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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Safety of Two-Wheeled Scooters</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1887433</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This project examines the sources of data available to learn about the safety facts of motorcycles with small engines including two-wheeled scooters (also referred to as motor scooters), mopeds, mini-bikes, pocket motorcycles, and e-bikes. The project will characterize the use and safety of these vehicles. The scope of work includes a literature scan, data acquisition and analysis, and report writing. The project will scan the literature for information on two-wheeled scooters, mopeds, mini-bikes, pocket motorcycles, and e-bikes to document the extent and type of use, crash risk and crash characteristics, and data needs (for example, crash reporting by the vehicle type and exposure metrics). The outcome of this project will be a report that (1) documents existing data sources on these types of vehicles, (2) reports on the extent of use and trends in use, (3) analyzes the type and frequency of crashes and crash injuries of the focus vehicles, including looking at use and safety data as a function of race, ethnicity, and SES, and (4) identifies data needs and ways to improve the collection of safety data. The results will provide a foundation of knowledge to improve safety programs for these road users who are a part of daily transportation, and whose presence will likely increase in coming years.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 22 Oct 2021 18:34:57 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1887433</guid>
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      <title>Moped and Motor Scooter (50 cc or less) Safety: Issues and Countermeasures</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1716999</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Despite having similar risks and roadway safety challenges, mopeds and seated motor scooters are seldom held to the same safety and training standards and considerations as motorcycles. In the United States, most of the states only require a standard driver license to operate a moped or seated motor scooter, and few states have universal moped or seated scooter helmet legislation. As a result, there is a public perception of mopeds and seated motor scooters that is fundamentally different from motorcycles when it comes to safety precautions such as the use of personal protective gear, most importantly helmets. Although motorcycles can travel at higher speeds, some mopeds and seated motor scooters can exceed speeds of 30 mph, and their riders are also susceptible to severe and fatal injuries. 
 
There are few studies on the risk factors and negative outcomes associated with moped and seated motor scooter use in the United States. As a result, there is also a lack of resources for officials tasked with enacting and enforcing moped and seated motor scooter safety policies. Research is needed to investigate safety issues unique to moped and seated motor scooter riding and to connect those findings with intervention strategies, practical policy recommendations, and educational programs.
  
 
The objective of this research was to produce a report and supporting tools to (1) document the patterns of moped and seated motor scooter use (e.g., 50 cc and 30mph / 50kph or less) and identify user profiles; (2) document the nature and extent of the risk factors associated with moped and seated motor scooter for on-road use; (3) develop tools for both decision makers and the general public that provide recommended safety improvements based on the identified risk factors; and (4) develop model licensing and training requirements for moped and seated motor scooter riders that limit risk factors.
]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2020 11:06:30 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1716999</guid>
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      <title>Transferability &amp; Forecasting of the Pedestrian Index Environment (PIE) for Modeling Applications</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1420159</link>
      <description><![CDATA[There have been important advances in non-motorized planning tools in recent years, including the development of the MoPeD pedestrian demand model (Clifton et al., 2013, 2015). This tool and others are increasingly requested by governments and agencies seeking to increase walking activity and create more walkable places. To date, the MoPeD tool has been piloted with success in the Portland region using data unique to Metro, the metropolitan planning organization. However, there is increasing interest from planning agencies within and outside of Portland and Oregon (e.g.: City of Tigard, OR; Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities, MN; San Francisco Public Health Department, CA) about adapting the pedestrian modeling tools for use in their own jurisdictions. Local governments desire to apply these tools for a variety of planning and forecasting purposes, not only for regional demand modeling. Unfortunately, other regions often do not have uniform access to the same kinds of pedestrian environment data as Metro, particularly at such a fine-grained scale. Important challenges remain in model development that must be overcome if these tools are to achieve widespread application. Among the most critical needs are the standardization and forecasting of model inputs, particularly measures of the built environment. In this next phase of the pedestrian modeling work (see Clifton et al., 2013, 2015), the project team will propose focusing on making our measures, models, and methods more transferable to other locations. Specifically, the project team will re-evaluate, compare and test our pedestrian index of the environment (PIE) measure using data resources more commonly available to planning agencies across the country. Next, the project team will re-estimate our pedestrian trip generation and destination choice models using this new PIE variable. The updated MoPeD will then be ready for further validation in Portland and testing in other regions (Twin Cities) and contexts (suburban Tigard). This process will also consider how PIE may be forecast to reflect future planning scenarios. These tasks will balance data availability, scale, computational capacity, and behavioral realism. This proposed project continues the team’s efforts to advance pedestrian demand modeling tools available for planning analysis and forecasting. In the past 5 years, the project team have completed 2 projects funded by National Institute for Transportation and Communities/Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (NITC/OTREC) (in partnership with Metro) to improve the representation of pedestrians in travel demand models. As a result of these projects, the project team have created a framework model of pedestrian demand (MoPeD) that integrates into trip-based regional models (Clifton et al., in press), estimated models for pedestrian trip generation (Clifton et al., 2013) and destination choice (Clifton et al., 2015), and developed a pedestrian index of the environment (PIE) measure (Singleton et al., 2014). This proposed work program represents the next logical step in the MoPeD’s enhancement and is critical to enabling its utility beyond the Portland region. The project team remains the same, continuing an 11-year collaboration on pedestrian modeling between Dr. Kelly Clifton (PI) and Dr. Robert Schneider]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 16 Aug 2016 16:34:15 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1420159</guid>
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