Recent its_tsc items

Jaywalking in California: History, Pedestrian Safety Trends, Law Enforcement Patterns, and Decriminalization Legislation

Fri, 5 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This report investigates jaywalking laws in connection with traffic safety, racial equity, and street design, focusing on California. It traces the concept of "jaywalking" to an early 20th-century auto industry campaign to shift safety responsibility from drivers to pedestrians. By analyzing national and California pedestrian injury and fatality data (2009–2022) alongside California Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) police stop data (2018–2022), the study describes demographic disparities in both pedestrian crashes and law enforcement of jaywalking. It also documents recent legislative efforts in California and other states and cities to decriminalize or reform jaywalking enforcement. Findings show that pedestrian fatalities reached a 40 year high in 2022, with California’s rates consistently exceeding the national average. Significant racial and economic disparities exist: Black pedestrians experience fatality rates multiple times those of White pedestrians, and lower-income...

Child Restraint Use: Workbook and Guide for Evaluating Community-based Programs

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The leading cause of injury and death for children in California is motor vehicle crashes. To prevent these needless tragedies, the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), through the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, funds child passenger safety programs throughout the state. This workbook is designed to be used by these local programs to 1) evaluate the impact of their activities on child restraint use, 2) evaluate results to improve or modify the programs as needed, and 3) meet contractual evaluation requirements. Program evaluations can be difficult for local programs due to high service demands and limited resources. We hope this guide supports local programs and agencies by providing the evaluation method and tools. A before-and-after study design is described that measures restraint use before the intervention occurs (to provide a baseline rate) and then after the intervention (to document any change). The UC Berkeley Traffic Safety Center will offer direct...

Bicycle Helmet Use: Workbook and Guide for Evaluating Community-Based Programs

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Two thirds of bicycle deaths occur as a result of traumatic brain injury; 88% of these injuries can be prevented by a helmet. In 1994, the State of California passed a law requiring all bicyclists under the age of 18 to wear helmets. Despite these legal obligations, many bicyclists still do not wear helmets. The estimates of bicycle helmet use is disparate throughout the state, with some communities reporting up to 80% use and others, especially inner-city areas, reporting less than 10% use.

The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) provides grants for bicycle helmet education programs led by local community organizations. The Traffic Safety Center (TSC) at the University of California, Berkeley, contracted with OTS to develop a set of instructions specifically for these community organizations to measure the impact of their safety intervention program. The instructions presented in this guide are designed to be used by these local programs to 1) evaluate the impact...

Using Time-Based Metrics to Compare Crash Risk Across Modes and Locations

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The objective of this work is to identify better metrics of exposure when comparing traffic crash risk across modes or across locations. We propose that total time travelled should be used for road user exposure to crash risk. The idea behind this is that travel time reflects the differences in speeds across different modes and hence should be used as the basic exposure metric from which crash risk based on other metrics, such as travel distance, can easily be derived. We also propose that when comparing crash risk of different modes across different locations the time-based mode share should be used as an explanatory variable. By using mode share we are generalizing the safety in numbers concept which focuses on absolute numbers. This work presents a discussion on why these two metrics were chosen and how they are different from the commonly used metrics. Quantitative evidence for the choice of time-based metrics is also presented using travel survey data to compare crash risk...

Motor vehicle speed as a risk factor in pedestrian safety

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Speed is a significant risk factor in road safety. Several recent reports from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Governors Highway Safety Administration (GHSA) highlight the need for a greater focus on speed management at the national, state and local level. As part of our Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Program (CPBSP), UC Berkeley SafeTREC has prepared a new research brief, "Motor vehicle speed as a risk factor in pedestrian safety" summarizing some of the findings from these reports, as they relate to pedestrian safety

Transportation and Health: Policy Interventions for Safer, Healthier People and Communities

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The public road system in the U.S. is the world’s busiest, sustaining more than 3 trillion vehiclemiles of travel each year on a network of more than 4 million miles of roads and highways. It has had enormous positive impacts on U.S. society, driving economic growth and innovation, providing mobility and opportunity to its users, and helping the U.S. maintain its global economic competitiveness. This system was built with a focus on motor vehicles; only recently has substantial funding and attention been given to transit, walking, and bicycling. There is still a huge disparity in how we travel: between 1990 and 2009 the yearly vehicle-miles traveled for passenger cars and light-duty trucks increased by 39 percent; yearly motor fuel consumption rose 27 percent, to 168 billion gallons. And for those unable or unwilling to purchase and use a private automobile for transportation, there can be disparate access to economic opportunity, services, and social interaction. Enhancing multimodal...

Safety Assessment of Uncontrolled Intersections Using Both Conflict Probability and Severity

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper presents a method to assess the safety of uncontrolled intersections considering both conflict probability and severity, which are two major properties of traffic conflicts. This method provides not only the safety level of the entire intersection but also the distribution of safety within intersections. Intersections are modelled by a two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system and the internal space of intersections is divided into cells. Firstly, vehicle movement characteristics of at uncontrolled intersections are modelled. Secondly, conflict probability of each cell within the intersection is estimated considering approaching probability and lateral migration probability of vehicles. The quantification of conflict severity is based on kinetic energy loss of potential crashes. Grey cluster analysis is used to combine conflict probability and severity to model the safety assessment of each cell. Thirdly, the application of this method discussed, and an overall safety...

Using Variable Speed Limits To Reduce Rear-End Collision Risks Near Recurrent Bottlenecks

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Rear-end collisions would occur if vehicle speeds decrease abruptly when encountering kinematic waves (KWs) emanating from active bottlenecks. This study aims to develop a control strategy in variable speed limits (VSL) to reduce rear-end collision risks near recurrent bottlenecks. Using the crash prediction model developed for rear-end collisions related to risky KWs, the effectiveness of VSL control strategies were evaluated in the cell transmission model (CTM). Several strategies were tested in sequence to determine the best case for risk reduction. Results of this study show that the collision risk can be effectively reduced if the speed limit is lowered in an opportune occasion. The VSL needs to response quickly to the fast changing traffic condition while should simultaneously avoid the potential disturbance to the traffic. According to the simulation results, the following recommendations are made when implementing the VSL to improve safety situation near recurrent bottlenecks:...

Vehicle Weight Safety Study Academic Report

Mon, 2 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Vehicle Weight Safety Study provides supporting analysis for the California Transportation Commission’s study on therelationship between vehicle weight and road user injury and roadway degradation required by Assembly Bill (AB) 251, which was signed by the Governor in October 2023. To inform the work of the CTC, this report summarizes trends of road user injuries and fatalities in California and potential factors contributing to these trends (Chapter 2); summarizes trends in vehicle weight, size, and height for registered vehicles in California (Chapter 3); documents the landscape of policy solutions focused on vehicle size that might address California’s road user injuries and fatality challenge (Chapter 4); analyzes the impact of potential weight-based fees on consumer vehicle purchasing behavior (Chapter 5); and, analyzes the relationship between shifts in passenger vehicle weight and degradation of road infrastructure (Chapter 6).

Spatiotemporal Analysis of Macroscopic Patterns of Urbanization and Traffic Safety

Tue, 2 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This study provides a preliminary investigation into the relationship between urbanization and traffic collisions by analyzing the spatial patterns in Sacramento County, California from 1998 to 2008 using urban land classifications and traffic collision data. The ArcGIS directional distribution tool was used to create standard deviational ellipses to investigate the distributional trend of urban land and traffic collisions over time. Statistical outputs representing changes of geographical centroids, elliptical areas, and standard distances (long and short axes) were then compared. Collisions were also subset by severity level to account for inherent differences in the spatial distribution of different types of collisions. The results provided insight into the macroscopic spatial patterns of urban land and traffic safety and their relationships. The limitations of the method and the need for further research were discussed. The approach...

Advancing Youth Helmet Adoption Through Community-Based Programming

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Bicycling provides youth with mobility, independence, and opportunities for physical activity, but head injuries remain a leading risk of biking-related crashes. Helmets are among the most effective tools for preventing serious injury, yet rates of consistent use among children and adolescents remain low and unevenly distributed across demographic groups. This paper reviews evidence on the social, cultural, and structural factors shaping helmet use and examines the role of school-based programs in promoting safer biking practices. Findings indicate that free and subsidized helmet distribution reduces access barriers but requires reinforcement through education and community engagement to sustain long-term use. Safe Routes to School initiatives improve safety and normalize active transportation, while educational campaigns influence knowledge, attitudes, and peer norms, particularly when combined with parental involvement. Equity concerns, including affordability, enforcement,...

