the ones who live in the suburban area start to ride electrically assisted bicycles when they reduce car driving and without their weak leg muscles. But they all don’t want to stop and wait at intersections. Therefore, in suburban area, they can get speed in riding electrically assisted bicycles easily and pass intersections in high speed. As the results, we conclude this study shown below: 1) A cycling simulator is required to reproduce naturalistic cycling with law violations. 2) It is needed that older adult cyclists should not learn the rules, but the specification of bicycles’ weight or acceleration/deceleration characteristics and their cycling behavior on a cycling simulator.

Free Research Field

交通計画

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

高齢ドライバーの運転免許促進の機運を受け，返納後の交通手段として電動アシスト自転車を選択する高齢者は多くなると予想されるが，自転車に乗り慣れていないことに加え，車体の重さがルール遵守に及ぼす影響についての自覚がないまま，歩く感覚の延長と考えている傾向がある．本研究の成果により，高齢者に発信する情報は，ルールではなく自身の身体に関する気付きを基にすることが提案されたことにより，高齢者の安全教育が効果的になされるといえる．また，自転車シミュレータのような馴染みのないツールも，自身の自転車運転を顧みる意図で利用し，手順に注意を払うことで，酔い等の影響を軽減して効果的に情報提供できることを提案した．