Pedestrian Safety

Visual Assessment of Pedestrian Crashes

Griswold, Julia B.
Fishbain, Barak
Washington, Simon
Ragland, David R.
2010

Of the numerous factors that play a role in fatal pedestrian collisions, the time of day, day of the week, and time of year can be significant determinants. More than 60% of all pedestrian collisions in 2007 occurred at night, despite the presumed decrease in both pedestrian and automobile exposure during the night. Although this trend is partially explained by factors such as fatigue and alcohol consumption, prior analysis of the Fatality Analysis Reporting System database suggests that pedestrian fatalities increase as light decreases after controlling for other factors.

This...

Evaluate the Causes of Pedestrian and Bicyclist Traffic Fatalities and Injuries, and Establish Appropriate Countermeasures for Use in California

Arnold, Lindsay S.
Ragland, David R.
Yip, Harry
Cooper, Doug
MacLeod, Kara E.
Hennessey, Daniel
Mitman, Meghan F.
DuBose, Brooke
2010

The three primary objectives of this project were to: (1) conduct research on existing bicycle and pedestrian safety programs and guidelines in the U.S. and internationally, (2) obtain and analyze existing data related to pedestrian and bicycle safety in California, and (3) assist in developing methodologies for producing safety action plans, identifying and selecting projects, conducting education campaigns, and targeting enforcement campaigns. To meet these objectives, SafeTREC developed a set of resources and tools for use in California. These resources make information and data on...

Qualitative Comparison of North-American Procedures for Areawide Pedestrian Travel Measurement

Greene-Roesel, Ryan
Diógenes, Mara C.
Ragland, David R.
Lindau, Luis A.
2007

There is no standard system for estimating area-wide pedestrian volumes in the United States. As a result, pedestrian volumes cannot be routinely used to guide transportation investments and monitoring measures performance. Vehicle volumes, by contrast, are measured systematically in each state and are reported to the Federal Highway Administration annually to be used in the allocation of federal funds. This paper investigates the advantages and disadvantages of three approaches to the creation of a standard system of pedestrian volume measurement: direct sampling, survey methods, and...

Crosswalk Confusion: More Evidence Why Pedestrian and Driver Knowledge of the Vehicle Code Should Not Be Assumed

Mitman, Meghan F.
Ragland, David R.
2014

Traffic safety researchers have long argued that driver behavior outweighs physical elements (such as road design) as a causal factor in motor vehicle collisions. A fundamental causal component of pedestrian—vehicle collisions is also behavior: that of the driver and that of the pedestrian. One determinant of this behavior may be whether the driver, the pedestrian, or both understand the motor vehicle code, which demarcates the right-of-way in pedestrian-vehicle interactions. That is, inappropriate or unlawful behavior may occur because the law is not understood or is misunderstood....

Pedestrian Safety Improvement Program

Grembek, Offer
Bosman, Craig
Bigham, John M.
Fine, Sara
Griswold, Julia B.
Medury, Aditya
Sanders, Rebecca L.
Schneider, Robert J.
Yavari, Afsaneh
Zhang, Yuanyuan
Ragland, David R.
2014

The Pedestrian Safety Improvement Program is an effort of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to identify and address systemic problems with regard to pedestrian safety in California, with the long-term goal of substantially reducing pedestrian fatalities and injuries in California. The efforts and findings presented in this report reflect the work of a team of experts in transportation engineering, transportation planning, public health, geographic information systems, and urban design from the UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research & Education Center.

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety Effects of the California Safe Routes to School Program

Gutierrez, Nicolas
Orenstein, Marla
Cooper, Jill F.
Rice, Thomas M.
Ragland, David R.
2008

In the last decade, there has been an increased focus in California on encouraging children to walk and bicycle to school safely. In 1999, the California Legislature created the Safe Routes to School (SR2S) program, authorizing issuance of a competitive grant process for roadway construction projects. There has been an overall decline in the numbers of child pedestrian/bicyclist collisions in California as a whole. When compared with the control areas, the SR2S project areas did not show a greater decline in numbers of collisions. However, it is likely that the number of children...

Ten Years Later: Examining the Long-Term Impact of the California Safe Routes to School Program

Ragland, David R.
Pande, Swati
Bigham, John M.
Cooper, Jill F.
2014

California was the first state to legislate a Safe Routes to School (SR2S) program under Assembly Bill AB 1475 (1999). SR2S funds construction projects that make it safer for children to walk/ bicycle to school and encourage a greater number of children to choose these modes of travel for the school commute. The main goal of this project was to assess the long-term impact of program-funded engineering modifications on walking/bicycling levels and on safety. Evaluation of improvements was determined using a targeted method of determining the countermeasures to result in safety and mode...

Driver and Pedestrian Behavior at Uncontrolled Crosswalks in the Tahoe Basin Recreation Area

Mitman, Meghan F.
Cooper, Douglas L.
DuBose, Brooke
2010

For more than thirty years, pedestrian safety studies have considered pedestrian-vehicle collision patterns and pedestrian and driver behavior at marked and unmarked crosswalks at uncontrolled crossings. Recent research in this area conducted by the UC Berkeley Traffic Safety Center [aka SafeTREC] on behalf of Caltrans, and summarized in a 2008 Transportation Research Record paper by Mitman et al., “The Marked Crosswalk Dilemma: Uncovering Some Missing Links in a 35-Year Debate,” was designed to fill key gaps in the literature by analyzing driver/pedestrian behavior and knowledge of...

Factors Associated with Hit-and-Run Pedestrian Fatalities and Driver Identification

MacLeod, Kara E.
Griswold, Julia B.
Arnold, Lindsay S.
Ragland, David R.
2010

Because hit-and-run crashes account for a significant share of pedestrian fatalities, a better understanding of these crashes will assist efforts to reduce pedestrian fatalities. Of the more than 48,000 pedestrian deaths that were recorded in the United States between 1998 and 2007 (Fatality Accident Reporting System [FARS]), 18.1% of them were the victims of hit-and-run crashes, and the percentage of fatal pedestrian hit-and-runs has been rising as the number of all pedestrian fatalities has decreased. Using FARS data on single pedestrian fatal victim crashes between 1998-2007,...

Association between Roadway Intersection Characteristics and Pedestrian Crash Risk in Alameda County, California

Schneider, Robert J.
Diogenes, Mara Chagas
Arnold, Lindsay S.
Attaset, Vanvisa
Griswold, Julia B.
Ragland, David R.
2010

Each year from 1998 to 2007, an average of approximately 4,800 pedestrians were killed and 71,000 pedestrians were injured in United States traffic crashes. Because many pedestrian crashes occur at roadway intersections, it is important to understand the intersection characteristics that are associated with pedestrian crash risk. This study uses detailed pedestrian crash data and pedestrian volume estimates to analyze pedestrian crash risk at 81 intersections along arterial and collector roadways in Alameda County, California. The analysis compares pedestrian crash rates (crashes per 10,...