Suggested Citation:
Fitch-Polse, Dillon T. and Susan L. Handy (2018)

The Relationship Between Experienced and Imagined Bicycling Comfort and Safety

A common method used to evaluate road designs for bicycling is a survey of stated opinions based on imagined bicycling experiences that are used to represent real experiences. However, we know little about the connection between imagined and real bicycling experiences. In this study, we examine the relationship between bicyclists’ (first-person experienced) and video survey participants’ (imagined) ratings of bicycling comfort and safety. We do this with real-world bike rides/surveys (n = 20) and a blocked experiment conducted through a web-based video survey of female undergraduates (n = 1,203). We show that imagined ratings resemble first-person experienced ratings, but that they have a systematic negative bias (approximately 10% to 15%). This suggests that imagined bicycling experiences seem less comfortable and safe compared with real experiences. We compare both methodological and psychological explanations for this result and the consequent bicycling implications for each.