Improving Bicycling Safety by Developing a Research Framework for Studying Driver-Bicyclist Interactions

Fred Feng

Fred Feng, an assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, received the NSF CAREER Award to study cycling safety and help fill the knowledge gap to better understand how drivers and bicyclists interact with each other in the context of real-world roadway design.

Worldwide bicycling has grown more popular as an important mode of transportation, because of its environmental, health, and economic benefits. In the United States, bicycling is still largely underutilized. The perceived danger of bicycling in motorized traffic has deterred many from considering it as a viable mobility option.  

Fred Feng, an assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, received the NSF CAREER Award to study cycling safety and help fill the knowledge gap to better understand how drivers and bicyclists interact with each other in the context of real-world roadway designs, and the key factors that shape their behaviors. 

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award supports research to advance the safety of environmentally sustainable, active, and equitable mobility modes by exploring ways to improve bicycling safety.

Overview of Feng's Bicycle Safety Project

The outcome of this research will support engineers and practitioners, city planners, and policymakers and legislators by providing data-driven insights to design safer road infrastructures, bicycle facilities, traffic laws and regulations, training and education programs, and safety technologies. The research activities are integrated with educational activities to foster local K-12 students’ interests in STEM fields and train the next generation of scientists and engineers to work towards the urban future in which sustainable and active mobility will play a key role. The outreach to the local communities and dissemination of the online free educational materials on bicycling safety will promote active mobility modes to the general public nationwide.