Pairing Speed Limit Reductions and Infrastructure to Lower Fatal and Serious (FSI) Crashes

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

While recent California legislative reforms grant jurisdictions greater flexibility to lower speed limits, evidence suggests that reductions in posted speed limits alone are insufficient to meaningfully reduce crash severity. This research brief examines how speed limit reductions, when paired with infrastructure design, enforcement strategies, and contextual land-use planning, can more effectively lower FSI outcomes. Aligned with the Safe System Approach, the countermeasure layers of roadway geometry, lighting, bicycle-specific infrastructure, and enforcement shape driver behavior and protect vulnerable road users. This approach provides a pathway for communities to advance vulnerable road user safety by reducing speeds through a holistic approach.

An Early Analysis of Speed Safety Camera Program Rollout in California

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This research brief offers an early analysis of California’s rollout of speed safety camera pilot programs under Assembly Bill 645 (AB 645). No California city has ever had an automated speed camera program before Spring 2025. Documenting the program set-up and early administration experience of the pilot cities will be informative in advancing road safety efforts if speed cameras become more widespread across the state. After examining research on speed camera effectiveness and best practices based on a review of national programs, the brief focuses on Oakland and San Francisco. Drawing on interviews with city staff, the brief evaluates how well California’s approach aligns with best practices in effectiveness and equity. It finds that AB 645 incorporated many instructive learnings from elsewhere, including income-based fine reductions and data-driven site selection. It also identifies areas for further improvement such as public transparency, alternatives to monetary penalties,...

2025 California Traffic Safety Survey Summary

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) has released the California Traffic Safety Survey 2025. The study was led by Ewald & Wasserman Research Consultants (E&W) and conducted on behalf of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and SafeTREC.

The California Traffic Safety Survey has been conducted annually since 2010 to gain a better understanding of a range of traffic safety behaviors and to help inform traffic safety programs and public education campaigns. This year’s survey was conducted with an online panel of California drivers in all California counties for a total of 2,319 respondents, with the majority of those surveyed (59.1% unweighted) coming from Southern California and falling within the 18-44 age range.

Over 25 questions were created to address a variety of topics concerning road safety, including distracted driving, driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, pedestrian and bicyclist safety,...

California Safe System Institute for Road Safety Executive Summary

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In the summer of 2025, the UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) conducted a Needs Assessment to explore the need for, and interest in, a program to support and nurture California communities’ road safety work to align with an effective Safe System Approach. As part of the Assessment, interviews and surveys were conducted, finding strong interest in such assistance, particularly for peer learning, leadership support opportunities, and more concrete examples of successes to inform individual communities’ work.

A context-sensitive roadway classification framework for speed limit setting in the US

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In the US, speed limit setting (SLS) procedures have historically relied on driver-behavior-based methods, such as the 85th percentile speed, which are considered objective and allow for consistent application. However, this approach has notable shortcomings, including drivers’ tendency to underestimate their speeds, speed creep, and insufficient consideration of vulnerable road users, which may conflict with the Safe System Approach and Vision Zero initiatives endorsed by the USDOT (US Department of Transportation). In contrast, context-sensitive approaches, which classify roads based on roadway typologies, have been developed in countries like New Zealand, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Australia. While effective, these approaches have largely been applied outside the US, leaving many US roads with speed limits that may not fit their surroundings or adequately address pedestrian and cyclist safety. Drawing on New Zealand’s One Network Framework, we developed a US-based, context-sensitive...

On the legal deterrence of pedestrian hit-and-run collisions

Tue, 2 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Hit-and-run collisions—those in which a driver involved in the collision leaves the scene before the arrival of law enforcement officials—are a unique type of traffic violation because the driver's decision is a question of damage control rather than damage prevention. To reduce hitand-run violations, individual state laws impose legal sanctions to deter drivers from leaving the collision scene prematurely. Deterrence Theory dictates that compliance with laws is associated with the certainty, severity, and swiftness of punishment. The purpose of this study is to explore the deterrent effect of legal sanctions on the rate of hit-and-run collisions. Legal sanctions for hitand-run violations across the United States were compared with the prevalence of pedestrian hitand-run collisions in those states. Specifically, the severity of punishment, the certainty of punishment, and the excess legal sanctions of hit-and-run were compared with the rates of hitand-run. The results of these...

Impact of the Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training: Program Insights from the 2025 Follow-Up Survey

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training Program (CPBST) is a collaborative effort between the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) at the University of California Berkeley and California Walks (Cal Walks) with funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety. Its main objective is to promote pedestrian and bicycle safety by educating residents and safety advocates, empowering community partners to advocate for safety improvements in their neighborhoods, and fostering collaboration between community participants, local officials, and agency staff.

Since 2009, the program has conducted 142 community workshops across California. The program works with a planning committee of local stakeholders to plan a workshop tailored to the community’s specific needs and priorities. This planning committee recruits participants for the workshop, and together, the planning committee and workshop participants...

California Traffic Safety Survey 2025

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The 2025 Traffic Safety Public Opinion Study was conducted for the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center of UC Berkeley (SafeTREC). The findings of the 2025 Study are based on a sample size and eligibility criteria similar to previous years of data collection. A total of 2,319 responses were collected in April and May 2025 using an online selfadministered survey. Similar to previous years of the study, the survey panelists were provided through Marketing Services Group, a commercial sample and panel vendor.

The survey findings of the 2025 Traffic Safety Public Opinion Study are outlined in this report together with a comparison to previous years of data collection. Every effort was made to ensure the data representativeness and accuracy of the findings. To ensure a sample composition comparable to previous years, six quota groups were set for age and gender groups based on the California census, as well as...

Creating an Inclusive Bicycle Level of Service: Virtual Bicycle Simulator Study

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Bicycle level of service (BLOS) is an essential performance measure for transportation agencies to monitor and prioritize improvements to infrastructure, but existing measures do not capture the nuance of facility differences on the state highway system. However, with the advancements in virtual reality (VR) technology, a VR bicycle simulator is an ideal tool to safely gather user feedback on a variety of bicycling environments and conditions. This research explored the benefits and limitations of using a VR environment to assess individuals’ bike infrastructure preferences. We conducted a bicyclist user experience survey in person on SafeTREC’s VR bicycle simulator and online and compared the results. The online survey consisted of showing participants pairs of VR videos of biking scenarios and asking them to choose the one that they preferred. To validate the online survey responses, we conducted in-person experiments with a VR bike simulator using the same pairs of videos....

Bay Area Bike Share Casual Users Survey Report

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This report examines two groups of individuals who are inherently not well understood to Bay Area Bike Share and other public bikesharing operators: casual users and non-users (i.e., individuals who examine the system but choose not to use it). Using publicly available data from Bay Area Bike Share’s website, researchers conducted a preliminary analysis to determine when and where intercept surveyors should be stationed. Two survey instruments were tailored specifically to casual and non-users. From the survey instruments, the researchers were able to glean information regarding demographics, socioeconomics, common trip purposes, reasons for choosing or not choosing to use Bay Area Bike Share, and other related data. Findings suggest that Bay Area Bike Share casual users are similar to annual members in educational attainment, income, and race but they differ in trip purpose, trip duration, and home city. Furthermore, researchers found that the majority of casual users did not...

Acquiring and Operating an Electric Vehicle is Largely Out of Reach for Most Ridehailing Drivers

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Transportation network companies (TNCs) have played an increasingly prominent role providing on-demand mobility for consumers across California. The California Public UtilitiesCommission (CPUC) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) have adopted and are implementing SB 1014 (Clean Miles Standard), which establishes an annual increase in the percent of zero-emission passenger miles traveled and greenhouse (GHG) emission reduction targets for TNCs. This regulation requires TNC drivers to acquire and operate an electric vehicle (EV).

