CSCRS Selects New Round of Transportation Safety Research Projects
This Spring, the Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety (CSCRS) announced the selection of 12 new research projects that will explore a range of transportation safety topics and contribute to the Center's mission to create and exchange knowledge to advance transportation safety through a multidisciplinary, Safe Systems approach. Research topics include Vision Zero implementation, mobility justice, Safe Systems, injury surveillance, micromobility safety, and crash investigation to name a few. A full list of the projects, lead research investigators, and links to project details can be found here.
SafeTREC's Jill Cooper to co-lead two new research projects
UC Berkeley SafeTREC, one of the five consortium campus members of the CSCRS, is excited to share news that Co-Director Jill Cooper will be co-investigator on two research projects:
Assessing how private beliefs conflict with public action on Safe Systems
Principal Investigator: Seth LaJeunesse, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Co-Principal Investigator: Jill Cooper, University of California, Berkeley
This project aims to assess the degree of pluralistic ignorance in people’s minds about what others prioritize in transportation, with safety being among the priorities. This project will also analyze participants’ ranked transportation investment priorities and assess how pluralistic ignorance of others’ priorities predicts less desirable travel attitudes and behaviors (e.g., failing to yield to pedestrians in marked crosswalks, driving well above the posted speed limit), as well as participants’ transportation aspirations (e.g., to walk more and drive less); investigate the mismatch among survey participants’ ranked priorities and their local and state policymakers’ transportation-related voting patterns and budgeting decisions; and discern the degree to which pluralistic ignorance helps to explain prevailing patterns in transportation funding and programming; and facilitate other Universities’ and local agencies’ assessment of the population’s transportation investment priorities. Learn more about this research project.
Integrating systems thinking tools into Vision Zero and Safe Systems approaches
Principal Investigator: Becky Naumann, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Co-Investigators: Jill Cooper, University of California, Berkeley; Seth LaJeunesse, Nancy Pullen-Seufert, Kelly Evenson, Elyse Keefe, and Kristen Hassmiller Lich, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
In this project, we propose developing systems thinking-based content and guidance materials to strengthen the implementation of VZ and Safe Systems approaches. This project will develop materials that help stakeholders establish a firm foundation and deepen their understanding of the system (of policies, norms, funding streams, equitable/inequitable processes, etc.) underlying their road safety outcomes, setting the stage for more effective VZ planning and implementation. Our intention is to directly and positively impact VZ and Safe Systems uptake and implementation, building a strong foundation of cross-sector collaboration and a solid foundation for success and sustainability. Additionally, this project builds on several other CSCRS projects, integrating that knowledge into tangible systems-based tools that can be disseminated and used by a wide range of stakeholders. Learn more about this research project.
About the CSCRS
The Collaborative Sciences Center for Road Safety (CSCRS), is a U.S. Department of Transportation-funded National University Transportation Center led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Highway Safety Research Center.
CSCRS is one of five national University Transportation Centers announced in November 2016. The Center unites leading university transportation research, planning, public health, data science and engineering programs with the mission to create and exchange knowledge to advance transportation safety through a multidisciplinary, Safe Systems approach.
The UC Berkeley team, led by SafeTREC Co-Director Offer Grembek, is one of five university consortium members, along with the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Duke University, Florida Atlantic University and University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Learn more about SafeTREC's involvement in the CSCRS.