British Study on Passing Clearance and Helmets
Summary: Dr Ian Walker's measurements show that under some conditions British drivers leave 3.3 inches more passing
distance if the cyclist is not wearing a helmet, and another 2.2 inches if the cyclist is wearing a wig. The average
passing clearance for all three cases was more than four feet. The cyclist's position on the road changed everything,
canceling the difference at times. A new study in 2013 supports our contention that Walker had misinterpreted his data.
We note below numerous other studies in the years since that have supported the view that the research was bogus.
Note: the full study was published in
Accident Analysis and Prevention 39 (2007)
417-425.
The BBC reported on September 11, 2006, that a study conducted in Salisbury and Bristol, UK showed with very precise
measurements of 2,500 passing cars that the test cyclists were given 8.5cm (3.3 inches) more clearance by cars if they
were not wearing helmets.
When the researchers donned female wigs they got more clearance, 14cm (5.5 inches) more than apparent males in helmets.
They did not report on what a skirt and helmet combination would do. The author was hit by a bus and a truck during the
experiment, and was wearing a helmet both times.
The
BBC article on the study speculates on the
psychology involved. The researchers think that cyclists in helmets are perceived as experienced cyclists who merit less
passing clearance. Dr. Walker, a traffic psychologist from the Bath University's Department of Psychology, and author of
a book on vulnerable road users, is quoted: "This study shows that when drivers overtake a cyclist, the margin for error
they leave is affected by the cyclist's appearance." The current discussion is based mostly on a press release and the
BBC report, since the study had not yet been published.
No argument there, since an erratic child would get more clearance than any other rider, helmet or no. But here are some
more quotes the BBC attributes to Dr. Walker:
"We know helmets are useful in low-speed falls, and so definitely good for children, but whether they offer any real
protection to somebody struck by a car is very controversial.
"Either way, this study suggests wearing a helmet might make a collision more likely in the first place," he added.
Dr Walker thinks the reason drivers give less room to cyclists wearing helmets is because they see them as "Lycra-clad
street warriors" and believe they are more predictable than those without.
The study measures something that might not be readily apparent to most cyclists--an average of 3.3 inches more
clearance. The extra distance would make quite a difference if the average passing distance were 1.5 feet and a lot less
if the full recommended 3 feet were the rule. In a web paper discussing his findings, Dr. Walker noted that the average
passing distance was 4.5 feet for black cars and 4.1 feet for white trade vans. The difference of 3.3 inches fades to
insignificance with passing clearances that good. With lanes of 8.5 feet, the motorists were giving him a half-lane of
clearance whether or not he had a helmet or a wig on. In most cases they were shifting over the line to the other lane to
pass. Some of the effect is probably due to the "shy distance" from the curb on the opposite side of the road--the
driver's side--as they passed. Cyclists in the US would be very pleased with that much consideration by motorists.
Other findings from the study make it plain that the cyclist's position on the roadway
(distance from the edge) made more difference than the wearing of a helmet or a wig. When the cyclist is 1.25 meters (4.1
feet) out--the center of the lane--there was a substantial difference in motorist behavior attributed to the helmet. But
with the cyclist riding one meter (3.3 feet) from the side of the road--just 10 inches toward the curb--there was
virtually no difference. Both findings are certainly food for thought, as is the information that the roads in question
were two lane with 8.5 foot lanes. In the US our lanes are generally wider than 10 feet and often 12 or more. But our
vehicles are typically wider as well.
It is curious that the BBC report on the study focused just on helmet wearing as the main factor affecting drivers'
responses. The position on the roadway variable was ignored. We note that in the BBC photo, the test cyclist is riding a
bicycle with an upright position and large black panniers. That would probably have an effect on car drivers, since the
panniers add extra width and very likely increased passing distances. Users of side-mounted flags report the same effect.
And an upright cyclist might indeed be perceived as more likely to be unsteady, helmet or no. We speculate that perhaps
the clearance would be even less for a rider who appeared to be a racer and seemed more likely to be holding a steady
road position. But that might have nothing at all to do with whether or not the cyclist was wearing a helmet. Children
weaving along the road here get more clearance than other riders, whether or not they wear a helmet. So the study is
interesting, but the reporting on it would be a lot more useful if it included the findings on some of the other factors
instead of trying to marginalize the helmet as "good for kids" and useful only in "low speed falls." We have enough
experience here with helmets and car crashes to have convinced the cycling community that the protection offered even in
a car crash is real and not controversial. And we disagree with the author's conclusion that anything he measured
indicates that the helmeted cyclist is more likely to be sideswiped.
It seems unlikely that average passing clearance was the best way to test Dr. Walker's hypothesis. A better way would be
to establish a danger zone and look at the percentage of "violations" of that space for the helmeted and unhelmeted
riders.
