The aim of this study was to explore cyclists’ and motorists’ experiences of rural road usage, with the overall goal to contribute to enhanced future traffic, individual wellbeing, and environmental welfare. Cross-sectional survey data was collected resulting in a representative sample for Sweden in terms of age, gender, income, educational level and geographical regions. 

Out of 1173 respondents, 119 rarely used rural roads and 45 used rural roads only as pedestrians. 614 respondents travelled on rural roads only as motorists and 309 were both motorists and cyclists and/or pedestrians. The remaining 86 used rural roads as cyclists/pedestrians. 73% of the cyclists use rural roads for commuting, 60% when cycling for exercise and 33% cycle both for utilitarian and recreational purposes. Among motorists, 44% stated that they would like to cycle on rural roads and another 29% do cycle in other places than in rural roads. 2/3 of the cyclists feel that being overtaken often does not feel "reassuring”. A thematic analysis of the question ”what makes you feel uncomfortable during overtaking” revealed that many found that small lateral distances to motor vehicles make them feel uneasy.

Applying estimates from this survey to the adult Swedish population shows that approximately 2 500 000 people cycle on rural roads. Future studies should better estimate cyclist prevalence on rural roads and the frequency of encounters between vehicles and cyclists. Improved guidance of how to behave in overtaking situations is needed. A rule on overtaking must be clear, feasible, understandable, accepted, and implementable in practice by everyone using rural roads – including driving system algorithms for future automated vehicles. A clear limitation in the study is the sampling frame including only adults, as children are an important group to consider sincet hey may be even more exposed when commuting or cycling for leisure on rural roads. Many people want to cycle on rural roads, but refrain from doing so.