Identifying Factors to Improve Bicycle Lane Safety in Pittsburgh, PA
Most serious crashes involving bicyclists occur at non-intersecting road locations. Over the past decade, there has been a steady increase in the number of bicyclist fatalities. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash report and Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), there was a record low 623 bicyclist fatalities in 2010 and it climbed to 966 fatalities in 2021, which is the highest it has been since 1975. This is a surprising trend given that many states, cities, and municipalities have been installing bicycle lanes to accommodate the increasing number of bicyclists. Overall, bicycle lanes have reduced crashes up to 49% on urban 4-lane roads and 30% on 2-lane urban roads and reduced fatalities for all road users. However, these studies aggregated data from 12 different cities and therefore, due to a variety of factors, some individual cities did not see crash reductions of this magnitude. For example, when looking at shared bicycle lanes, there was an 18% risk reduction in New York City but no benefit Chicago. The research team proposes a study to identify factors for improving bicycle lane safety in Pittsburgh. Over the past 20 years, bicycle lanes in Pittsburgh have increased from 10 miles to over 100 miles. The team will assess bicycles lanes in Pittsburgh and provide valuable information to the city to aid in their plans to expand bicycle lanes by 150 miles over the next decade. The team will take a three-pronged approach to assessing bicycle lane safety. First, crash data will be analyzed and compared to data from similar cities. Second, surveys will gather information (e.g., attitude, incidents, etc.) based on personal experiences using bike lanes. Finally, the team will develop and deploy a camera-based platform that automatically computes bicycle lane analytics, which will include information on when, where, and how often the bicycle lanes are most often used. The team will also automatically identify hazards in or near bike lanes. Hazards may include stopped or parked vehicles, potholes, crashes, near-misses, fallen debris, snow, etc. These computed analytics may be shared with bicycle riders via a smartphone app to aid in planning and with Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure to address any issues and aid in planning the expansion of Pittsburgh’s bicycle network. For example, vehicles frequently stopped in an unprotected bike lane in a commercial district may indicate that delivery drivers are using the bike lane as temporary parking, which can be resolved by making the bike lane protected.
- Record URL:
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Active
- Funding: $99201
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Contract Numbers:
69A3552344811
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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:
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA United StatesSafety21 University Transportation Center
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA United States 15213 -
Project Managers:
Stearns, Amy
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Performing Organizations:
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA United States -
Principal Investigators:
Tamburo, Robert
- Start Date: 20240701
- Expected Completion Date: 20250630
- Actual Completion Date: 0
- USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Bicycle crashes; Bicycle lanes; Data analysis; Hazard analysis; Mobile applications; Safety; Surveys
- Geographic Terms: Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania)
- Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01933408
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: Safety21 University Transportation Center
- Contract Numbers: 69A3552344811
- Files: UTC, RIP
- Created Date: Oct 13 2024 10:50AM