Dr. David R. Ragland was the founding director of the UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) and an Adjunct Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. He was the PI on numerous projects funded at SafeTREC (more than $30M since founding the center in 2000).
For nearly 25 years, he worked steadfastly and with great dedication to advance road safety in partnership with faculty, staff, students and traffic safety partners like the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), California Department of Transportation, California Department of Public Health, National Indian Justice Center, and the University of California Institute for Transportation Studies. Ragland was deeply committed to making our roadways and communities safer for those most vulnerable and disproportionately burdened with traffic fatalities and serious injuries, including pedestrians, bicyclists, older adults, children, and Black, Indigenous and other people of color. He advised state and federal transportation agencies on issues of transportation safety, including crash analysis, data collection, evaluation, and safety planning.
Highlights of his work included early geocoding of crashes on California roadways, a study of High Collision Concentration Locations on California highways, many noted studies of pedestrian and bicyclist safety, especially on analysis of crosswalk safety, and studies of roadway at-grade crossing of railways, design, and driver behavior.
Ragland authored more than 100 technical reports and peer-reviewed publications in the traffic safety arena, and over the years participated on important state efforts, such as California’s State Highway Safety Plan, Master Plan for Aging, the Traffic Records Coordinating Committee, and the Crash Medical Outcomes Data Advisory Committee.
Learn more about Dr. Ragland's lasting legacy in advancing public health and transportation safety for all.
