Right-turn Safety for Walking/bicycling: Impacts of Curb Radii and Other Factors

A significant portion of roadway crashes occur at intersections, and crashes/conflicts between right-turning vehicles and pedestrians and bicyclists are common. There are limited studies focusing on crashes between right-turning vehicles and pedestrians and bicyclists. In 1981, a report published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration noted that crashes between motor vehicles and pedestrians increased by 43-107% when right-turn-on-red (RTOR) was implemented (“The Effect of Right-Turn-On-Red on Pedestrian and Bicycle Accidents”, Preusser et. al.). A study in 2006 found that of 255 vehicle-pedestrian crashes at intersections, 32% involved right-turning vehicles (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16990243). Conceptually, turning speeds could be reduced and yielding behavior (and pedestrian visibility) potentially increased by using smaller curb radii (a recommendation in the FHWA’s PEDSAFE Pedestrian Safety Guide and Countermeasure Selection System), but this treatment may have a negative impact on turning for large vehicles. Nevertheless, there are few studies of the impacts of curb radius (or other design and operational factors) on right-turn and pedestrian/bicyclist safety. This project will address this gap in understanding right-turn intersection safety using a “mixed-methods” approach, a process that includes analyzing crash data, collecting and analyzing observations of road user behaviors, and collecting and analyzing responses to a road user survey.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $50000
• Contract Numbers:

  218540

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Utah Department of Transportation

  4501 South 2700 West
  Project Development
  Salt Lake City, UT  United States  84114-8380

  Civil & Environmental Engineering Department

  Utah State University
  Logan, UT  United States 
• Managing Organizations:

  Utah Department of Transportation

  4501 South 2700 West
  Project Development
  Salt Lake City, UT  United States  84114-8380
• Performing Organizations:

  Civil & Environmental Engineering Department

  Utah State University
  Logan, UT  United States 
• Principal Investigators:

  Singleton, Patrick

• Start Date: 20201207
• Expected Completion Date: 20230430
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: Office of Safety
• USDOT Program: Transportation, Planning, Research, and Development
• Subprogram: Bicycle Safety
• Subprogram: Bicyclist Safety
• Subprogram: Pedestrian Safety

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bicycle crashes; Curbs; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Right turns; Signalized intersections; Traffic safety
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01762561
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Utah Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: 218540
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 25 2021 9:57PM