Pedestrian Safety

Commercial vehicles, fatigue, parking and safety

Gosselin, Katherine
2020
For commercial drivers, operator fatigue and parking in undesignated areas can result in dangerous collisions. Exacerbating this issue is a lack of freight truck parking, making it difficult for truck operators to find a safe spot when in need of rest. For bicyclists and pedestrians, loading and unloading commercial vehicles in downtowns also present hazards. Increasing the availability of legal truck parking could improve safety for all road users.

Selected Research on Road Diets

Elijah Wade
Tsai, Bor-Wen
2021
Pedestrian and bicyclist injury and mortality is a common occurrence in California. Data from the Transportation Injury Mapping System found that serious injuries among bicyclists and pedestrians increased between 2017-2019, with 3,174 recorded in 2017 and a peak of 3,495 serious injuries in 2019. Along with serious injuries, there has also been an increase in mortality among these active transportation options reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, which recorded 940 fatalities in 2017, and an increase to 972 by the end of 2019.

One of the strategies that has...

Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training (CPBST) Program Workshop Follow-Up Survey Highlights

Kristen Leckie
Elijah Wade
Katherine L. Chen
Jill F. Cooper
2021
The Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training Program (CPBST) is a joint project of the University of California Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) and California Walks (Cal Walks). Founded in 2009, the purpose of the CPBST is to: Educate local residents and safety advocates on how to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety; Empower community partners to advocate for safety improvements in their neighborhoods; and Strengthen collaborations with local officials and agency staff to make California neighborhoods safer and more pleansant for walking and...

Engagement of Latine Communities in Transportation Safety

Ana Lopez
Alma Leyva
Jill F. Cooper
2021

Introduction

Public participation in government is a foundation of democracy; however, it exists on a spectrum. In the field of transportation, decision-makers may seek information by simply making public announcements to invite input. Alternatively, governments devote resources to conduct thoughtful and extensive outreach to seek meaningful input. Recently, professionals and policymakers have considered an equity approach not only to reach and engage a diverse, representative group of community members, but to develop plans, projects, and policies that are...

Conducting Community Engagement with a Safe System Lens

Katherine L. Chen
Jill F. Cooper
2021

Introduction

Over 3,600 people died in traffic crashes in California in 2019; more than one in four people who died was a pedestrian or bicyclist (NHTSA). The burden of death and injury is unequally distributed - based on mode type, on race and ethnicity, and on income - as a consequence of historic and structurally inequitable funding and policy decisions (Archer, Sandt, Santana). Our current road network is a dichotomy of areas that connect people to things they need and underserved communities with restricted mobility. The Safe System approach offers...

2021 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Pedestrian Safety

Chen, Katherine L.
Tsai, Bor-Wen
Fortin, Garrett
Cooper, Jill F.
2021

Everyone is a pedestrian, whether or not walking is one’s primary mode of travel. As a commute mode, walking is gaining in numbers. Based on the first six months of 2020, the GHSA projects that pedestrian fatalities in the nation will be on pace with 2019 despite large reductions in motor vehicle travel associated with COVID-19. Pedestrian fatalities as a proportion of total motor vehicle deaths increased from 13.0 percent in 2010 to 17.3 percent in 2019. Moreover, pedestrian fatalities increased 46.5 percent from 2010 to 2019 while other traffic deaths increased by 4.9 percent. Increases...

Impact of the Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training Program: Insights from the 2022 Follow-Up Survey

Aqshems Nichols
Chen, Katherine L.
Jill F. Cooper
2022

The Community Pedestrian Bicycle Safety Training (CPBST) program is a collaborative project between UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) and California Walks (Cal Walks) that seeks to assist communities with three goals:

Identifying and better understanding their local transportation safety needs; Developing and strengthening local partnerships between various stakeholders in their community; and Generating a community-specific action plan for improving the safety of active transportation in their area.

These objectives are pursued through...

2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Pedestrian Safety

Katherine L. Chen
Bor-Wen Tsai
Garrett Fortin
Jill F. Cooper
2022
Everyone is a pedestrian, whether or not walking is one’s primary mode of travel. As a commute mode, walking is gaining in numbers. In 2020, pedestrian deaths accounted for 16.8 percent of all crash fatalities and nearly one-quarter (24.3 percent) of pedestrian fatalities involved a hit-and-run crash. From 2011 to 2020, pedestrian fatalities increased 46.2 percent while other traffic deaths only increased by 14.4 percent. From 2019 to 2020, pedestrian fatalities increased 3.9 percent, despite a 13.2 percent reduction in driving. Compared with all other racial categories, American Indian/...

2022 Statewide Traffic Safety Survey Summary

Cooper, Jill F.
2022

2022 marked the thirteenth year of the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) California’s Annual Traffic Safety Study. The study is intended to create a better understanding of trends in traffic safety behaviors and help focus traffic safety programs, which include enforcement efforts along with public education campaigns to ensure they are effective in targeting areas with disproportionate traffic safety injuries. The survey is sponsored by the OTS while being administered by Ewald and Wasserman Research Consultants along with University of California Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and...

Sites chosen for 2026 Complete Streets Safety Assessments program

March 23, 2026
Submitted by Katherine Chen
UC Berkeley SafeTREC and Fehr & Peers are excited to announce the selection of 16 communities throughout California for our 2026 Complete Streets Safety Assessment (CSSA) program! These sites represent a diverse range of cities, counties, and tribal lands committed to eliminating traffic fatalities and improving mobility for all road users.

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