Beyond ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cyclists. On compensation effects between risk taking, safety equipment and secondary tasks

In France the number of injuries involving cyclists has risen over the last 10 years. With the widespread use of ICT devices, secondary tasks have become a major focus for transport safety research. They have also been identified as a predictor of collision. Although still scarce, this literature on cyclists’ secondary tasks identifies a recurrent profile. Young cyclists are in the spotlight as they often use earbuds or headphones and combine such use with taking other major risks on the road. Despite their vulnerability, their group accounts for only 12% of severe fatalities, which is proportional to their share of the urban cyclist population. This paper explores other cyclist profiles in an attempt to understand the discrepancy between the perception of risk-prone behaviour and transport safety statistics.