Using Health Behavior Theory and Relative Risk Information to Increase and Inform Use of Alternative Transportation

COVID-19 has led to a reduction in vehicle miles traveled by motorized vehicles. Anecdotal evidence suggests that there may a shift to non-motorized modes. Getting more of the Virginia Tech community (including student, faculty, and staff) to walk, use the bus, carpool or ride bicycles for alternative transportation to decrease dependency on vehicle use and traffic around the VT campus and increase overall safety is a goal of the VT Alternative Transportation Department. With COVID-19 impacting carpools and the bus system due to limited capacity and possible fear of public transportation, and fear of injury related to alternative transportation methods, the rate of Single Occupancy Vehicles (SOV) usage to and around the VT campus may increase. This project develops an intervention and education program to encourage alternative transportation to, from, and around campus to reduce traffic on campus while still respecting COVID-19 precautionary measures. In addition, since there is currently no standardized approach for computing the injury rates for non-vehicle roadway users, this project will collaborate with another project that will also refine and assess a methodology for estimating injury rates for pedestrians and bicyclists which will be used to inform the developed intervention. This information will also aid in the development of an educational alternative transportation safety course.

• Record URL:
  https://safed.vtti.vt.edu/projects/using-health-behavior-theory-and-relative-risk-information-to-increase-and-inform-use-of-alternative-transportation-2/

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $493774
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747115

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Safety through Disruption University Transportation Center (Safe-D)

  Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
  Blacksburg, VA  United States  24060
• Project Managers:

  Glenn, Eric

• Performing Organizations:

  Virginia Tech Transportation Institute

  3500 Transportation Research Plaza
  Blacksburg, Virginia  United States  24061

  Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI)

  400 Harvey Mitchell Parkway South
  Suite 300
  College Station, TX  United States  77845-4375
• Principal Investigators:

  Glenn, Laurel

• Start Date: 20201001
• Expected Completion Date: 20230715
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alternatives analysis; Bicycling; Campuses; Communicable diseases; COVID-19; Cyclists; Education; Injury rates; Methodology; Pedestrians; Public transit; Safety; Single occupant vehicles; Vehicle miles of travel; Walking
• Identifier Terms: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• Subject Areas: Highways; Passenger Transportation; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01754639
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Safety through Disruption University Transportation Center (Safe-D)
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747115
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Oct 14 2020 1:56PM