2024 CPBSP Highlights

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Program (CPBSP) was launched by the UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) in collaboration with California Walks to reduce pedestrian and bicycle fatalities and serious injuries in California communities. The CPBSP prioritizes working in communities at disproportionate risk for road traffc injuries and addressing the safety needs of people who are underserved by traditional transportation resources and planning.

The CPBSP engages participants in active transportation planning and strengthens the capacity of community partners to create safer and more accessible streets for everyone walking and biking. The CPBSP educates communities with an adapted Safe System approach, shares pedestrian and bicycle safety strategies and best practices, conducts on-the-ground walking safety assessments, provides site-specifc crash data analysis, and offers follow-up services to help communities advance their...

SafeTREC Seminar Nov.13: The commitment of the IDB on Road Safety

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

SafeTREC Seminar on the commitment of the IDB on Road Safety.

Observational Study of Cell Phone and Texting Use Among California Drivers 2015 and Comparison to 2011 through 2014 Data

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This methodological and analysis report outlines the procedures and findings for the fifth annual wave of the “Observational Survey of Cell Phone and Texting Use among California Drivers Study, ”conducted by Ewald & Wasserman Research Consultants (E&W) on behalf of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) at the University of California, Berkeley.

Automated Assessment of Safety-Critical Dynamics in Multi-modal Transportation Systems

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

With the advent of emerging technologies, urban intersections are being increasingly equipped with various types of video-based and in-pavement sensing systems to facilitate round-the-clock monitoring and optimization of multi-modal flows. In comparison, the assessment of the safety performance of these facilities continues to be largely based on either crash history or citizen grievances. Herein lies an opportunity to apply advanced sensing platforms to proactively monitor safety-critical events of multi-modal road users. This work presents a traffic safety monitoring framework which showcases the capabilities of utilizingin-pavement sensors to provide a detailed, automated assessment of mobility and safety-related performance measures for multi-modal traffic at signalized intersections. This effort supplements the crash data-based retrospective studies by routinely monitoring the safety-critical behavior of multimodal traffic. Herein, the term safety-critical refers to...

Safe Routes for Older Adults

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Whether rural, suburban or urban dweller, transportation is a critical lifeline to meet the needs of daily living, maintain independence and enable social connection. Walking and bicycling are important transportation alternatives to motor vehicle travel. They are also important sources of physical activity and social connectedness. Creating and/or enhancing environments to be more supportive of walking and bicycling has been a significant initiative within the transportation and health communities for over a decade, with important progress in many locations. Rates of walking and bicycling are up in California, and active transportation policies have become more institutionalized at the state and local level (e.g., Caltrans’ “Toward An Active California State Bicycle/Pedestrian Plan” and the City of Los Angeles Complete Streets Design Guide). With the increased focus on walking and bicycling comes opportunities to improve the safety of the transportation environment...

2024 California Traffic Safety Survey Summary

Tue, 1 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) has released the California Traffic Safety Survey 2024. The study was led by Ewald & Wasserman Research Consultants (E&W) and conducted on behalf of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and SafeTREC.

The California Traffic Safety Survey has been conducted annually since 2010 to gain a better understanding of a range of traffic safety behaviors, and to help inform traffic safety programs and public education campaigns. This year’s survey was conducted with an online panel of California drivers in all California counties for a total of 2,507 respondents, with the majority of those surveyed (57.9% weighted) coming from Southern California and falling within the 18-44 age range.

Connecting Public Health and Transportation - Applying Crowdsourcing and Community Engagement Principles to Traffic Safety

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Motor vehicle traffic fatalities are a public health problem in the United States. In 2022, there were 42,514 people killed and another 2.38 million people injured on U.S. roadways (National Center for Statistics and Analysis [NCSA], 2024). These fatalities are a leading cause of death and kill over 116 people each day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS), in 2022, for people ages 15-24, motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of death in the United States (CDC, 2022). Across all age groups, motor vehicle crashes are in the top 10 leading causes of death.

Equitable Transportation Planning for Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety through the Use of the Safe System Approach

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This research brief explores how the Safe System Approach works to reframe the current landscape in the United States to promote equitable transportation policies and planning. Topics identified for further discussion and analysis from current literature on equity and the Safe System Approach include 1) engaging diverse communities in transportation planning, 2) turning towards equity to address past systemic injustices, and 3) employing education and prevention strategies to promote “upstream” versus “downstream” (i.e., traditional) approaches.

2021 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Drug-Involved Driving

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The use of cannabis, prescription drugs, and other drugs are increasingly prominent on roadways in the United States, where 25.1 percent of the nation’s 36,096 fatalities in 2019 were related to drug-involved driving. Driving can be impaired by a variety of legal and illegal drugs, substances, and medications. Several states have legalized the use of medical and/or recreational cannabis, increasing concerns about traffic safety. Aside from alcohol, cannabis is the most frequently detected drug in drivers who are in crashes. The impact of drugs on the brain and behavior varies considerably depending on the type of drug and how it is metabolized. There are also large variations across jurisdictions in the frequency of testing suspected impaired drivers for drugs, the consistency of laboratory drug testing practices, and the capacity of law enforcement. Despite challenges in identifying causality and impairment, there is agreement that many...

2022 Statewide Traffic Safety Survey

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

2022 marked the thirteenth year of the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) California’s Annual Traffic Safety Study. The study is intended to create a better understanding of trends in traffic safety behaviors and help focus traffic safety programs, which include enforcement efforts along with public education campaigns to ensure they are effective in targeting areas with disproportionate traffic safety injuries. The survey is sponsored by the OTS while being administered by Ewald and Wasserman Research Consultants along with University of California Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC). The 2022 wave of data collection for the statewide traffic safety survey was conducted with an online panel of California drivers instead of an intercept interview, as were previous waves of data collection. This decision was made due to the COVID-19 pandemic as alternative data was collected to avoid in-person contact between field interviewers and respondents. The...

Towards a Better Understanding of Best Implementation Practice for the Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training Program

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Community Pedestrian Safety Training Program (CPST), funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), was established in 2009 to help promote informed community awareness, advocacy, planning, and programming in reducing pedestrian injuries and fatalities. Originally considering pedestrian safety only, the program was expanded to include bicycle safety in 2016 and became known as the Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training Program (CPBST). The program is a statewide project of the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC), a research center created in collaboration with the Institute of Transportation Studies and the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, and California Walks (Cal Walks), a nonprofit organization that specializes in promoting communities that are more just, inclusive, and walkable. SafeTREC and Cal Walks have worked with dozens of communities across California to develop localized recommendations...

Community Engagement at the Intersection of Public Health and Transportation: Highlighting Community Based Organizations’ Use of the Promotores Model for Engaging Community Members in the Field of Transportation

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Under federal statutes, transportation planners have an obligation to actively engage community members and to conduct equity-based analyses on transportation plans to ensure that people of color, low-income people, and other historically disenfranchised groups are neither disproportionately burdened nor denied the benefits of transportation investments. Planning professionals have an ethical and moral responsibility to involve and engage the communities they serve—to intentionally center community members in planning decision-making processes regarding their communities and ensure equity within the field. Equitably engaging all community groups is critical because having a political voice may empower community members to voice issues concerning their community. For instance, they may raise concerns about safety at an intersection, which may result in further investigation by agency staff. Community participation may also result in a city’s Active Transportation Plan or Circulation...

California Traffic Safety Study - 2023

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

2023 marked the fourteenth year of the California Office of Traffic Safety’s (OTS) Annual Traffic Safety Study. The study is intended to create a better understanding of trends in traffic safety behaviors and help focus traffic safety programs, which include enforcement efforts along with public education campaigns to ensure they are effective in targeting areas with disproportionate traffic safety injuries. The survey is sponsored by the OTS and administered by Ewald and Wasserman Research Consultants, along with University of California Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC). The 2023 wave of data collection for the statewide traffic safety survey was conducted with an online panel of California drivers instead of an intercept interview, as were previous waves of data collection. The survey questions and data analysis of survey items presented in this report are largely similar to previous waves of the survey, including survey items on traffic...

