How does hands-free cognitive distraction influence cycling behaviour and perceived safety?

Previous studies using a survey or field observational approach show that secondary task engagement negatively impacts cyclists’ performance. Prohibiting handheld phone use, while allowing hands-free use via headphones, is applied to reduce safety critical impact of secondary task engagement. Hands-free secondary task engagement limits visual-motor distraction, but cognitive distraction might still impact cycling performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the behavioural effects of hands-free cognitive secondary task engagement while riding alone on different kinds of cycle paths as well as when overtaking other cyclists and reacting to typical events like stopping at a traffic light or evading a pedestrian or an obstacle on the cycle way. Using the cycling simulator at the Department of Traffic and Engineering Psychology at the TU-Braunschweig, a mixed design was used with three levels of secondary task engagement as the independent between-factor: no task (NT), podcast task (PC), acoustic speech task (AS). Additionally, three types of lane markings of the cycle way and three events were varied as within-factors. N = 58 participants (36 female, 22 male) completed the experiment. In none of the situations and none of the parameters examined, an effect of secondary task engagement was found, although cyclists subjectively felt more distracted. This was not due to a lack of sensitivity to the parameters measured, as the types of infrastructure significantly influenced cycling and overtaking behaviour. In line with multiple resource theory, results suggest that secondary tasks requiring cognitive but not visual-motor resources can be done while cycling without adverse effects on behaviour. However, this might also be an effect of task difficulty and may change when the cycling task or the secondary task becomes more complex. Thus, additional studies including more complex traffic situations, are relevant.