Safe System

Join the SafeTREC Team: position open for a Program Coordinator

October 6, 2025
Submitted by Lisa Peterson
Work with Us!

The Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) is a multidisciplinary group affiliated with the School of Public Health and the Institute of Transportation Studies. Our mission is to inform decision-making and empower communities to improve roadway safety for all, with an emphasis on vulnerable road users in California. We achieve this by working with academics, government agencies, and community-based organizations. We currently have one position open. Please see the details below and upcoming review date.

Program...

SafeTREC to present winning INRIX + MetroLab 2025 project in October 8th webinar showcase

October 2, 2025
Submitted by Lisa Peterson

On Wednesday, October 8, 2025, SafeTREC postdoctoral researcher Sujin Lee will present "Evaluate the effects of speed camera installation using telematics data in San Francisco" in the upcoming Metrolab Student Showcase as part of the Talk with the Experts Series. The webinar will showcase the groundbreaking research from the 2025 INRIX x MetroLab Challenge winners. UC Berkeley SafeTREC was...

New research briefs released on youth helmet adoption and a holistic approach to reducing speed limits

October 2, 2025
Submitted by Kris Leckie
UC Berkeley SafeTREC has recently released two new research briefs: "Advancing Youth Helmet Adoption Through Community-Based Programming" and “Pairing Speed Limit Reductions and Infrastructure to Lower Fatal and Serious (FSI) Crashes.”

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Get inspired for Pedestrian Safety Month and explore the latest reports from our Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Program!

October 2, 2025
Submitted by Kris Leckie
October is National Pedestrian Safety Month! Get inspired to advance safer walking for all in your community and explore the final reports from our Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Program (CPBSP). This year, we partnered with 13 communities to help advance their pedestrian and bicycle safety goals.

Since 2009, the Program has conducted 155 pedestrian and bicycle safety trainings throughout California....

2025 California Traffic Safety Survey Summary

Lisa Peterson
Karen Nguyen Vo
2025

The UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) has released the California Traffic Safety Survey 2025. The study was led by Ewald & Wasserman Research Consultants (E&W) and conducted on behalf of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and SafeTREC.

The California Traffic Safety Survey has been conducted annually since 2010 to gain a better understanding of a range of traffic safety behaviors and to help inform traffic safety programs and public education campaigns. This year’s survey was conducted with an online panel of California...

California Safe System Institute for Road Safety Executive Summary

UC Berkeley SafeTREC
2025

In the summer of 2025, the UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) conducted a Needs Assessment to explore the need for, and interest in, a program to support and nurture California communities’ road safety work to align with an effective Safe System Approach. As part of the Assessment, interviews and surveys were conducted, finding strong interest in such assistance, particularly for peer learning, leadership support opportunities, and more concrete examples of successes to inform individual communities’ work.

A context-sensitive roadway classification framework for speed limit setting in the US

Cheng-Kai Hsu
Melody Tsao
Julia B. Griswold
Robert J. Schneider
John M. Bigham
2025

In the US, speed limit setting (SLS) procedures have historically relied on driver-behavior-based methods, such as the 85th percentile speed, which are considered objective and allow for consistent application. However, this approach has notable shortcomings, including drivers’ tendency to underestimate their speeds, speed creep, and insufficient consideration of vulnerable road users, which may conflict with the Safe System Approach and Vision Zero initiatives endorsed by the USDOT (US Department of Transportation). In contrast, context-sensitive approaches, which classify roads...

UC Berkeley SafeTREC contributes bicycle simulator to Self-eSTEM summer camp

September 30, 2024
Submitted by Karen Nguyen Vo

In August 2024, the UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) demonstrated our bicycle simulator — originally created to gather data on cyclists' perceptions of safety in different road environments — to Self-eSTEM to complement their summer camp program for girls who identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or people of color (BIPOC) and are interested in science,...

Cal ITE's Interdistrict Transportation Competition workshop features SafeTREC's VR simulator

November 27, 2024
Submitted by Lisa Peterson

This fall, the UC Berkeley student chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and the Cal Transportation Team hosted the 2024 Interdistrict Transportation Competition (ITC) a conference intended to be a space for students to "engage in various transportation-related challenges often seen in the professional world, including in fields like planning, design, and data analysis."...

CSCRS Safety Sunday @TRB 2024

December 22, 2023
SUBMITTED BY LISA PETERSON
Join the conversation at Safety Sunday @ TRB 2024CSCRS Safety Sunday invitation with event details and sponsor logos

Headed to the 2024 Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting? Interested in learning more about the latest safety-related research topics?

The...