LAUSR

Abstract Lateral loads on cyclist dummies exerted by an overtaking station wagon were acquired in a field measurement campaign. The cyclists were represented by full-size person dummies of an adult and a child on various bike types. Overtaking maneuvers with different vehicle speeds (40–100 ​km/h) and overtaking distances (0.5–2.0 ​m) were performed. Overall, the load time series reveal distinct phases with the lateral load acting to push a cyclist away in a pressure phase, followed by the lateral load acting to pull a cyclist towards the vehicle in a suction phase. The two phases are demarcated by a short transition period in which the load quickly flips over from a pressure peak to a suction peak. The peak-to-peak magnitude (flip over load) was found to increase with increasing cyclist lateral area, vehicle speed, and decreasing overtaking distance. The duration of the transition period (flip over duration) was found to decrease with increasing vehicle speed and decreasing overtaking distance. For the flip over load and duration, functional relationships based on the three aforementioned variables/parameters could be derived. Furthermore, the flip over load rate (ratio of flip over load and duration) is introduced and suggested as an informative measure for cyclist safety.