Traditionally, improving the safety of pedestrians sharing roads with motor vehicles has been accomplished through policies aimed at reducing vehicle speeds and the likelihood of vehicle-pedestrian collisions. However, in recent years automakers have been working to design cars in ways that reduce the likelihood that pedestrians struck by motor vehicles will die or suffer serious injuries as a result.
safety
Cell phone distraction: It’s not just for drivers anymore
While incidents of distracted driving crashes involving cell phones are down, pedestrian injuries due to cell phone distraction while walking—primarily involving talking while walking—are up . What can be done to turn this trend around?
The New Majority: Pedaling Toward Equity (League of American Bicyclists and Sierra Club, 2013)
This report features data on demographic ridership, the effect of safe cycling infrastructure on ridership, new immigrant perceptions of bicycling, as well as the economic impact of transportation and health inequity.
NYPD language change signals increased emphasis on traffic safety
The New York Police Department has only recently started using the term “collision” instead of “accident.” The new terminology is part of an increased emphasis on investigating crashes that are not life-threatening. New York’s Traffic Commissioner has been praised for her emphasis on improving bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, however advocates are not as pleased with a crackdown on traffic infractions by bicyclists.
Rural routes more dangerous than those in urban areas
Rural areas, although home to less than 20 percent of the nation’s population, account for 55 percent of traffic fatalities, and largely rural states have the deadliest roadways. Despite the greater risk, according to a 2010 survey conducted by the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety at the University of Minnesota, drivers feel safer and more relaxed on these rural routes than on urban freeways
A Distance-Based Method to Estimate Annual Pedestrian and Bicyclist Exposure in an Urban Environment (FHWA, 2013)
This report describes a methodology for measuring pedestrian and bicyclist exposure based on counts of pedestrian and bicyclist volumes as well as the distances that pedestrians and bicyclists travel on facilities shared with motor vehicles. The distances that pedestrians and bicyclists travel on these facilities represent a measure of their exposure to the risk of having a crash with a motor vehicle.
Call for U.S. DOT to issue own standards causes a stir
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that U.S. DOT will be issuing its own standards for roadway design to meet the needs of all users, but especially bicyclists and pedestrians. Reactions indicated that some felt LaHood was showing impatience with a lack of suitable standards by AASHTO to meet the needs of non-motorized users.
Red light cameras still popular with municipalities, but not drivers
Almost half the states allow red light cameras, and municipalities are increasingly installing them at intersections as tools to increase public safety. Despite public pushback concerning the cameras, and some hiccups with implementation, this technology should stay in place where it is established and be installed at problem intersections whenever possible. The clear improvements in safety and traffic operations provide a benefit to the public and the best argument for accepting the utility of red light cameras.
Devil’s Slide dangers soon to be bypassed by tunnels
There hasn’t been a new highway tunnel built in California in 50 years, but new tunnels that will provide an alternative to a slide-prone stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway will be very impressive when they open.
One-way or two-way streets more efficient? It depends on what you measure
The debate over one-way versus two-way streets has been ongoing for more than half a century in American cities. Counter to prevailing engineering wisdom, a new study finds two-way streets may be more efficient, if one is measuring getting people to their destinations.