Cycling near miss data is collected to improve road safety

The types, locations and causes of cycling ‘near misses’ in London have been mapped using helmet-mounted cameras and GPS devices to track commuter journeys, in a new study from UCL researchers that provides valuable data for improving road safety.

The Road Safety Trust funded study is the first to combine real-time verbal reporting of incidents with panoramic video footage and GPS data to understand the behavioural and environmental factors contributing to ‘near misses’ (where a crash between a cyclist and another road user or pedestrian is narrowly avoided).

It involved 60 London-based cyclists who recorded their commute on 360-degree helmet cameras over a two-week period, resulting in 317 hours of footage and 94 near miss events (there were no actual crashes during the study period).

The most common near miss was a close pass, where a vehicle overtakes a cyclist too closely, followed by incidents where vehicles turned across the cyclist’s path (known as left or right hooks), and vehicles pulling out from side roads or parking spaces.

Near miss events were most likely to occur during peak commuting hours (07:00-09:59 in the morning and 17:00-19:59 in the afternoon) and on roads without dedicated cycling infrastructure, such as on-road cycle lanes, cycle lanes physically separated from traffic and shared-use off-road paths.

In total, 58 out of 94 near misses occurred during peak hours and 69 occurred on roads without cycling infrastructure.