Safety and women’s perceptions of safety is a prevalent factor affecting the gender gap of cycling within the US. In a recent study by UC Berkeley researchers, the use of bike lanes in the South of Market Area of San Francisco found that only 29% of the cyclists were female despite accounting for 50% of the population in the area. A new research brief by UC Berkeley SafeTREC's policy and program analyst Dorry Funaki summarizes key issues found in this study of women’s perceptions of safety when cycling. Read the...
Complete Streets is a transportation policy and design concept that promotes safe and convenient access to roadways for users of all transportation modes including walking, biking, driving motor vehicle, and riding public transportation. The Complete Streets concept is a shift from planning and designing streets with motor vehicles as the dominant mode. Complete Streets explicitly acknowledges the mobility and safety needs of all road users by all modes.
As cities around the country adopt initiatives like Vision Zero to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries, they are faced with the question of how effective different types of interventions are. For example, do protected bike lanes or painted sharrows reduce the risk of severe injury to cyclists? A group of researchers from the New York University School of Medicine examined this question by studying where cyclists admitted to the hospital crashed and how severe their injuries were. This research brief explores their findings.
In January 2017, over 13,000 transportation professionals gathered in Washington, DC, at the Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB). In all, there were over 5,000 research presentations, 600 of which were about transportation safety. In this brief, we highlight some of the newest practice-ready pedestrian and bicycle safety research to come out of the conference.
Data is the bread and butter of safety analysis. This research brief highlights three new peer-reviewed studies that focus on questions around pedestrian and bicycle safety data and the patterns they identify. Read the full Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Research Brief to explore our findings
Safe Systems is an approach to road safety that envisions the elimination of fatal and serious injuries and seeks to provide both a theoretical framework and practical roadmap for accomplishing such an ambitious goal. The Safe Systems approach involves a paradigm shift from traditional approaches to road safety planning and responsibility. This fact sheet provides an overview of the Safe Systems Approach and how it relates to both current road safety practice and initiatives such as Vision Zero. Read the full...
Safe Systems is an approach to road safety that envisions the elimination of fatal and serious injuries and seeks to provide both a theoretical framework and practical roadmap for accomplishing such an ambitious goal. The Safe Systems approach involves a paradigm shift from traditional approaches to road safety planning and responsibility. This fact sheet discusses a principle integral to a Safe Systems Approach, shared responsibility for road safety. Read the full ...
Speed is a significant risk factor in road safety. Several recent reports from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Governors Highway Safety Administration (GHSA) highlight the need for a greater focus on speed management at the national, state and local level. As part of our Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Program (CPBSP), UC Berkeley SafeTREC has prepared a new research brief, "Motor vehicle speed as a risk factor in pedestrian safety"...
Speed is a significant risk factor in road safety. Several recent reports from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Governors Highway Safety Administration (GHSA) highlight the need for a greater focus on speed management at the national, state and local level. As part of our Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Program (CPBSP), UC Berkeley SafeTREC has prepared a new research brief, "Motor vehicle speed as a risk factor in pedestrian safety"...
UC Berkeley SafeTREC is excited to release the 2018 California Statewide Public Opinion Traffic Study led by Ewald & Wasserman Research Consultants (E&W). This study was conducted on behalf of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) at the University of California, Berkeley.
The 2018 Survey
The California Statewide Public Opinion Traffic Study is an annual cross-sectional survey of California drivers ages 18 and over regarding their opinions on traffic safety issues such as speeding, distracted...