Development of Performance Measures for Non-Motorized Dynamics
Record Type: DOT
Due to increase in traffic congestion and concerns on human health and environmental issues, non-motorized modes (walking and cycling) have been encouraged as alternative modes of transportation to motor vehicle. Ensuring safety of pedestrians and cyclists is among the crucial tasks of any jurisdiction attempting to promote non-motorized modes. Although the statistics have shown a declining trend, pedestrian and cyclists fatalities are still one of the significant contributors to deaths resulting from traffic crashes. Out of the total 33,808 fatalities caused by crashes in the United States in 2009, there were 4,722 (approx. 14%) combined pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities (FHWA, 2011). In Michigan alone, there were 121 pedestrian and 19 bicyclist fatalities, accounting for 16% of total fatalities resulting from crashes in 2009. Except for the Detroit area, both pedestrian and bicycle crashes are randomly distributed rather than concentrated at particular locations. This random nature of crashes makes it difficult to apply crash countermeasures when scoping transportation projects. Therefore, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) needs a systematic approach to determine performance measures for non-motorized safety and to identify the need for countermeasures when designing facilities. This research has six specific objectives: (1) Building an inventory database for non-motorized safety analysis and providing a
guidelines for data collection, storage, and management; (2) Conducting detailed analysis of high crash and low crash communities to identify factors affecting crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists and to develop applicable performance measures; (3) Evaluating performances of recent pedestrian and bicycle improvement projects through before and after studies and cost-benefit analyses to quantity their effectiveness; (4) Identifying cultural issues associated with pedestrian incidents, and determining what issues can and cannot be addressed by engineering solutions; (5) Developing systematic guidance for adjusting performance measurements by comparing the nationwide non-motorized performance measurements and analysis results; and (6)Developing a user guide for using performance measures and determining the need for non-motorized countermeasures and providing recommendations for Michigan’s Complete Streets policy.
Start date: 2012/10/1
End date: 2013/9/30
Status: Active
Contract/Grant Number: 2010-0297 / Z5
Secondary Number: 116248
Total Dollars: 201,851
Source Organization: Michigan Department of Transportation
Date Added: 07/23/2012
Index Terms: Pedestrians, Cyclists, Pedestrian safety, Fatalities, Countermeasures, Benefit cost analysis,
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Michigan Department of Transportation
http://www.michigan.gov/mdot
Murray Van Wagoner Building
425 West Ottawa, P.O. Box 30050
Lansing, MI 48909
USA
Phone: (517) 241-2780
Fax: (517) 335-2785
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Thompson, Deirdre
Phone: (517) 335-2834
Email: thompsond@michigan.gov
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