A Quantitative Research on Cyclist’s Encouraging and Discouraging Factors in

Using Bicycle

Background of the Study

Cycling is one of the new emergent and alternative modes of transportation that

may combine both traveling and physical activity in the most attractive way, in addition

to ensuring the coverage of longer distances ( Moudon et al.,2005). Also, the

progressive adoption of cycling for both transportation and recreation purposes has

been strengthened through strategies such as more and better bike-sharing systems,

infrastructural advances and different incentives aimed at shifting to green

transportation modes (Caulfield, 2014, Zhou, 2015). Also after three years of COVID-19,

cycling has increasingly been known as a way of transportation, and this has been

judges as better for the environment and an alternative for cars.

Riding a bicycle, or cycling, has countless benefits. These can range from

personal, to economic, to social, to environmental and more. Also, cycling is a good

form of exercise. It is also a simple, eco-friendly transportation option. Most people are

aware riding a bicycle is beneficial, but many do not realize the extent of the positive

impact it could have in their lives. Tara (2018) presented 7 benefits for cycling which

are: Health benefits- as it can build muscle, eliminate fat, strengthen legs, lower blood
pressure and increase endurance, alleviate stress, reduce anxiety, clear mind and

improve the mood; Environmental benefits- since it requires no gasoline, no harmful

vehicle emissions or smog; Economic benefits- for it is cheaper and don’t usually

require monthly payments, insurance and expensive routine maintenance or fuel; Social

benefits- as riding is a great way for a family, or a group of friends, to spend quality time

together; transportation benefits- for it's being an eco-friendly transportation option that

gets cars off the road;and having an access to bike paths and other routes; Sports

benefits considering that it increases strength and build muscles, lowers risk of

injury,builds up aerobic efficiency, aerobic capacity and improves endurance. Lastly

Personal benefits- as it can be used to improve one’s overall outlook on life.

On the other hand, there are also disadvantages of bicycling such as but not limited to

exposure to the elements, unexpected expenses, dangerous drivers, road hazards,

poor lights, lack of bicycle lanes and trails, lack of storage, limited travel distance and

others (Paul Goodman,2022). Moreover, riding on the open road can feel dangerous, as

many car and truck drivers see cyclists as irritations that don’t belong to the road rather

than viewing them as other commuters that should be respected.

It has been observed that such increase of bikers happened in BeNHS. Because of the

observation, bike races has been one of the latest, projects for the school. Also an

increase of bikes parked within the vicinity of the school has been observed, due to this

observation the researcher decided to examine the key encouraging and discouraging

factors perceived by BeNHS cyclists students in the use of this alternative means of

transportation. Also the studyaimed at describing the relationship between the

actual(real) reasons of cyclists for engaging in their journeys in using bicycle as their
transportation through the use of demographic characteristics of users such as age,

gender, grade level and economic status.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The increase of using bike may result to traffic-related injuries and Crashes, the word

"accident" is frequently used, for example in thephrase "motor vehicle accident". However it has

beenargued that the term "accident" implies that the event inquestion has happened entirely by

chance, and is therefore unpredictable and unpreventable as opposed tobeing a result of

modifiable risk factors. We have refrained from using the word "accident" in this review, instead

using the more specific terms "incident", "injury", "crash", "collision" and "fall" as appropriate.

However, we do indicate if the original study authorsused the word accident to describe the

outcome measure.

This are the encouraging factors where some of the reasons behind the use of bikes

among cyclists, together with the reasons behind their journeys and the relationship of

these elements with their crash history. The results show that physical health and

fitness, contribution to environmental sustainability , economy and time saving were the

most frequent factors which encouraged cycling. On the other hand, perceived crash

risk, adverse weather conditions and lack of safety were found to be the most relevant

discouraging factors. Finally, participants who cycled with more regularity were found to

be less prone to suffer cycling crashes. The findings of this study support that cycling is

a choice based on both benefits and risks, and its perceived connection to health is
highly prevalent among active cyclists. Furthermore, perceived risks which may

discourage cycling are an issue that needs to be addressed by transport policies, in

order to enhance the engagement of the population in this mode of transportation.

The main barrier to cycling is the perception that our roads are too dangerous and

uncomfortable, largely due to high volumes and high speeds of motor traffic. This is the so-

called “subjectivity safety” problem. While some people try to adress the problem by explaning

that the absolute risk of injury and death while cycling is very low, this approach somewhat

misses the point. Safety is a problem of danger while subjective safety is a problem of fear: the

causes and solutions to the two problems are not necessarily exactly aligned. A roller coaster

ride for example, shows that fear is not exactly the result of danger (National Travel Survey,

2020 released).

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

This research sought to answer the following questions:

1. What is the demographic profile of the cyclist students?

2. What are the encouraging factors in using bicycle as percieved by cyclists students?

3. What are the discouraging factors in using bicycle as percieved by cyclists students?

SCOPE AND DELIMITATION

 This study is well focused on the population, and practice of the student cyclists in

BeNHS.The research is restricted to knowing the encouraging and discouraging factors of

student cyclist in BeNHS. It is based on developing the understanding of the behavior and

attitudes of cycling students. It is however delimited only to Senior High School student in

BeNHS under academic track HUMSS.

METHODOLOGY

The chapter presents the research design and methodology, Sampling methods and procedure,

data collection instrument and procedure and data analysis.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Research design is the plan and structure of investigation to conceived so as to obtain answers

to research questions (Kerlinger, 1986). Quantitative research design was used where data

used are quantifiable and where gathered to evaluate the assumptions of the study.

The researcher used descriptive research design in collecting the data from the respondents.

Descriptive research design is a research design that aim to obtain information to systematically

describe a phenomenon, situation, or population. The designs preffered because it is concerned

with answering questions such as who, how, what, which, when and how much. (Cooper and
Schindler, 2003). The survey method was to determine the level of encouraging and

discouraging factors in using bicycle in Benguet National Highschool. Margaret (2017) defined

survey method as collection of data attained by asking individuals questions either in person, on

paper or online; is one form of primary gathering data first hand forms its source. So therefore

the researchers used survey questionairre through face-to-face to collect data.

SAMPLING METHOD AND PROCEDURE

Before collecting the data, it is important to identify first the population. According to Pritha

Bhandara (2020), population is tha entire group that you want to draw conclusions about. It also

doesn’t always refer to people, it can mean a group containing elements of anything that you

want to study. Akinade and Owolabi (2009), also define population as the total set of

observations from which a sample is drawn.