Identifying Research Priorities to Improve Safety for Pedestrians and Bicyclists Accessing Bus Stops

Most riders access transit service by foot or bike, which makes transit stops important generators of pedestrian and bicycle activity. However, studying the relationship between transit access and ped/bike safety can be challenging for numerous reasons, particularly a lack of safety-related datasets that specifically identify pedestrians or bicyclists as also being transit passengers on the first or last mile of their trip. This has led to limited prior research specifically focusing on the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists as they access transit stops. In light of this gap, there are two overarching objectives for this project. The first is to lay the groundwork for future transit-related ped/bike safety research through the Center for Pedestrian Bicyclist Safety (CPBS) over the next five years to help support the US DOT Strategic Goal of “increasing transit ridership in top transit cities.” To accomplish this, a three-step method is proposed: (1) conduct an in-depth literature review on pedestrian/bicycle safety issues when accessing transit; (2) identify local, state, and national transit-related datasets that can be used to analyze ped/bike safety; and (3) analyze nationwide trends in bus-stop related pedestrian fatalities using Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data. The second objective is to address transit access by pedestrians as part of one of the core Year 1 CPBS Research Themes to demonstrate integrating transit into ped/bike safety research. Specifically, this project will integrate with the “Arterials” Research Theme and conduct an exploratory analysis of the correlation between bus ridership and pedestrian safety outcomes on arterials in Tennessee (see related project 23UTK02).

Language

  • English

Project

  • Status: Active
  • Funding: $113919
  • Contract Numbers:

    69A3552348336

  • 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:

    Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

    University of New Mexico
    Albuquerque, NM  United States  87131
  • Project Managers:

    Melendrez, Carman

    Stearns, Amy

  • Performing Organizations:

    University of Tennessee, Knoxville

    Center for Transportation Research (CTR)
    Knoxville, TN  United States  37996
  • Principal Investigators:

    Brakewood, Candace

    Cherry, Christopher

  • Start Date: 20230601
  • Expected Completion Date: 20240531
  • Actual Completion Date: 0
  • USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01890194
  • Record Type: Research project
  • Source Agency: Center for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety
  • Contract Numbers: 69A3552348336
  • Files: UTC, RIP
  • Created Date: Aug 17 2023 4:51PM