Evaluation

2024 California Traffic Safety Survey Summary

Lisa Peterson
Karen Nguyen Vo
2024

The UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) has released the California Traffic Safety Survey 2024. The study was led by Ewald & Wasserman Research Consultants (E&W) and conducted on behalf of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and SafeTREC.

The California Traffic Safety Survey has been conducted annually since 2010 to gain a better understanding of a range of traffic safety behaviors, and to help inform traffic safety programs and public education campaigns. This year’s survey was conducted with an online panel of California...

Evaluate the Safety Effects of Adopting a Stop-as-Yield Law for Cyclists in California

Iman Mahdinia
Julia B. Griswold
Rafael Unda
Soheil Sohrabi
Offer Grembek
2024

The escalating number of injuries and fatalities among cyclists is a pressing safety concern. In the United States, communities are actively seeking strategies to boost cyclist safety, with some states implementing bike-specific policies, such as stop-as-yield laws, to support cyclists. Stop-as-yield laws allow cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs. The laws are not yet widely implemented, and their potential safety impact is a subject of debate among transportation experts and advocates. This study investigates how stop-as-yield laws can positively or negatively affect safety and...

Impact of the Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training: Program Insights from the 2024 Follow-Up Survey

Kyler Blodgett
Chen, Katherine L.
2024

The Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training Program (CPBST) is a collaborative effort between the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) at the University of California Berkeley and California Walks (Cal Walks) with funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety. Its main objective is to promote pedestrian and bicycle safety by educating residents and safety advocates, empowering community partners to advocate for safety improvements in their neighborhoods, and fostering collaborations with local officials and agency staff....

California Traffic Safety Survey 2024

Ewald, Katrin
Wasserman, Lisa
2024

Overview of 2024 Study

The 2024 California Traffic Safety Public Opinion Study was conducted by Ewald & Wasserman Research (E&W) on behalf of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center of UC Berkeley (SafeTREC), using an online self-administered survey. Similar to previous years of the study, the survey panelists were provided through Marketing Services Group, a commercial sample and panel vendor.

To ensure a comparable sample disposition to previous years of data collection, six quota...

Investigating Bicyclists' Perception of Comfort on Physically Separated Bicycle Paths in Nanjing, China

Li, Zhibin
Wang, Wei
Liu, Pan
Schneider, Robert J.
Ragland, David R.
2014

Providing bicyclists favorable and comfortable riding environments is an important objective for transportation professionals. This study investigated the factors that contribute to bicyclists' perception of comfort on physically separated bicycle paths and quantified their impacts. A survey was conducted on 29 physically separated bicycle paths in the metropolitan area of Nanjing, China. A factor analysis and an ordered probit model were used to analyze the data. The results showed that the mean perception of comfort was significantly different between age groups, but not...

Consequences of Driving Reduction or Cessation for Older Adults

Harrison, Ayodele
Ragland, David R.
2003

The purpose of this study was to understand the adverse consequences of driving reduction or cessation among elderly adults. A comprehensive literature search was conducted for studies that (a) included information on driving by an elderly population, (b) included results from a qualitative or quantitative (or both) study of the elderly and driving cessation, and (c) provided information to evaluate consequences surrounding driving reduction or cessation. The selected subjects of the studies included men...

Design of Alert Criteria for an Intersection Decision Support System

Shladover, Steven E.
Vanderwerf, Joel
Ragland, David R.
Chan, Chin-Yao
2005

This paper describes the design and preliminary evaluation of the criteria for alerting drivers to a specific set of intersection hazards. The research is being conducted as part of the development of an intersection decision support (IDS) system that uses the sensing and computational technologies of infrastructure-based intelligent transportation systems. The IDS system under consideration is intended to help drivers avoid conflicts with oncoming traffic when they are making left turns under a permissive (i.e., unprotected) green signal. These conflicts account for a significant...

Drivers, Pedestrians, and Cyclists in California Want Complete Streets: Comparison of Results from Roadway Design Surveys of Pedestrians, Drivers, Bicyclists, and Transit Users in Northern and Southern California

Sanders, Rebecca L.
Griffin, Ashleigh
MacLeod, Kara E.
Cooper, Jill F.
2014

This paper compares findings from two recent surveys on roadway design preferences among pedestrians, drivers, bicyclists, and public transit users along major urban corridors in the metro areas of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Sponsored by the California Department of Transportation (DOT), the research explored design preferences that could increase perceived traffic safety, walkability, bikability, and economic vitality along urban arterials. Results from intercept surveys showed that roadway users desire similar design features along the test corridors, which carry 25,000-40,000...

Experimental Research of Relationship between Pedestrian Stopping Distance and Walking Speed to Avoid Pedestrian Crowd Stampede Accident

Zhang, Yuanyuan
Chen, Xiaohong
Li, Na
2010

Stampede accidents usually take place in crowded areas in transfer stations, sports stadiums, shopping malls, religious places and other similar areas. One of the causes of stampedes is that people do not have enough distance to stop themselves when there are emergencies. Like vehicles, pedestrians also need stopping distance when they want to stop from a certain speed, especially in a sudden situation without any previous notice. People who could not stop in time crush into or step upon other people, and may trigger a stampede accident. Analysis of worldwide stampede accidents reveals the...

Wayfinding-Oriented Design for Passenger Guidance Signs in Large-Scale Transit Center in China

Zhang, Yuanyuan
Chen, Xiaohong
Jiang, Jingwen
2010

Transit centers should offer well-designed guidance signs to help passengers find their way to desired destinations easily and quickly. The current design of guidance signs in large-scale transit centers in China, however, is based almost solely on interior and art design, with virtually no accounting for passengers’ wayfinding requirements. As a tentative effort to fill that need, this study presents a wayfinding-oriented design for guidance signs. The case of a large transit center in China is used to illustrate how wayfinding requirements can be incorporated into specific design. In...