New research brief highlights effectiveness and progress of the CPBST, and features case studies with community partners on how the program can be strengthened
A new research brief, Towards a Better Understanding of Best Implementation Practice for the Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training Program, co-authored by UC Berkeley SafeTREC's Aqshems Nichols, Areli A. Balderrama, and Katherine L. Chen explores the program effectiveness and progress of the Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training (CPBST) Program, a join effort with California Walks (Cal Walks). The CPBST includes a series of planning meetings and site visits that culminate in a community-centered workshop that details crash data trends, walking and biking assessments and includes programmatic and infrastructure strategies to ameliorate traffic safety concerns.
This year, SafeTREC received funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) to supplement feedback from an electronic survey to conduct case study interviews with past community partners to gain further insight into how the program can be strengthened or adapted to meet the needs identified from the interviews with three prior CPBST workshop sites, including Fresno, Muscoy and Redding.
Key Findings
Semi-structured interviews with participants were conducted between May and July of 2023. Eight interviews were conducted by SafeTREC staff, with three participants from Fresno, two from Muscoy, and three from Redding. Key insights were consistently cited across the set of interviews, with the key factors for success of the CPBST implementations noted below:
- The Importance of Strong Communication
- Delegation of Responsibilities
- The Importance of Improved Awareness
- Available Resources Matter
Recommendations for Consideration in the CPBST Program
Figure 3: Summary of Opportunities Identified for the CPBST Program
After synthesizing the key takeaways from the semi-structured interviews, the team developed a list of opportunities that can be explored further to better position the CPBST program to serve the needs of California communities more effectively.
- Improve Funding Source Identification and Application Training
- Revisit the Speed of Follow-Up after a Workshop
- Maintain Communication Lines Post-Workshop
- Improve Knowledge Sharing Concerning the Local Transportation Ecosystem
This research brief was prepared in cooperation with the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS). The opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of OTS.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
