Rethinking Vulnerability: Perception, Behaviour, and Power Differentials in Mixed Road-User Interactions

根据道路使用者的特征对他们进行分类，使研究人员和政策制定者能够大致区分不同类型的道路使用者，他们可能有不同的需求。易受伤害道路使用者(VRU)这一分类经常被用来描述没有车架保护并被认为是高风险的道路使用者(例如，骑摩托车的人、骑自行车的人、行人)。然而，有大量研究对这一分类提出了质疑，强调它把重点放在道路使用者的“脆弱”上，而不是外部因素造成的脆弱性，如基础设施设计和其他道路使用者的行为。尽管这一批评并不新鲜，但在涉及这些使用VRU结构并基于其形成假设的道路使用者的实证工作中，这一批评文献中确定的问题并没有得到连贯的解决。本研究将探索另一种方法来对道路使用者进行分类，特别是那些被认为脆弱的道路使用者，并使用这些类别通过建模和分析来理解道路与使用者的互动。该项目包括三个阶段：为该方法发展概念基础的理论阶段，确定重要道路用户特征的实验阶段，以及考虑这项研究的潜在实施路径的综合阶段，这可能对理解道路用户相互作用、政策以及道路用户建模技术在自主系统和基础设施设计中的应用做出有价值的原创性贡献。第一阶段将研究如何跨学科理解VRU分类，探索VRU行为和道路上的功率差异，并评估分类目前在建模和分析中的可操作性。第一项研究将使用混合方法，并使用二次人口普查和交通使用数据、路线规划分析和照片人种学，以了解可以充当“枢纽”的因素，即VRU改变其路线或交通方式的因素。第二项研究将系统地分析在运输建模和预测系统中用于解释VRU行为和意图的现有方法，以及如何纳入研究一中确定的因素。这项初步工作为了解最新技术水平、确定影响VRU行为的重要因素以及确定建模中使用的优先顺序和度量标准奠定了基础。第二阶段将研究支撑道路使用者行为的心理过程。这将集中在道路使用者如何感知道路，他们如何建立正在发生的事情的心理模型，以及他们如何理解和预测来自不同阶层的其他道路使用者的行为。这项工作将侧重于高风险的相互作用，即根据文献和第一阶段进行的研究确定的道路使用者之间存在明显权力差异的情况。这一阶段的目的是以可用经验建模方法实施的方式分析道路使用者行为背后的过程和动力动态。这项研究的最后阶段将集中于确定实施研究结果的途径，以支持采用可持续交通工具，模拟道路使用者的行为，并规划混合用途道路，以最大限度地发挥研究影响。

Classifying road users based on their characteristics allows researchers and policy makers to make general distinctions between different types of road users who may have different needs. The classification vulnerable road user (VRU) is frequently used to describe road users who are not protected by the frame of a vehicle and considered to be high-risk (e.g., motorcyclist, cyclist, pedestrian). However, there is a body of research challenging this classification, highlighting the emphasis it places on road users as 'vulnerable' rather than the vulnerabilities caused by external factors, such as infrastructure design and the behaviour of other road-users. Although this critique is not new, the issues identified in this critical literature are not coherently addressed in empirical work involving these road users that uses the VRU construct and forms assumptions based on it.This research will explore alternative approaches to categorising road users, particularly those considered vulnerable, and using these categories to understand road-user interactions through modelling and analysis. The project comprises three phases: a theoretical phase to develop the conceptual foundations for the approach, an experimental phase to identify important road user characteristics, and a synthesis phase to consider potential implementation pathways for this research, which could potentially make a valuable original contribution to understandings of road user interactions, policy, and the application of road-user modelling techniques in autonomous systems and infrastructure design. The first phase will examine how the VRU classification is understood across disciplines, explore VRU behaviour and power differentials on the road, and evaluate how the classification is currently operationalised in modelling and analysis. The first study will employ mixed methods and use secondary census and transport use data, route planning analysis, and photo ethnography to understand the factors that can act as 'hinge points', where VRUs change their route or mode of transport. The second study will systematically analyse existing approaches used to interpret VRU behaviours and intentions in transport modelling and predictive systems and how the factors identified in study one are incorporated. This initial work provides a foundation to understand the state of the art, identify important factors that influence VRU behaviour, and identify priorities and metrics used in modelling.The second phase will examine the psychological processes underpinning road user behaviour. This will focus on how road users perceive the roadway, how they build mental models of what's going on, and how they understand and predict the behaviour of other road users from different classes. This work will focus on high-risk interactions, or situations where there are clear power differentials between road users, as identified in literature and through research conducted in phase one. The aim of this phase is to analyse the processes and power dynamics underlying road user behaviours in a way that can be implemented in empirical modelling methodologies. The final phase of this research will focus on identifying pathways to implement the findings to support the adoption of sustainable transport, modelling road user behaviour, and planning for mixed-use roadway to maximise research impact.