The Ford project "Share The Road" aims to help make urban traffic safer. Virtual reality is used to change perspectives in order to improve understanding between car drivers and cyclists and create more empathy.
Conflicts between motorists and cyclists are becoming increasingly frequent in cities. While the nature of city centre roads usually separates the different road users, Ford is now launching a campaign to help increase safety in urban areas by making them more communal. In addition, Ford's "Share The Road" project also aims to reduce pollution and congestion.
To this end, Ford has designed a very special virtual reality experience. The so-called "WheelSwap" enables drivers and cyclists to view reckless behaviour in road traffic from the opposite perspective. In this way, dangerous situations can be simulated that could even be fatal in real life. Initial studies show that after this drastic experience, almost all participants stated that they wanted to change their driving behaviour in future. "There is no more effective way of appreciating another person's point of view than by taking their perspective or, in this case, pedalling. Empathy is an incredibly powerful emotion," says behavioural researcher Dan Berry, who helped develop this concept.
"WheelSwap" allows motorists to experience from a cyclist's perspective how frightening it can be when cars overtake too closely, change lanes without indicating or open doors without paying attention to bicycles. For their part, cyclists can experience what it is like for car drivers when they run red lights, drive in the wrong direction on one-way streets or manoeuvre in a risky manner.
From empathy to real behavioural change
More than 1,200 people took part in the first sessions in five European countries. 70 per cent of WheelSwap participants showed greater empathy towards other road users after the virtual experience. In addition, 91 percent planned to rethink their habits on the road, and just two weeks after "WheelSwap", 60 percent said they had actually changed their behaviour.
"As someone who frequently travels on two and four wheels, I have personally experienced many of the dangers that motorists and cyclists face on our roads today," says Steven Armstrong, President and CEO, Ford of Europe, Middle East & Africa. "Successful integration of all road users is key to how we can make our cities safer for everyone and mobility more effective overall. But new infrastructures such as cycle paths take time, there is a need for action".
Source: Press portal
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