Surely 'perceived danger' is the right term for what you are describing?
If statistics show that -er- 'actual' danger is found in places
different from that which is believed to exist. In terms of cycling
practice, I would propose that it is the perception of danger that puts
many potential riders off, rather than any real danger riders expose
themselves to. In my book, 'danger' is not a consequence of the
inanimate. Danger to cyclists is almost entirely a consequence of human
agency, rather than of the fixed environment, be it the agency of the
cyclist or other road user or both.
Nicholas Oddy,
Historical & Critical Studies,
Glasgow School of Art.
-----Original Message-----
From: Cycling and Society Research Group discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Matthew Page
Sent: 23 May 2006 10:17
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Cycling risk/perception of risk[Scanned]
Dear Richard,
I am supervising an MSc student at the moment who is doing a
questionnaire study comparing reported accidents, actual accidents and
where cyclists report the danger to be in Sheffield. I'm sure she would
be interested to discuss the work, I've copied her into this email.
Incidentally, I think this is a much under researched area. Where users
are likely to adapt their travel behaviour to road danger there is
likely to emerge a significant difference between where the accidents
happen and where the safety problems are. This probably doesn't affect
car users much, but it is very significant for pedestrians and
especially cyclists and possibly for this reason it's something that the
traditional road safety establishment have been very slow to take on
board. It was brought home to me most forcefully when I attended a
discussion between the Council Officer who looked after accident
statistics and active cyclists. Their assessments of where was most
dangerous were completely different.
Incidentally, I'm not sure "perceived" danger is the most appropriate
term here. Just because a location doesn't have any accidents, it
doesn't mean it isn't really dangerous - it might just be so dangerous
no one would ever dream of cycling there!
Very happy to discuss this in more detail if that would be useful,
Matthew Page
Institute for Transport Studies
University of Leeds
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cycling and Society Research Group discussion list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Richard Jones
> Sent: 21 May 2006 20:40
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Cycling risk/perception of risk
>
> Hi
>
> I am a Transport Planning student and keen cyclist. I doing a
> quantitative research dissertation on cycling risk and
> perseption of cycling risk on the cardiff road network. I
> will survey as broad a spectrum of cycling groups as
> possible. Is there anybody who has specific knowledge in this
> field or has anybody actually created a questionnaire to
> capture this data. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Richard
>
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