Effects of Hazard Types on Hazard Perception and Decision-Making Among Adolescent Bicyclists: Results of a Hazard...

Hazard perception (HP) is a critical component of road safety; however, the HP abilities of adolescent bicyclists (aged 13-16 years) and their associations with decision-making (DM) across different hazard types remain underexplored. This study investigated grade-related differences in HP and DM among adolescent bicyclists using a video-based hazard prediction task. A total of 115 middle school students who ride bicycles on a regular basis were recruited. A 3 (grade: 7th, 8th, and 9th) × 2 (hazard type: environmental prediction hazards/EPs, behavioural prediction hazards/BPs) mixed experimental design was employed. Participants answered two HP questions (What is the hazard? What happens next?) and one DM question (What would you do?). Students in the ninth and eighth grades had higher scores on BP hazards in the "what happens next" and DM questions than did their peers in the seventh grade. Although students in the ninth grade made more safe decisions on the EP hazards than their peers in the seventh and eighth grades, their scores on the "what happens next" question were similar on EP hazards. Importantly, students in the ninth grade scored significantly higher on DM than on HP for EP hazards, while students in the eighth grade scored significantly higher on DM than on HP for BP hazards. These findings demonstrate that both HP and DM accuracy improve with grade level and that the relations between HP and DM varies by hazard type. The results underscore the necessity for targeted, hazard-specific training programmes to improve cycling safety among adolescents.