California Traffic Safety Survey 2021: Data Analysis and Comparison with 2010-2020 Survey Data Results

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The 2021 California Traffic Safety Study was conducted with an online panel of California drivers, as in the prior year of data collection. While in previous years, data was collected via in-person intercepts, the 2020 wave transitioned to an online, self-administered survey, a mode that was continued in 2021 to avoid in-person contact in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This report describes the findings of the 2021 Traffic Safety data, with a comparison to previous years of data, which include opinions on traffic safety, distracted driving, bicycle and pedestrian interactions, and other driving behaviors from a representative sample of California drivers.

The online survey panelists were provided by MSG, a commercial sample and panel vendor. Participants were forwarded to an online survey portal programmed and managed by E&W. Eligibility criteria for participation included a valid California driver’s license and being 18 year or older. Quotas were specified...

The Influence of Alcohol Outlet Proximity on Pedestrian Injury Incidence: Insights from Literature

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Preventing roadway deaths and injuries due to motor vehicle crashes continues to be a prevailing public health challenge in the United States. Included in this challenge is improving the safety of pedestrians on street and road networks. Researchers and other professionals continue to develop best practices for ameliorating the outcomes of pedestrian crashes by conducting studies that examine why these crashes occur and what steps can be taken to prevent them in the future. To do this, many researchers have employed a systems approach to addressing pedestrian safety by acknowledging that the causal factors leading to a pedestrian crash are multifaceted. The systems approach can include an analysis of factors related to the operator of a motor vehicle involved in a crash, the pedestrian involved in crash, or the elements of the built environment and their potential association with the crash. Given the high incidence of alcohol-related traffic incidents on roadways (CDC, 2022),...

Complete Streets and their effect on increasing safety for all road-users.

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Complete Streets is a transportation policy and design concept that promotes safe and convenient access to roadways for users of all transportation modes including walking, biking, driving motor vehicle, and riding public transportation. The Complete Streets concept is a shift from planning and designing streets with motor vehicles as the dominant mode. Complete Streets explicitly acknowledges the mobility and safety needs of all road users by all modes.

2020 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Speeding-Related Crashes

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A speeding-related crash is defined as one where a driver is speeding, racing, driving too fast for the conditions, or driving in excess of the posted speed limit. In the United States, in 2018, over one in four (25.7 percent) fatalities involved speeding, a steady decline from a decade ago. Speeding reduces a driver’s ability to steer safely around curves or objects, reduces the amount of time a driver has to react to a dangerous situation, and extends safe stopping distances. Analyses presented in the police traffic services program area refer to speeding-related fatal and serious injuries.

2019 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Speeding Related Collisions

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A speeding-related collision is defined as one where a driver is speeding, racing, driving too fast for the conditions, or driving in excess of the posted speed limit. In the United States, over one in four (26.2 percent) fatalities involved speeding, a steady decline from a decade ago. Speeding reduces a driver’s ability to steer safely around curves or objects, reduces the amount of time a driver has to react to a dangerous situation, and extends safe stopping distances. Analyses presented in the police traffic services program area refer to speeding-related fatal and serious injuries.

2020 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Alcohol-Involved Driving

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

While alcohol-impaired driving fatalities have fallen significantly in the last three decades, NHTSA reports that alcohol-impaired driving still comprises a large percentage of traffic injuries and fatalities. On average in 2018, one person died from an alcohol impaired driving crash every 50 minutes. There was a decrease in the number of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities and rate per 100 million VMT in the United States between 2017 and 2018. Analyses from SWITRS presented in this program area refer to alcohol involvement and include fatalities and serious injuries where law enforcement reported a driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist to have been drinking. Crashes in the program area are defined as one where one or more drivers, pedestrians, or bicyclists is alcohol-impaired or had been drinking (alcohol-involved) depending on which data set is used.

The Emergence of Shared E-Scooters: Prioritizing Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Innovation continues to create efficient and sustainable means of travel. Among these alternative mobility choices are e-scooters. To accommodate for this burgeoning new transportation market, cities have been tasked with adopting new policies and regulations to promote safety and multi-modal integration. Some cities have been reluctant to permit shared e-scooter companies without agreed upon stipulations involving publicly shared data, safety education, e-scooter supply limitations, and subsidized rides for low-income residents. A survey conducted by the City of Oakland in 2019 found that 41% of e-scooter trips would have been taken by car if riders did not have the option to use e-scooters. The survey also showed that 37% of riders use e-scooters to make connection to public transportation at least once a week1 . “According to the National Association of City Transportation Officials, e-scooter riders logged 86 million trips in 2019.2 ” Allowing for the growth of inter-connections...

2020 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Pedestrian Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Everyone is a pedestrian, whether or not walking is one’s primary mode of travel. As a commute mode, walking is gaining in numbers. In its 2020 report, “Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State, 2019 Preliminary Data” the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) reports that pedestrian fatalities in the nation have increased disproportionately to other traffic deaths. Pedestrian fatalities as a proportion of total motor vehicle deaths increased from 12 percent in 2009 to 17 percent in 2018. Moreover, pedestrian fatalities increased 53 percent from 2009 to 2018 while other traffic deaths increased by 2 percent. Further, GHSA estimates 6,590 pedestrians were fatally injured in 2019, a 5 percent increase from 2018, continuing an increasing trend and the largest number of pedestrian fatalities nationwide since 1988. This report found that in 2018 the highest proportion of pedestrian fatalities (59 percent) occurred on non-freeway arterials,...

Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training (CPBST) Program Workshop Follow-Up Survey Highlights

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training Program (CPBST) is a joint effort of the University of California Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (UCB SafeTREC) and California Walks (Cal Walks). Founded in 2009, the Community Pedestrian Safety Training program was expanded in 2016 to include bicycle safety improvements. The purpose of the CPBST is to:

Educate local residents and safety advocates on how to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety; Empower community partners to advocate for safety improvements in their neighborhoods; and Strengthen collaborations with local officials and agency staff to make California neighborhoods safer and more pleasant for walking and bicycling.

2020 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Drug-Involved Driving

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Driving can be impaired by a variety of legal and illegal drugs, substances, and medications. These various substances can impair cognition, attention, coordination, and other brain functions critical to driving safety. Unlike alcohol, the mechanism for absorption, distribution, and elimination of drugs from the body, as well as cognitive and behavioral effects differ greatly.

Analyses from SWITRS presented in this program area refer to drug-involvement and include fatal and serious injuries where law enforcement reported the driver to be under the influence of drugs. Crashes in the program area are defined as where one or more drivers tested positive for a drug that could cause impairment or was reported as driving under the influence of drugs, depending on which data set is used.

2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Drug-Involved Driving

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The use of cannabis, prescription drugs, and other drugs are increasingly prominent on roadways in the United States,where 25.3 percent of the nation’s 38,824 fatalities in 2020 were related to drug-involved driving. Driving can beimpaired by a variety of legal and illegal drugs, substances, and medications. The effect of specific drugs on behaviorand driving skills vary considerably depending on how they act in the brain and are metabolized. They can slow reactiontime, decrease coordination, increase aggressive and reckless driving, impair cognitive function, or cause drowsiness.All of these effects can contribute to crash risk.Studies suggest that poly-drug use or combining alcohol and drugs can inflate the level of driver impairment and crashrisk. There is variation across jurisdictions in the frequency of testing suspected impaired drivers for drugs, consistencyin laboratory drug testing practices, and capacity of law enforcement personnel. Despite challenges in identifyingcausality...

California Motorcycle Safety Facts

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

California has long been a center of motorcycling and is home to much of the motorcycle industry. In fact, the state has more motorcyclists than any other US state. There are more than 800,000 registered motorcycles in the state, followed by 550,000 in Florida and 445,000 in Texas. As a consequence, California is also a leader in motorcycle collision-related deaths each year.

2020 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Aging Road Users

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The older adult population in the United States aged 65 and older is expected to almost double between 2016 and 2060, from 49 million to 95 million. In 2018, there were 6,907 people aged 65 or older killed in a traffic crash in the United States; this accounted for 18.9 percent of all traffic fatalities. To provide context, the overall population aged 65 or older accounted for 14.9 percent of people in the United States and 19.4 percent of all licensed drivers in 2017. California has the largest number of licensed drivers aged 65 or older in the nation with 4,251,349, or 15.9 percent of all licensed drivers in the state. However, as drivers age, physical and mental changes including reduced visual acuity, increased fragility, restricted movement, and cognitive impairment can directly and indirectly result in age-related driving impairments.

