Safe Transportation Research & Education Center

UC Berkeley SafeTREC, in collaboration with California Walks, launched the Community Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Program (CPBSP) to reduce pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities and serious injuries in California. We partner with communities across California to discuss, plan, and implement safety improvements and projects. The CPBSP prioritizes working in communities that are at disproportionate risk for road traffic injuries and addressing the safety needs of people who are underserved by traditional transportation resources and planning.

This report provides highlights from the 2023 CPBSP.

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 for the workshop, and work with the participants to develop a unique action plan with short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals for improving walking and biking safety and mobility (Leckie et al., 2021). A major feature of the workshop is an assessment of pedestrian and bicycle conditions in areas of interest in the community. 

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 strategies to address walking and biking concerns, and develop an action plan with short-, mid-, and long-term recommendations. 

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” of roads because they reallocate the existing right-of-way to better support all transportation modes, including biking and walking. A large majority of interventions involve converting four-lane undivided roads into three lanes, one lane going each direction and one turning lane in the middle. Along with this lane reduction, many recent road diet projects involve utilizing the extra space provided to add new bike lanes, sidewalks, on-street parking, wider shoulders or concrete center islands.

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.

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:

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 & 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

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.