Evaluation

Traffic Volume and Collisions Involving Transit and Nontransit Vehicles

Ragland, David R.
Hundenski, Ronald J.
Holman, Barbara L.
Fisher, June M.
1991

This study reports an analysis of collisions occurring between public transit vehicles operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway System (Muni), the public transit agency for the City of San Francisco, and nontransit vehicles. The analysis, focusing on weekday collisions during 1987, demonstrated a strong association between hourly transit collisions rates and hourly traffic volume. The collision rate varied from 0.01 per 1,000 Muni vehicle-hours of operation during the interval 5 a.m. to 6 a.m., a time of very low traffic...

Objective Stress Factors, Accidents, and Absenteeism in Transit Operators: A Theoretical Framework and Empirical Evidence

Greiner, Birgit A.
Krause, Niklas
Ragland, David R.
Fisher, June
1998

The authors used observational job analysis as a conceptually based technique to measure stress factors unbiased by worker appraisal with 81 transit driving tasks on 27 transit lines. Stressor dimensions included work barriers that interfere with task performance due to poor technical-organizational design, time pressure, time binding (autonomy over time management), and monotonous conditions. Line-specific average stressor values were assigned to 308 transit operators who mainly worked the particular line. Logistic regression analyses showed associations for high work barriers and...

Strategies for Reducing Pedestrian and Bicyclist Injury at the Corridor Level

Ragland, David R.
Grembek, Offer
Orrick, Phyllis
2011

Methods for identifying sites with potential for preventing traffic fatalities and injuries have been developed for vehicle-vehicle collisions. This study was funded by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to develop methods for identifying sites where there is potential for significant reductions in pedestrian and bicyclist injury. Data from 1998-2007 from a 16.5-mile section of San Pablo Avenue (SR 123) in the San Francisco East Bay was used as a study area. Several approaches for identifying sites with high potential for reducing pedestrian and bicyclist injury were...

Estimation of Pedestrian Risk Exposure in Urban Areas : Case studies in the US and in France

Do, Minh-Tan
Grembek, Offer
Cerezo, Veronique
2013
The paper deals with the estimation of pedestrian risk exposure in urban areas. The approach proposed is based, on the one hand, on a spatial analysis technique called Space Syntax that characterizes the street integration - how streets are connected to each other - which gives rise to a natural movement of persons, and on the other hand, on land-use which acts as a multiplier or a divider of the original flows. Street integration is weighted by factors related to land use to better captures the heterogeneity of street-blocks. The method is applied to two radically different urban spaces: the...

California Intersection Decision Support: A Systems Approach to Achieve Nationally Interoperable Solutions

Chan, Ching-Yao
Cody, Delphine
Cohn, Theodore
Dickey, Susan
Greenhouse, Dan
Mak, Tony
Marco, David
Nguyen, Khoi
Misener, James A.
Nowakowski, Christopher
Ossenbrugen, Paul
Ragland, David R.
Shladover, Steven E.
Tan, Swe-kuang
Vanderwerf, Joel
Wang, Xiqin
Zabyshny, Aleksandr
Zennaro, Marco
2005

The overall IDS research plan was constructed to realize, in slightly more than three years, the requirements, tradeoffs assessment, and technology investigations necessary to define an IDS. Toward the end of the project we will combine our understanding of the problem definition, IDS technologies and our integration experience with a standard Caltrans intersection (with advanced controller) and design a deployable IDS demonstration that can be field tested.

Traffic Safety Among Latino Populations in California: Current Status and Policy Recommendations

Cooper, Jill F.
Wilder, Tammy R.
Lankina, Elena
Geyer, Judy A.
Ragland, David R.
2005

This report summarizes the information gained from two community forums held in Latino communities in California, provides an analysis of trends in injury and demographic data, and reviews best practices for increasing safety and preventing injury in Latino populations. It highlights pressing traffic safety needs and presents recommendations. It is our goal that this report will serve as a prototype for policy, enforcement and program development to address traffic safety issues for Latinos in California.

The Association Between Health Problems and Driver Status Among Older Adults

MacLeod, Kara E.
Geyer, Judy A.
Satariano, William A.
Ragland, David R.
2004

Many health problems, especially those associated with older age, can have an impact on an individual’s mobility. This paper addresses how specific functional limitations and medical conditions may be associated with driving status, while controlling for age and gender. This paper uses baseline data (N=2025) from a longitudinal survey of adults, ages 55 and older, the Study of Physical Performance and Age-Related Changes in Sonomans (SPPARCS). For the 35 selected medical conditions and functional limitations, this report presents the prevalence, the relative “risk” ratio (i.e., the risk...

Low Income Childhood Pedestrian Injury: Understanding the Disparate Risk

Johnson, Emily S.
Geyer, Judy A.
Rai, Nirmeet
Ragland, David R.
2004

A leading cause of death and injury to children is being struck by a motor vehicle. A disproportionate number of injured child pedestrians are of low socioeconomic status. The relationship between socioeconomic status and pedestrian injury is poorly understood. The existing literature is limited by the lack of pedestrian exposure data, a common measure of risk, and a clear conceptual framework for the interaction between socioeconomic status and pedestrian injury. Another issue is the limited availability of injury data. This paper proposes a model for understanding child pedestrian...

Vehicle Occupancy and Crash Risk

Geyer, Judy A.
Ragland, David R.
2004

This study explores the association between vehicle occupancy and a driver’s risk of causing a fatal crash, not wearing a seatbelt, and using alcohol. The survey population is the set of drivers represented in the Fatal Analysis Reporting System (FARS) (years 1992 to 2002). The independent variables are driver age, driver gender, passenger age, passenger gender, and vehicle occupancy. The outcome variables are whether the driver was at fault in causing the fatal crash, whether the driver wore a seatbelt, and whether the driver had been using alcohol. For male teenager drivers, driving with...

Evaluation of the California Child Passenger Safety Initiative

Cooper, Jill F.
MacLeod, Kara E.
Ragland, David R.
2004

Motor vehicle injuries are a leading cause of injury and fatality to children. Child restraint systems can reduce injury, and their use has been a long-time focus of policy and programmatic work. During this time, there has been a marked increase in the number of children restrained in vehicles and a steady decline in vehicle-related injuries and fatalities to children. However, data reveal that children of color, compared to white children, are at greater risk of injury in motor vehicle crashes. To address needs of “the children left behind” from safety advances, the California Child...