Analyses presented in this section include fatal and serious injuries to drivers, passengers,...

SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Emergency Medical Services

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In 2016, there were 34,439 fatal crashes and countless more injury crashes in the United States. Increased coordination between first responders, hospitals, and other traffic safety stakeholders, along with better-quality Emergency Medical Services (EMS) data collection, would enhance planning efforts to improve first responder time to collisions. In emergency medicine, practitioners have a “golden hour,” sometimes less, following traumatic injury wherein prompt medical attention offers the highest chance to prevent death. Thus, improved timeliness and technologies, proximity to care, and roadway access increase a victim’s chance of survival.

2020 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Occupant Protection

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Restraint devices such as seat belts are a key element of motor vehicle occupant protection systems. Each year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducts the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) that measures, among many variables, the use of seat belts by occupants age eight and older. The 2019 NOPUS reported that seat belt use was 90.7 percent among front-seat passengers, a slight increase from the 89.6 percent observed in 2018. Additionally, the 2019 survey found that seat belt use increased during both weekday rush hours and non-rush hours. Use during weekday rush hours increased from 89.3 percent in 2018 to 90.7 percent in 2019 and use during non-rush hours increased from 89.1 percent in 2018 to 90.8 percent in 2019.

Analyses presented in the occupant protection program area include fatal and serious injuries where a driver or passenger in a passenger vehicle was unrestrained. Occupant protection...

2020 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Motorcycle Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Crashes involving motorcycles are a major traffic safety concern in the United States. Since motorcycle riders are susceptible to injury during crashes, they comprise a disproportionate share of all injured and killed vehicle occupants. In 2017, motorcycle riders were 27 times more likely than passenger car occupants to be fatally injured in a traffic crash, per vehicle miles traveled. The primary countermeasures used to address this problem have included motorcycle helmet laws and other helmet-oriented programs, rider training and licensing programs, vehicle enhancements including anti-lock braking technology, rider conspicuity programs, campaigns to increase other road users’ awareness of motorcycles, and campaigns to reduce impaired riding.

2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Speed-Related Crashes

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A speeding-related crash is defined as one where a driver is speeding, racing, driving too fast for the conditions, or driving in excess of the posted speed limit. In the United States, in 2020, over one in four (29.0 percent) fatalities involved speeding, a rate that increased after plateauing in the late 2010s, following a decline earlier in the decade. Speeding reduces a driver’s ability to steer safely around curves or objects, reduces the amount of time a driver has to react to a dangerous situation, and extends safe stopping distances. Analyses presented in the police traffic services program area refer to speeding-related fatal and serious injuries.

The United States Department of Transportation uses the Safe System Approach to work towards zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries. Reducing kinetic energy is central to the Safe System approach. The Safe System Approach recognizes human mistakes and vulnerabilities, and designs a system with many redundancies...

2021 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Occupant Protection

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Restraint devices such as seat belts are a key element of motor vehicle occupant protection systems. Each year, NHTSA conducts the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) that measures, among many variables, the use of seat belts by occupants age eight and older. The 2019 NOPUS reported that seat belt use was 90.7 percent among front-seat passengers, a slight increase from the 89.6 percent observed in 2018. Additionally, the 2019 survey found that seat belt use increased during both weekday rush hours and non rush hours. Use during weekday rush hours increased from 89.3 percent in 2018 to 90.7 percent in 2019 and use during non-rush hours increased from 89.1 percent in 2018 to 90.8 percent in 2019.

Perceptions of Bicycle Safety: A Data and User-Experience Approach

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Climate change has caused unprecedented problems, which has increased efforts to fund sustainable green alternatives. In California, the transportation sector accounts for approximately 50 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. California’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program (ARFVTP) provides $100 million annually to develop and deploy alternative fuel options, including infrastructure for zero and near-zero emission vehicles. In addition to ARFVTP, Senate Bill 743 was passed in 2013 which re-shaped the focus of traffic analysis from congestion and level of service impacts towards a more health-centric focus on the effects vehicle miles traveled has on people. This has directly led to increased funding for alternative means of transportation such as active transportation and micro-mobility infrastructure improvements. In this brief, we will explore the existing bicycle infrastructure in the City of Oakland as it relates to cyclist safety from...

Selected Research on Road Diets

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Pedestrian and bicyclist injury and mortality is a common occurrence in California. Data from the Transportation Injury Mapping System found that serious injuries among bicyclists and pedestrians increased between 2017-2019, with 3,174 recorded in 2017 and a peak of 3,495 serious injuries in 2019. Along with serious injuries, there has also been an increase in mortality among these active transportation options reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, which recorded 940 fatalities in 2017, and an increase to 972 by the end of 2019. One of the strategies that has been shown to be effective in reducing traffic injury is the implementation of road diets, which are also known as road reconfigurations, road re-chanellizations, road reallocations, or lane reductions. This intervention is a popular tool for city planners to improve the safety for bicyclists and pedestrians on high capacity roads at low costs. Burden and Largeway (1999) refer to road diets as “right-sizing”...

2021 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Speeding-Related Crashes

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A speeding-related crash is defined as one where a driver is speeding, racing, driving too fast for the conditions, or driving in excess of the posted speed limit. In the United States, in 2019, over one in four (26.3 percent) fatalities involved speeding, a proportion that has remained steady since 2017 following a decline in the prior decade. Speeding reduces a driver’s ability to steer safely around curves or objects, reduces the amount of time a driver has to react to a dangerous situation, and extends safe stopping distances.

Historically, road safety efforts focused on changing human behaviors to prevent crashes. The Safe System approach reframes efforts to save lives by expecting crashes to happen and focusing attention on reducing the severity of injuries when a crash occurs. By understanding the nuances of speeding-related crashes, transportation professionals can better address every aspect of crash risks and implement multiple...

The Goal of Road Safety in the Safe Systems Context

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Safe Systems is an approach to road safety that envisions the elimination of fatal and serious injuries and seeks to provide both a theoretical framework and practical roadmap for accomplishing such an ambitious goal. The Safe Systems approach involves a paradigm shift from traditional approaches to road safety planning and responsibility. This fact sheet provides an overview of the Safe Systems Approach and how it relates to both current road safety practice and initiatives such as Vision Zero.

2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Emergency Medical Services

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

There are many contributing factors in motor vehicle crashes. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) play a critical role post-crash to reduce fatalities and serious injuries. Recent studies show that an effective emergency trauma care system can improve survival from serious injuries by as much as 25 percent and county-level coordinated systems of trauma care can reduce crash fatalities rates as much as 50 percent.

The United States Department of Transportation uses the Safe System Approach to bring traffic deaths and serious injuries to zero. The Safe System Approach recognizes human mistakes and vulnerabilities, and designs a system with many redundancies in place to protect everyone. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) names “Post-Crash Care” as a key element of a Safe System. Specifically, post-crash care refers to emergency first response and transport to medical facilities, as well as forensic analysis of the crash site and traffic incident management.

2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Aging Road Users

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The older adult population in the United States aged 65 and older is expected to almost double between 2016 and 2060, from 49 million to 95 million. In 2020, there were 6,549 people aged 65 and older killed in traffic crashes in the United States; this accounted for 16.9 percent of all traffic fatalities. Older drivers 65 and older involved in fatal crashes decreased by 9.8 percent between 2019 and 2020.

As drivers age, physical and mental changes including reduced visual acuity, increased fragility, restricted movement, and cognitive impairment may directly and indirectly result in driving impairments.

The United States Department of Transportation uses the Safe System Approach to work towards zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries. The Safe System Approach recognizes human mistakes and vulnerabilities, and designs a system with many redundancies in place to protect everyone. Designing streets to limit the impact of kinetic energy transfer in crashes...

