The development and promotion of an educative virtual reality hazard perception test and training application for young bicyclists

Cycling is often promoted as a cheap and healthy way of transportation. The increasing number of

bicyclists in Europe has strongly been associated with many positive effects. However, this

increase in bicycle share also resulted in more bicycle accidents. Child bicyclists are more likely to

get involved in a traffic crash due to intrinsic factors (the ability to combine several motor bicycling

skills and percpetual-motor skills such as hazard percpetion) within the bicyclists that are not well

understood yet. Based on our previous research, it can be concluded that children lack the ability

to perceive the relevant cues in traffic, integrate this information into an integrated holistic

perception and compare this perception to internal models to anticipate the forthcoming situation

sufficiently. Technological advancements (e.g. virtual reality) now offer affordable means for the

development, implementation and dissemination of practical tools. Given the status question is

above, the current project aims to develop a reliable tool to evaluate children’’hazard

perception skills, validate the hazard perception test and training and extend knowledge regarding

hazard perception in different age groups (8-15 years) using a large scale intervention in Flanders.

Ultimately, the major outcome of this highly innovative with great social impact is to make the test

and intervention ready for large scale implementation in schools.