Pedestrian Safety

We All Want the Same Thing Results from a Roadway Design Survey of Pedestrians, Drivers, Bicyclists, and Transit Users in the Bay Area

Sanders, Rebecca L.
Cooper, Jill F.
2012

Pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers, and public transit users all desire similar roadway design features, at least according to findings from a recent intercept survey of 537 people along a major urban corridor in the San Francisco Bay Area. This research was sponsored by the California Department of Transportation to understand traveler preferences for street design that could increase perceived traffic safety, walkability, and bikability along urban arterials, as well as encourage economic vitality through increased patronage of local businesses. In an open-ended question about street...

Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Strategies for UC Berkeley Campus and Periphery: Recommendations for Implementation

Schneider, Robert J.
Grembek, Offer
Braughton, Matthew
Orrick, Phyllis
Ragland, David R.
2013

The high level of pedestrian, bicycle, and transit activity on city-owned streets surrounding the UC Berkeley campus creates a dynamic social environment and gives Berkeley much of its charm. But the streets around the campus (henceforth called the campus periphery) are also places where pedestrians and bicyclists have been injured or killed in collisions with automobiles. This creates liability for drivers, the City, and the University—and worse, causes suffering for crash victims and their families. Everyone has an interest in reducing the frequency and severity of pedestrian and...

Safe Routes to Transit Program Evaluation Final Report

Sanders, Rebecca L.
Weinzimmer, David
Dittrich, Heidi
Cooper, Jill F.
2014

Safe Routes to Transit (SR2T) was initiated in 2004 with the adoption of the San Francisco Bay Area’s Regional Measure 2 which established a $1 increase in Bay Area bridge tolls. The intended purpose of this funding was to support various transportation projects within the region in order to reduce congestion along the seven state-owned toll bridge corridors. Consistent with this purpose, the SR2T Program was awarded $20 million to fund enhancements to increase walking and cycling to regional transit stations. SR2T funds were used for the following improvements, among others: ssecure...

A Comparative Analysis of Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety Around University Campuses

Grembek, Offer
Medury, Aditya
Orrick, Phyllis
Leung, Katherine
Ragland, David R.
Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia
Resnick, Justin
Wong, Norman
Shafizadeh, Kevan
Khan, Ghazan
2014

Large college campuses generate considerable volumes of traffic in a variety of modes, and in greater numbers, than found in most U.S. settings. This setting presents a unique study opportunity, as well as a significant potential for conflicts between motorized and non-motorized users of the transportation system, surrounded as most campuses are by mixed-use environments e.g. retail, restaurant, entertainment and high-density residential facilities such as apartments and dorms. At the same time, university campuses are also typically characterized by a central core area where most trips...

Roadway and Infrastructure Design and Its Relation to Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety: Basic Principles, Applications, and Benefits

Ragland, David R.
Grembek, Offer
Orrick, Phyllis
Felschundneff, Grace
2012

Road deaths are forecast to double by 2020, with the burden falling most heavily on low- and middle-income countries and, within those countries, on the most vulnerable and poorest road users. Half of the 1.2 million people killed and 50 million injured in road crashes each year are pedestrians, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and users of unsafe public transport; and more than 90 percent are from low- and middle-income countries. Because these are the areas where rapid motorization is taking place, the issue of safety in increasingly multi-modal environments is now of critical importance...

Estimating Pedestrian Accident Exposure: Protocol Report

Greene-Roesel, Ryan
Diogenes, Mara Chagas
Ragland, David R.
2007

Walking is a healthful, environmentally benign form of travel, and is the most basic form of human mobility. Walking trips account for more than 8 percent of all trips taken in California, making walking the second most commonly used mode of travel after the personal automobile (Caltrans, 2002). In addition, many trips made by vehicle or public transit begin and end with walking.

In spite of the importance and benefits of walking, pedestrians suffer a disproportionate share of the harm of traffic incidents in California. As noted above...

Integration of Light Rail Transit into City Streets

Korve, Hans W.
Farran, Jose I.
Mansel, Douglas M.
Levinson, Herbert S.
Chira-Chavala, T.
Ragland, David R.
1996

This report addresses the safety and operating experience of light rail transit (LRT) systems operating in shared (on-street or mall) rights-of-way at speeds that do not exceed 35 mph. It is based on agency interviews, field observations, and accident analyses of 10 LRT systems in the United States and Canada. These systems—in Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Calgary, Los Angeles, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose—provide a broad range of current LRT operating practices and problems.

The report provides information to facilitate the safe, orderly, and...

Crashes on and Near College Campuses: A Comparative Analysis of Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia
Medury, Aditya
Fink, Camille
Grembek, Offer
Shafizadeh, Kevan
Wong, Norman
Orrick, Phyllis
2014

Problem, research strategy, and findings: College campuses are multimodal settings with very high levels of walking and biking in conjunction with high levels of vehicular traffic, which increases risks for bicyclists and pedestrians. In this study, we examine crash data (both police reported and self-reported) and urban form data from three U.S. campuses to understand the spatial and temporal distribution of crashes on the campuses and their immediate periphery. To account for underreporting of pedestrian and bicycle crashes, we developed and circulated an online survey, which helped...

Associations between Road Network Structure and Pedestrian-Bicyclist Accidents

Zhang, Yuanyuan
Bigham, John M.
Li, Zhibin
Ragland, David R.
Chen, Xiaohong
2012

It is widely known that the road network layout can impact the non-motorized users’ traffic safety by changing the non-motorized traffic volume and road users’ behavior. Different road network patterns lead to different traffic safety levels for non-auto users and a single pattern can even have both the safe and unsafe features at the same time. By knowing what features can lead to safer traffic environment, existing road networks can be improved and new network patterns can be produced by combining all safe features from different patterns. Therefore, the associations between road network...

Weighing Integration by Block Heterogeneity to Evaluate Pedestrian Activity

Do, Minh-Tan
Grembek, Offer
Ragland, David R.
Chan, Ching-Yao
2012

Pedestrian exposure is a necessary component for a meaningful evaluation of pedestrian safety. The Space Syntax approach has a track record of accurate prediction of pedestrian activity by estimating the physical street connectivity in urban environments. However, for some environments, the performance of Space Syntax is limited and cannot be used as a reliable estimate of exposure. This paper makes use of the interdependency between: (i) street connectivity-estimated here using integration; and (ii) land-use characteristics; to propose a mechanism to adjust integration by land-use...