Research Brief

An Early Analysis of Speed Safety Camera Program Rollout in California

Kyler Blodgett
2025

This research brief offers an early analysis of California’s rollout of speed safety camera pilot programs under Assembly Bill 645 (AB 645). No California city has ever had an automated speed camera program before Spring 2025. Documenting the program set-up and early administration experience of the pilot cities will be informative in advancing road safety efforts if speed cameras become more widespread across the state. After examining research on speed camera effectiveness and best practices based on a review of national programs, the brief focuses on Oakland and San Francisco....

Impact of the Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training: Program Insights from the 2025 Follow-Up Survey

Kyler Blodgett
Chen, Katherine L.
2025

The Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training Program (CPBST) is a collaborative effort between the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) at the University of California Berkeley and California Walks (Cal Walks) with funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety. Its main objective is to promote pedestrian and bicycle safety by educating residents and safety advocates, empowering community partners to advocate for safety improvements in their neighborhoods, and fostering collaboration between community participants, local officials, and agency staff....

SafeTREC staff publish research brief on the link between public health and active transportation planning

September 30, 2024
While the overall number of motor vehicle fatalities and serious injuries have generally decreased in recent years, vulnerable road user fatalities and serious injuries continue to rise (National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2024). Public health professionals, their methods, and their models are essential to incorporate within active transportation best practices because it allows decision makers to capture the ideas, desires, and needs of communities.

A new research brief by UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) staff...

Connecting Public Health and Transportation - Applying Crowdsourcing and Community Engagement Principles to Traffic Safety

Crowner, Jarah
Chen, Katherine L.
2024

Motor vehicle traffic fatalities are a public health problem in the United States. In 2022, there were 42,514 people killed and another 2.38 million people injured on U.S. roadways (National Center for Statistics and Analysis [NCSA], 2024). These fatalities are a leading cause of death and kill over 116 people each day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS), in 2022, for people ages 15-24, motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of death in the United States (CDC, 2022). Across all age...

SafeTREC staff publish research brief on equitable transportation planning using the Safe System Approach

September 26, 2024
Public health safety concerns surrounding road use in the United States are prevalent, with the number of fatalities and serious injury crashes for those walking, biking, and rolling continuing to reach all-time highs. These burdens are also disproportionately felt by the most vulnerable road users, especially those in low-income and BIPOC communities.

A new research brief by UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) staff Noelani Fixler, Lucia Ornelas, and Kris Leckie aims to explores how the ...

Equitable Transportation Planning for Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety through the Use of the Safe System Approach

Noelani Fixler
Lucia Ornelas
Kris Leckie
2024

This research brief explores how the Safe System Approach works to reframe the current landscape in the United States to promote equitable transportation policies and planning. Topics identified for further discussion and analysis from current literature on equity and the Safe System Approach include 1) engaging diverse communities in transportation planning, 2) turning towards equity to address past systemic injustices, and 3) employing education and prevention strategies to promote “upstream” versus “downstream” (i.e., traditional) approaches.

Peer Exchange Series 2024: My community is eager to collaborate and grow! Where do we go from here?

Areli Ariana Balderrama
Lucia Ornelas
2024

Peer Exchange Overview

The Peer Exchange Program is a three-part webinar series for individuals, community agencies, and governmental agencies interested in furthering ideas and actions that surfaced in the past Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Trainings (CPBST) or Comunidades Activas y Seguras (Active and Safe Communities) (CAyS) program trainings. As of 2023, SafeTREC and California Walks have conducted 126 Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Program (CPBSP) workshops statewide.

Impact of the Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training: Program Insights from the 2024 Follow-Up Survey

Kyler Blodgett
Chen, Katherine L.
2024

The Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training Program (CPBST) is a collaborative effort between the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) at the University of California Berkeley and California Walks (Cal Walks) with funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety. Its main objective is to promote pedestrian and bicycle safety by educating residents and safety advocates, empowering community partners to advocate for safety improvements in their neighborhoods, and fostering collaborations with local officials and agency staff....

Developing a Web-Based Tool to Track Highway Safety Planning Progress in California

Chen, Katherine L.
Oum, Sang Hyouk
Cooper, Jill F.
2017

A strategic highway safety plan (SHSP) is a comprehensive, statewide, data-driven safety plan that coordinates activities across agencies to reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries on all public roads. In 2015, California updated its SHSP with the input of hundreds of stakeholders. To implement a multiyear effort that involves many primary actors, the challenge is to track decisions and progress in an efficient manner as well as to have in place a state safety program that is accountable and transparent to its stakeholders. The Safe Transportation Research and Education Center at...

Experimental Research of Relationship between Pedestrian Stopping Distance and Walking Speed to Avoid Pedestrian Crowd Stampede Accident

Zhang, Yuanyuan
Chen, Xiaohong
Li, Na
2010

Stampede accidents usually take place in crowded areas in transfer stations, sports stadiums, shopping malls, religious places and other similar areas. One of the causes of stampedes is that people do not have enough distance to stop themselves when there are emergencies. Like vehicles, pedestrians also need stopping distance when they want to stop from a certain speed, especially in a sudden situation without any previous notice. People who could not stop in time crush into or step upon other people, and may trigger a stampede accident. Analysis of worldwide stampede accidents reveals the...