This thesis is about cyclist behaviour on a specific road section of the cyclist commuter route between the centre of Aalborg and Aalborg East in the eastern part of Aalborg. The section runs from the intersection between Bonnesensgade and Fyensgade to the intersection between Samsøgade and Færøgade. It is a 300 metres long section containing four sections with roads and three intersections with four legs. The local authorities built the cyclist commuter route in 2011 in an attempt to increase the number of cyclists and bicycling in general. With the new commuter route, which should create better accessibility and safety for the cyclists, problems with road accidents increased - accidents that were not seen before the route was built. During a period of five years (2014 to 2018), there were ten road accidents on this rather small section of the cyclist commuter route, which corresponds to 17 percent of all road accidents on the commuter route.

In this thesis, a study is made of the problems on this section of the route, and the following questions are examined: Do some types of cyclists look out for the traffic more carefully than other types of cyclist when entering an intersection, and what is the reason for that? Do some types of cyclists decelerate more than other types of cyclists when entering an intersection, and what is the reason for that? At the same time, the thesis aims at studying the general differences between the three intersections and the possible causes of the differences in cyclist alertness, deceleration and potentially dangerous situations. Furthermore, the influence of a car being present in the intersection is studied.

The data on cyclist behaviour is collected using video recordings from the three intersections with cameras installed on lampposts and railing masts. The analysis period is 15 hours per intersection, divided on three different days and daytimes.

The video material has been reviewed and the behaviour recorded in Excel. Based on the data, statistics have been calculated to make it possible to either confirm or reject the thesis hypotheses. Stop interviews have been made on the section to understand the cyclist behaviour better and to procure more information about the cyclists' problems on this section of the cyclist commuter route. At the same time, a literature review has been performed to find information about cyclist behaviour and advantages/disadvantages of cyclist safety initiatives in both Denmark and foreign countries.

The results of this thesis show that there are distinct differences in the way and to what extent different types of cyclists look out for the traffic and decelerate in two of the three intersections on the route. In general, recreational cyclist athletes are looking out for the traffic lesser than commuters or transporting cyclists at intersections. The same does not apply to the results about deceleration, as no type of cyclist decelerates lesser than other types at the intersections. However, the transporting cyclists tend to decelerate more in general. At the same time, the results show that in general the cyclists look out for the traffic and decelerate to a different extent in all three intersections. The results also show that there are no statistic differences in the potentially dangerous situations developing in the intersections. But the relative risks show that the most dangerous intersection is the intersection between Bonnesensgade and Fyensgade, as is to be expected. There is a lot of free parking space along the road and between the lanes on Fyensgade, and therefore a lot of drivers are looking for vacant parking space. These drivers often make U-turns in the intersection to get potentially free parking space on the other side of the road. Their concentration on finding parking space may be bigger than their attention on the cyclists and the other users of the road at the intersection.

The thesis also lists a number of possible initiatives to minimise the problems on the road section. Initiatives which can be implemented one by one or as part of major combined projects, according to the municipality’s economy and general plans for cyclist traffic and for other locations with a high number of accidents.

The results of this thesis are useful for example for the road managers in Denmark as basis for decisions on making changes and changing priorities in intersections and to understand cyclist behaviour better. Especially, the results are useful for the Municipality of Aalborg, as this thesis is trying to find the underlying reasons for the traffic safety situation on the municipality’s cyclist commuter route between the centre of Aalborg and the eastern part of Aalborg. The authorities are aware of the problems but have difficulties finding the best solution to solve them. The thesis discusses the authorities' previous decisions directly based on information gathered in the literature review.