We hope that somebody will replicate this work in the US to see if our driver psychology matches, and that they will test
for some of the other variables in addition to helmets. Research on driver psychology could help us understand what is
needed to encourage drivers to give all cyclists adequate passing clearance. We would be really happy with the four feet
the British cyclists were getting. We don't think it is likely to be as simple as who wears a helmet, and given the
safety tradeoffs we don't think that taking your helmet off or wearing a wig is the best way to get you 3.3 inches more
clearance from passing motorists who are already giving you more than four feet of space. It would appear that at least
in the UK cities of Salisbury and Bristol, riding exactly 3.3 feet from the edge of the road has more effect.
Response from Dr. Ian Walker:
Thanks for getting in touch. The full study had a lot of detail which obviously couldn't be included in a press release,
and several other factors as well as helmets were considered. Your point about absolute distances is a good one, so you
might be interested in one analysis in particular. I compared the group of overtakers who came closest with the group who
left the most room, and you can see their data in Figure 2 in
the attached document (you can
also see exactly how close drivers came from Figure 1 too). What figure 2 shows is the ratio of particularly close
overtakers to generous overtakers in each category - a score over 1 means there are more people passing close than
leaving plenty of room. Note that the helmet effect varies with riding position, but leads to almost twice as many people
getting particularly close in the 1.25m condition when the helmet was on, which is pretty interesting I think. Feel free
to mention this on your page.
The study is due to appear soon in Accident Analysis and Prevention.
One thing I should add (as it has come up in a discussion elsewhere) is that our roads here in the UK are quite narrow. A
typical urban road is about 5.2m across, so each lane is about 2.6m. This means that the 1.25m position was about the
centre of the lane.
2013 Study by Olivier and Walter:
Walker misinterpreted his data
Results
The previously observed significant association between passing distance and helmet wearing was not found when
dichotomised by the one metre rule. Other factors were found to be significantly associated with close passing including
cyclists' distance to the kerb, vehicle size and city of observation (Salisbury or Bristol, UK). P-values from bootstrap
samples indicate the significance of helmet wearing resulted from an overly large sample size.
Conclusions
After re-analysis of Walker's data, helmet wearing is not associated with close motor vehicle passing. The results,
however, highlight other more important factors that may inform effective bicycle safety strategies.
Full study text
Texas Study
For an entirely different perspective, see
this
study of bike lanes done in Texas. They add bike lanes to their streets to persuade cyclists to get away from the
curb, and to reduce the "swerve" of cars going around bicyclists. That would seem to reduce the passing clearance by
design, without accounting for the requirement wherever there is parking for bicycles to use the extreme edge of the lane
to avoid being doored by parked cars. What a difference a few thousand miles and a few cultural dissimularities can
make.
New York City Study
New York's numbers show that the safety tradeoff would be particularly bad there if you left your helmet at home. They
found that 97% of the cyclists killed in traffic there had no helmet. We have more on
our Stats
page.
Postscript 2016
There is a new study in the journal
Psychological Science by two University
of Bath researchers, including Ian Walker. The study is titled "Wearing a Bicycle Helmet Can Increase Risk Taking and
Sensation Seeking in Adults." The study tracked people wearing caps or helmets while blowing up a virtual balloon on a
computer screen. The researchers found that those in bicycle helmets took more risk that the balloon would burst, and
concluded that "Here, we demonstrated that risk taking increases in people who are not explicitly aware they are wearing
protective equipment; furthermore, this happens for behaviors that could not be made safer by that equipment. In a
controlled study in which a helmet, compared with a baseball cap, was used as the head mount for an eye tracker,
participants scored significantly higher on laboratory measures of both risk taking and sensation seeking. This happened
despite there being no risk for the helmet to ameliorate and despite it being introduced purely as an eye tracker. The
results suggest that unconscious activation of safety-related concepts primes globally increased risk propensity."
2018 Note
A commentary in Psychological Science
titled "Bicycle Helmets and the Experimenter Effect" explains that the results could have been due to researcher bias.
One of the authors had a twitter feed with more comments about the methodology. He noted that nobody has ever replicated
Walker's results and wonders how the study could have been so influential.
2020 Note
It has been more than a decade since the original Walker paper was published. We still see references to it in current
articles whose authors are entirely clueless, because it seems to respond to some people's preconceived notions of
bicycle-car interactions, no matter how thoroughly the research has been debunked.
2023 - Another study
And at last in 2023, here is another study that seems to corroborate some of Dr. Walker's ideas. A Serbian study also found that vehicles passed helmeted riders closer. But when they looked at all the factors involved that was not the case, and they recommend that ebike riders use helmets. See
this issue of our Update newsletter.