2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Pedestrian Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Everyone is a pedestrian, whether or not walking is one’s primary mode of travel. As a commute mode, walking is gaining in numbers. In 2020, pedestrian deaths accounted for 16.8 percent of all crash fatalities and nearly one-quarter (24.3 percent) of pedestrian fatalities involved a hit-and-run crash. From 2011 to 2020, pedestrian fatalities increased 46.2 percent while other traffic deaths only increased by 14.4 percent. From 2019 to 2020, pedestrian fatalities increased 3.9 percent, despite a 13.2 percent reduction in driving. Compared with all other racial categories, American Indian/Alaska Native persons had a substantially higher per-capita rate of fatalities among pedestrians. Black persons had the second highest rate of pedestrian traffic deaths. Preliminary 2021 data suggest that this trend will continue in the near future, reporting that 8,730 people died in roadway fatalities in the first quarter, a 10.5 percent increase from the same period in 2020.

California Traffic Safety Survey 2022: Data Analysis and Comparison with 2010-2021 Survey Data Results

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Ewald & Wasserman Research (E&W) conducted the 2022 California Traffic Safety Public Opinion Study on behalf of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center of UC Berkeley (SafeTREC). Similar to previous years and since 2020, the data collection transitioned from an intercept survey to an online panel with survey panelists provided by Marketing Services Group, a commercial sample and panel vendor.

Panelists consisted of California drivers who were forwarded to an online survey portal programmed and managed by E&W. The criteria for eligibility included possessing a valid California driver’s license and being 18 years or older. To manage the sample composition and to ensure a similar distribution of age and gender compared to the California census and previous waves of the Traffic Safety Study, quotas by gender and six age group ranges were implemented. Participation was anonymous and no personal data...

2019 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Aging Road Users

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The older adult population in the United States aged 65 and older is expected to almost double between 2012 and 2050, from 43.1 million to 83.7 million. In 2017, there were 6,784 people aged 65 or older killed in a traffic collision in the United States; this accounted for 18.3 percent of all traffic fatalities, while the overall population aged 65 or older accounts for 14.9 percent of people in the United States and 19.4 percent of all licensed drivers in 2017. California has the largest number of licensed drivers aged 65 or older in the nation with 4,251,349, or 15.9 percent of all licensed drivers in the state. As drivers age, physical and mental changes including reduced visual acuity, increased fragility, restricted movement, and cognitive impairment can directly and indirectly result in age-related driving impairments.

2019 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Motorcycle Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Collisions involving motorcycles are a major traffic safety concern in the United States. Motorcycle riders comprise a disproportionate share of all injured and killed vehicle occupants. In 2016, motorcycle riders were 28 times more likely than passenger car occupants to be fatally injured in a traffic collision, per vehicle miles traveled. The primary countermeasures used to address this problem have included motorcycle helmet laws and other helmet-oriented programs, rider training and licensing programs, vehicle enhancements, including anti-lock braking technology, rider conspicuity programs, campaigns to increase other road users’ awareness of motorcycles, and campaigns to reduce impaired riding.

2021 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Bicycle Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Bicycling is becoming more popular across the country, for commuting, exercise, and leisure. However, in the event of a traffic crash between a motor vehicle and a bicyclist, the bicyclist is the more vulnerable party and more likely to be injured or killed than a motor vehicle occupant. In 2019, there were 846 bicyclists killed in a traffic crash in the United States. In citing concern about the level of bicycle fatalities, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) identified key recommendations for improving safety, including collection of better crash data, increased training for law enforcement to understand laws designed to protect bicyclists, partnerships with bicycling and community organizations regarding safety messaging and public education campaigns about infrastructure improvements.

Historically, road safety efforts focused on changing human behaviors to prevent crashes. The Safe System approach reframes efforts to...

SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Aging Road Users

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In 2016, a total of 6,764 people age 65 and older were killed in collisions nationwide, which is a 7% increase from 6,238 in 2015. The older adult population of the United States—those 65 and older—is expected to nearly double between 2012 and 2050, from 43.1 million to 83.7 million. The older population accounted for 15.2 percent of residents in the U.S. and 18.8 percent of all licensed drivers in 2016. As drivers age, possible physical and mental changes including reduced visual acuity, increased fragility, restricted movement, and cognitive impairment may directly and indirectly result in age-related driving impairments.

California Traffic Safety Survey 2020: Data Analysis and Comparison with 2010-2019 Survey Data Results

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The 2020 wave of data collection for the California Traffic Safety Study was conducted with an online panel of California drivers instead of an intercept interview, as were previous waves of data collection. This decision was made due to the COVID-19 pandemic occurring in 2020, and the need for an alternative data collection mode avoiding in-person contact between field interviewers and respondents. The survey questions and data analysis of survey items presented in this report are similar to previous waves of the survey, including survey items on traffic safety opinions and knowledge on traffic safety campaigns, distracted driving and perceptions about pedestrian and bicycle traffic interactions.

The participants for the online survey panel were obtained through Qualtrics, a commercial panel vendor utilizing multiple subcontractors, to provide a representative cross-section of pre-screened and qualified respondents. The panel was implemented anonymously and with distinct...

Media Narratives of Pedestrian & Bicyclist-Involved Crashes

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Pedestrian & bicyclist-involved crashes have been increasing throughout the United States. Previous research has shown that media and popular discourse disproportionately blames pedestrians and cyclists for their own injuries and/or deaths, while obscuring the role of motorists in these crashes and ignoring the broader road safety context (like infrastructure and speed limits). Recent research highlights how media framing of these crashes can affect perceptions of cause, influencing public opinion about responsibility and consequences, and demonstrates the need for comprehensive and objective coverage of pedestrian and bicyclist crashes. This research highlight focuses on how media and popular discourse factor into traffic safety perspectives and outcomes

2021 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Pedestrian Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Everyone is a pedestrian, whether or not walking is one’s primary mode of travel. As a commute mode, walking is gaining in numbers. Based on the first six months of 2020, the GHSA projects that pedestrian fatalities in the nation will be on pace with 2019 despite large reductions in motor vehicle travel associated with COVID-19. Pedestrian fatalities as a proportion of total motor vehicle deaths increased from 13.0 percent in 2010 to 17.3 percent in 2019. Moreover, pedestrian fatalities increased 46.5 percent from 2010 to 2019 while other traffic deaths increased by 4.9 percent. Increases in pedestrian fatalities are largely occurring at night - from 2010 to 2019, the number of pedestrian fatalities that occurred in the dark increased 53.8 percent compared to a 16.2 percent increase in daytime pedestrian fatalities. Yet, GHSA estimates a pedestrian fatality rate of 1.9 per 100,000 population in 2020, a slight reduction from the 2019 rate...

Commercial Vehicles, Fatigue, Parking and Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

For commercial drivers, operator fatigue and parking in undesignated areas can result in dangerous collisions. Exacerbating this issue is a lack of freight truck parking, making it difficult for truck operators to find a safe spot when in need of rest. For bicyclists and pedestrians, loading and unloading commercial vehicles in downtowns also present hazards. Increasing the availability of legal truck parking could improve safety for all road users.

SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Motorcycle Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In 2016, there were 5,286 motorcycle riders killed on public roadways in the United States, a 5.1 percent increase from 2015. Motorcyclists are at greater risk of injury during collisions—in 2016, motorcyclists were 28 times more likely than passenger car occupants to be fatally injured in a traffic collision, per vehicle miles traveled. In 2016 only 65.3 percent of U.S. motorcyclists wore helmets. In states with universal helmet laws requiring all riders to wear helmets, the known helmet use rate among fatally injured motorcyclists ranged from 66 percent to 100 percent in 2016, while in states without such laws, the rate was lower, ranging widely from 0 percent to 69 percent. In California, which does have a universal helmet law, the known helmet use rate among fatally injured motorcyclists in 2016 was high (95.3 percent). Estimates maintain that helmets saved 308 lives in California in 2016, and 10 additional lives could have been saved if all motorcyclists wore helmets.

2019 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Drug-Impaired Driving

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Driving under the influence of drugs is a significant threat to public safety. Various substances can impair cognition, attention, coordination, and other brain functions critical to driving safety. Unlike alcohol, the mechanism for absorption, distribution, and elimination of drugs from the body, as well as cognitive and behavioral effects differ greatly. The use of cannabis, prescription drugs, and other drugs are increasingly prominent on our roadways, where 22.2 percent of the nation’s 37,133 fatalities in 2017 were related to drug-involved driving.

SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Speeding-Related Collisions

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A speeding-related collision is defined as one in which a driver is racing, driving too fast for the conditions, or driving in excess of the posted speed limit. In the United States, speeding has been involved in nearly one-third of all fatal crashes for more than twenty years and is a leading contributing factor in traffic collisions. Speeding reduces a driver’s ability to steer safely around curves or objects, reduces the amount of time a driver has to react to a dangerous situation, and extends safe stopping distances. Nationwide there were 10,111 people killed in speeding-related traffic collisions in 2016, a 4.0 percent increase from 9,723 in 2015, and a 2.1 percent decrease from 10,329 in 2012. Drivers involved in a fatal speeding-related crash were also more likely to engage in other risky behaviors compared with non-speeding drivers—36.8 percent had a BAC of .08 or higher compared with only 15.2 percent of non-speeding drivers; and only 50.5 percent were known to be wearing...

2021 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Alcohol-Impaired Driving

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Historically, road safety efforts focused on changing human behaviors to prevent crashes. The Safe System approach reframes efforts to save lives by expecting crashes to happen and focusing attention on reducing the severity of injuries when a crash occurs. By understanding the nuances of alcohol-impaired crashes, transportation professionals can better address every aspect of crash risks and implement multiple layers of protection to ensure that everyone traveling...

2019 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Occupant Protection

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Restraint devices such as seat belts are a key element of motor vehicle occupant protection systems. Each year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducts the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) that measures, among many variables, the use of seat belts by occupants age eight and older. The 2018 NOPUS reported an 89.6 percent front seat belt use rate for the nation as a whole, which was essentially level with the 89.7 percent rate in 2017. However, it reflects a significant decrease in the seat belt use rate in the western region from 94.5 percent in 2017 to 92.7 percent in 2018. Drivers had an 89.9 percent use rate and right-front passengers had an 88.7 percent use rate. States with a primary seat belt use law had a seat belt use rate of 90.6 percent compared to 86.4 percent in other states.

SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Bicycle Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Bicycling is becoming more popular across the country, for commuting, exercise, and leisure. However, in the event of a traffic collision between a motor vehicle and a bicyclist, the bicyclist is the more vulnerable party and is more likely to be injured or killed than motor vehicle passengers. Bicycling fatalities increased 14.4 percent from 734 in 2012 to 840 in 2016 nationwide. Bicyclist fatalities represented 2.2 percent of the total number of traffic fatalities in 2016. Bicycle collisions are defined as crashes where one or more victims is a bicyclist, other cyclist, or bicycling passenger.

2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Occupant Protection

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Restraint devices such as seat belts are a key element of motor vehicle occupant protection systems. Each year, NHTSA conducts the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) that measures, among many variables, the daytime use of seat belts by occupants age eight and older. The 2020 NOPUS reported that seat belt use was 90.3 percent among front-seat passengers, a slight decrease from the 90.7 percent observed in 2018. This change, along with the changes in subsets such as time of day or day of the week, was not statistically significant.

The United States Department of Transportation uses the Safe System Approach to work towards zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries. The Safe System Approach recognizes human mistakes and vulnerabilities, and designs a system with many redundancies in place to protect everyone. The Federal Highway Administration names safe road users, safe vehicles, safe speeds, safe roads, and post-crash care as key elements of a Safe...

Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training Program Evaluation Report

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) and California Walks (Cal Walks) developed the Community Pedestrian Bicycle Safety Training (CPBST) program to train and mobilize communities to address pedestrian and bicycle safety and to strengthen collaboration with local officials and agency staff. SafeTREC and Cal Walks work hand-in-hand with communities to plan and facilitate workshops that are reflective of each community’s needs and priorities.

This report provides a summary of the qualitative and quantitative methods used to evaluate the CPBST program, the findings of the evaluation, and lessons learned during the process. The report may provide an evaluation framework that other organizations can use, as the current goals and objectives can be modified to suit individual program requirements. It is suitable for many purposes, including measuring program effectiveness and monitoring program implementation. The measurement tools used...

Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Research Brief

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In January 2017, over 13,000 transportation professionals gathered in Washington, DC, at the Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB). In all, there were over 5,000 research presentations, 600 of which were about transportation safety. In this brief, we highlight some of the newest practice-ready pedestrian and bicycle safety research to come out of the conference.

SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Seat Belt Use

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Restraint devices such as seat belts are a key element of motor vehicle occupant protection systems. According to the National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS), in 2016 there was a 90.1 percent front seat belt use rate for the nation as a whole, a 1.8 percent increase over the 88.5 percent reported in 2015. Front seat belt use was slightly higher among women (92.5 percent) compared with men (88.2 percent). Front passengers were more likely to use seat belts (90.1 percent) than rear seat occupants (80.6 percent). One strong determinant of seat belt use is the presence of a seat belt use law—states with a seat belt law that applied to all vehicle occupants had a rear seat belt use rate of 83.9 percent compared with 75.7 percent in states requiring front seat belt use only. In the United States, there were 10,428 unrestrained passenger vehicle occupants killed in traffic collisions in 2016, a 4.6 percent increase from 9,968 in 2015.

California Traffic Safety Survey 2023: Data Analysis and Comparison with 2010-2022 Survey Data Results

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Similar to the survey waves since 2020, the 2023 California Traffic Safety Public Opinion Study was conducted by Ewald & Wasserman Research (E&W) on behalf of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center of UC Berkeley (SafeTREC), with an online self-administered survey. Survey panelists were provided through Marketing Services Group, a commercial sample and panel vendor.

The eligibility criteria for participating in the study were possessing a valid California driver’s license and being 18 years or older. Eligible respondents were forwarded to an online survey portal programmed and managed by E&W. To manage the sample composition and to ensure a similar distribution of age and gender compared to the California census and previous waves of the Traffic Safety Study, quotas by gender and six age groups were implemented.

Participation in the survey was anonymous, and a total of 2,815...

2021 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Aging Road Users

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The older adult population in the United States aged 65 and older is expected to almost double between 2016 and 2060, from 49 million to 95 million. In 2019, there were 7,214 people aged 65 and older killed in traffic crashes in the United States; this accounted for 20.0 percent of all traffic fatalities. To provide context, the overall population aged 65 and older accounted for 16.5 percent of people in the United States and 20.2 percent of all licensed drivers in 2019. California has the largest number of licensed drivers aged 65 and older in the nation with 4,516,813, or 16.6 percent of all licensed drivers in the state. However, as drivers age, physical and mental changes including reduced visual acuity, increased fragility, restricted movement, and cognitive impairment can directly and indirectly result in age-related driving impairments.

Historically, road safety efforts focused on changing human behaviors to prevent crashes. The...

SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Pedestrian Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Everyone is a pedestrian, whether or not walking is one’s primary mode of travel, and as a commute mode, walking is gaining in numbers. Nearly 16 pedestrians died every day, averaging a pedestrian every 1.5 hours, in traffic collisions in 2016. Pedestrian fatalities increased 27.4 percent from 2007 to 2016 while other traffic deaths decreased 13.9 percent. In 2016, the number of pedestrian fatalities was at its highest one-year level since 1990. California was one of five states (along with Florida, Texas, New York, and Arizona) which reported more than 100 pedestrian deaths and collectively accounted for 43 percent of all pedestrian deaths in the U.S. in the first half of 2017.

Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training (CPBST) Program Workshop Follow-Up Survey Highlights

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

1. Educate local residents and safety advocates on how to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety;

2. Empower community partners to advocate for safety improvements in their neighborhoods; and

3. Strengthen collaborations with local officials and agency staff to make California neighborhoods safer and more pleasant for walking and bicycling.

Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Research Brief

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

As cities around the country adopt initiatives like Vision Zero to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries, they are faced with the question of how effective different types of interventions are. For example, do protected bike lanes or painted sharrows reduce the risk of severe injury to cyclists? A group of researchers from the New York University School of Medicine examined this question by studying where cyclists admitted to the hospital crashed and how severe their injuries were. This research brief explores their findings.

2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Distracted Driving

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines distracted driving as activities that divert attention away from safe driving. This may include talking on the phone, texting, eating or drinking, manipulating audio systems, etc. According to the National Safety Council, cell phones remain a top distraction because of the length of time they are used by drivers on a daily basis.

