Abstract:

In this study, detection of cyclists in Turkey by drivers and pedestrians and effect of a color variable was investigated. For this purpose, two different experiments were applied. There were 62 participants, including pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers, to compare detection cyclists in the first experiment. There were 43 participants, drivers, and pedestrians, in the second experiment, investigated to change of detection of cyclists according to colors of shirts they wore. In the first experiment, participants were presented with different road pictures of cars and bicycles placed at three different distances (near, middle, and far). Participants gave responses to vehicles' presence or absence in photographs and reaction times until these responses were collected in both experiments. In the second experiment, participants were presented cyclists who wear four different colors (red, blue, yellow, and green) in a shirt placed on same roads and distances. Cyclists have been found by all road users to have lower visibility and slow reactance than cars. However, there was no significant difference in the perception of cyclists between drivers and cyclists. It was found that the blue shirt's reaction times were higher than the green shirt's reaction times in the close distance. For medium, the blue shirt's reaction times were higher than the green shirt's reaction times, and the red shirt's reaction times were higher than the green shirt's reaction times. In this study, experimental results have obtained about cyclists' visibility in Turkey; furthermore, physical and social solutions that aimed to increase this visibility rate are discussed.

Keywords: