A bicycle simulator for the evaluation of traffic control strategies in urban environments

Urban environments often involve the interaction of numerous vulnerable road users both with each other and with motorized road users. Many factors influence the ability of pedestrians and cyclists to efficiently move through such environments, and in order to study these, we use a bicycle simulator to conduct studies with test subjects, evaluating novel traffic control strategies on existing transport infrastructure depicted in Virtual Reality (VR) environments. Two studies are conducted and their quantitative (trajectories of the test subjects) and qualitative (questionnaire responses) results are analyzed. We discuss the first insights into and usefulness of conducting bicycle simulator studies, both with and without simulated road users, particularly as it relates to the approval and planning phases of infrastructure elements and traffic control strategies.