The United States Department of Transportation uses the Safe System Approach to work towards zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries. The Safe System Approach recognizes that people may make unsafe decisions, such as driving distracted, or may have momentary lapses of attention, and designs a system with redundancies in place to protect everyone. The Federal Highway Administration names safe road users, safe vehicles, safe speeds, safe roads, and post-crash care as key elements of a Safe System. These elements together create multiple layers of protection to improve...

2021 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Motorcycle Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Crashes involving motorcycles are a major traffic safety concern in the United States. Since motorcyclists are susceptible to injury during crashes, they comprise a disproportionate share of all injured and killed vehicle occupants. In 2018, motorcyclists were 27 times more likely than passenger car occupants to be fatally injured in a traffic crash, per vehicle miles traveled. The primary countermeasures used to address this problem have included motorcycle helmet laws and other helmet-oriented programs, rider training and licensing programs, vehicle enhancements, including anti-lock braking technology, rider conspicuity programs, campaigns to increase other road users’ awareness of motorcycles, and campaigns to reduce impaired riding.

California Traffic Safety Survey 2018: Data Analysis and Comparison with 2010-2017 Survey Data Results

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The 2018 California Traffic Safety Study is the ninth wave of a statewide representative survey of California vehicle drivers on traffic safety perceptions, distracted driving and level of awareness of traffic safety media outreach campaigns. The following data analyses is based on 1,395 survey responses collected in August and September of 2018.

The analyzed data only includes the valid answers for survey items, while excluding all reported “Don’t know” responses as well as response refusals. For this reason, the valid percentage of responses differs for each question due to the number of valid answers given to a particular question. The total answer per survey question is reflected in the total number of completed surveys, which are listed in each table. In addition, some questions are skipped based on selected answer and the sample sizes for each survey item vary accordingly. Due to rounding to one decimal point, some percentages presented do not always add up to the...

2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Bicycle Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

2022 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Fact Sheet: Motorcycle Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Traffic Safety Facts: Alcohol-Impaired Driving

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

While alcohol-impaired driving fatalities have fallen significantly in the past three decades, alcohol-impaired driving still comprises a large percentage of traffic injuries and fatalities. On average in 2016, one person died from an alcohol-impaired driving collision every 50 minutes. Additionally, there was an increase in the number of alcohol-driving fatalities in the United States between 2015 and 2016. In the United States, there were 10,497 people killed in alcohol-impaired collisions in 2016, a 1.7 percent increase from 10,320 in 2015, and a 1.6 percent increase from 10,336 in 2012.

Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training (CPBST) Program Workshop Follow-Up Survey Highlights

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training Program (CPBST) is a joint project of the University of California Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) and California Walks (Cal Walks). Founded in 2009, the purpose of the CPBST is to:

1. Educate local residents and safety advocates on how to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety;

2.Empower community partners to advocate for safety improvements in their neighborhoods; and

3. Strengthen collaborations with local officials and agency staff to make California neighborhoods safer and more pleansant for walking and bicycling.

SafeTREC and Cal Walks work with a Planning Committee, a group of local safety stakeholders, to convene a workshop, recruit participants, and tailor the curriculum to address the community’s needs and priorities. During the workshop, participants conduct a walking and biking assessment of priority areas in the community, learn about Safe System...

2020 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Bicycle Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Bicycling is becoming more popular across the country for commuting, exercise, and leisure. However, in the event of a traffic crash between a motor vehicle and a bicyclist, the bicyclist is the more vulnerable party and more likely to be injured or killed than a motor vehicle occupant. In 2018, there were 857 bicyclists killed in a traffic crash in the United States. In citing concern about the level of bicycle fatalities, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) identified key recommendations for improving safety, including collection of better crash data, increased training for law enforcement to understand laws designed to protect bicyclists, partnerships with bicycling and community organizations regarding safety messaging and public education campaigns about infrastructure improvements.

Analyses presented in the bicycling program area include fatal and serious injuries to bicyclists, other cyclists, and passengers on...

2019 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Bicycle Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Bicycling is becoming more popular across the country, for commuting, exercise, and leisure. In 2017, there were 783 bicyclists killed in a traffic collision in the US. In citing concern about the level of bicycle fatalities, the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) identified key recommendations for improving safety, including collection of better crash data, increased training for law enforcement to understand laws designed to protect bicyclists, partnerships with bicycling and community organizations regarding safety messaging and public education campaigns about infrastructure improvements.

Why Don't Women Cycle? A Case Study of Women's Perception of Cycling in San Francisco

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Safety and women’s perceptions of safety is a prevalent factor affecting the gender gap of cycling within the US. In this study, the use of bike lanes in the South of Market Area of San Francisco found that only 29% of the cyclists were female despite accounting for 50% of the population in the area. This research brief summarizes key issues found in this study of women’s perceptions of safety when cycling.

Impact of the Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training: Program Insights from the 2023 Follow-Up Survey

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training Program (CPBST) is a collaborative effort between the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) at the University of California Berkeley and California Walks (Cal Walks(link is external)), established in 2009, with funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety. Its main objective is to promote pedestrian and bicycle safety by educating residents and safety advocates, empowering community partners to advocate for safety improvements in their neighborhoods, and fostering collaborations with local officials and agency staff. The Planning Committee, consisting of local safety stakeholders, works with SafeTREC and Cal Walks to organize a workshop tailored to the community’s needs and priorities. During the workshop, participants assess...

Impact of the Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Training Program: Insights from the 2022 Follow-Up Survey

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The Community Pedestrian Bicycle Safety Training (CPBST) program is a collaborative project between UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) and California Walks (Cal Walks) that seeks to assist communities with three goals:

Identifying and better understanding their local transportation safety needs;Developing and strengthening local partnerships between various stakeholders in their community; andGenerating a community-specific action plan for improving the safety of active transportation in their area.

These objectives are pursued through pedestrian and bicycle safety training workshops hosted by SafeTREC and Cal Walks in collaboration with community partners. Over 112 workshops have been conducted since 2009, and the program continues to provide trainings in 2022. Planning a workshop involves SafeTREC and Cal Walks working with a planning committee consisting of local stakeholders to schedule the workshop, recruit participants...

Peer Influence and Perceptions of Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

At the heart of active transportation systems are the people. This brief discusses the importance of considering perceptions in traffic safety analyses and discusses the potential for investigating how a psychological phenomenon known as pluralistic ignorance could be shaping those perceptions. A couple of case studies from the psychology literature are discussed to facilitate this discussion. It is hoped that this brief can be employed to learn more about how to improve the safety of using active modes both in California and across the nation.

2020 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Emergency Medical Services

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

There are typically many contributing factors in motor vehicle crashes. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) play a critical role post-crash to reduce fatalities and serious injuries. Recent studies show that an effective emergency trauma care system can improve survival from serious injuries by as much as 25 percent and county-level coordinated systems of trauma care can reduce crash fatalities rates as much as 50 percent.

Engagement of Latine Communities in Transportation Safety

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Public participation in government is a foundation of democracy; however, it exists on a spectrum. In the field of transportation, decision-makers may seek information by simply making public announcements to invite input. Alternatively, governments devote resources to conduct thoughtful and extensive outreach to seek meaningful input. Recently, professionals and policymakers have considered an equity approach not only to reach and engage a diverse, representative group of community members, but to develop plans, projects, and policies that are inclusive of the community. Engaging Latine1 communities requires rethinking traditional engagement and developing strategies that have considerations for the range of factors that shape this diverse community’s experience, including culture, social inequities, and socio- and geopolitical factors. This brief highlights a few best practices for engaging Latine communities.

2019 SafeTREC Traffic Safety Facts: Pedestrian Safety Facts

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

As a commute mode, walking is gaining in numbers. The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) reports that pedestrian fatalities in the nation have increased disproportionately to other traffic deaths. Pedestrian fatalities as a proportion of total traffic deaths increased from 12 percent in 2008 to 16 percent in 2017. Pedestrian fatalities increased by 35 percent from 2008 to 2017 while other traffic deaths decreased by 6 percent. The GSHA also reported the largest proportion of pedestrian deaths around divided highways, which generally have speed limits of 45 or more and lack controlled intersections and safe crossing areas.