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Articles in Environmental design, methods, and laws can affect pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

  • The weight of evidence suggests that vehicle operating speeds decline somewhat as individual lanes and street sections are narrowed. Beyond lower speeds, drivers seem to behave less aggressively on narrow streets, running fewer traffic signals. Also, drivers may feel less safe and drive more cautiously on narrow streets.

    Ewing R, Frank L, Kreutzer R. Understanding the Relationship between Public Health and the Built Environment: A Report to the LEED-ND Core Committee. 2006.

     

  • Roadway width predicts pedestrian injuries.

    Zajac SS, Ivan JN. 2003. Factors influencing injury severity of motor vehicle-crossing pedestrian crashes in rural Connecticut. Accident Analysis and Prevention 35(3):369-379.

     

  • Complexity of roadway systems is related to higher pedestrian injury.

    LaScala EA, Johnson FW, Gruenewald PJ. 2001. Neighborhood characteristics of alcohol-related pedestrian injury collisions: A geostatistical analysis. Prevention Science 2(2):123-134.

     

  • In urban areas, most fatal or serious crashes involving bicycles occur at junctions.

    World Health Organization (WHO), Edited by Margie Penden, Richard Scurfield, David Sleet, et al. World Report on road traffic injury prevention, 2004.

     

  • Studies in Denmark have shown that providing segregated bicycle tracks or lanes alongside urban roads reduced deaths among cyclists by 35%.

    World Health Organization (WHO), Edited by Margie Penden, Richard Scurfield, David Sleet, et al. World Report on road traffic injury prevention, 2004.

     

  • High density of curb parking was associated with increased risk for childhood pedestrian injury in a New Zealand study; in areas with curb parking, the risk of injury was over 8 times higher than in areas without curb parking. Another study in Orange County, CA also showed a higher risk of pedestrian injury in neighborhoods with over 50% of the curb occupied by parked vehicles.

    Roberts I, Norton R, Jackson R, Dunn R, Hassall I. 1995. Effect of environmental factors on risk of injury of child pedestrians by motor vehicles: a case-control study. British Medical Journal 310(6972):91-94.
    Agran PF, Winn DG, Anderson CL, Tran C, Del Valle CP. 1996. The role of physical and traffic environment in child pedestrian injuries. Pediatrics 98(6 pt 1):1096-1103.

     

  • According to a report based on studies of 8 intersections, roundabouts reduce injuries by 70% on single land urban roads that have stop signs.

    National Cooperative Highway Research Program. 2005. Crash reduction factors for traffic engineering and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) improvements: State of knowledge report. Research Results Digest 299. Available at HYPERLINK "http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_rrd_299.pdf" http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_rrd_299.pdf.

     

  • Traffic calming in residential areas is a proven strategy that reduces traffic accidents by 15%.

    Victoria Transport Policy Institute. 2007. Traffic calming: Roadway design to reduce traffic speeds and volumes. Available at HYPERLINK "http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm4.htm" http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm4.htm.

     

  • A neighborhood with features that make the pedestrian environment unsafe, such as high traffic volumes and speeds, narrow or degraded sidewalks, poorly connected streets, lack of green and open spaces, and a lack of lighting, is likely to reduce walking on residential streets.

    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "Barriers to Children Walking and Biking to School--United States, 1999." MMWR.Morbidity and mortality weekly report 51.32 (2002): 701-4. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5438a2.htm
    Li, F., et al. Multilevel Modelling of Built Environment Characteristics Related to Neighbourhood Walking Activity in Older Adults. Journal of epidemiology and community health 59.7 2005; 558-64.
    Transportation Alternatives. Traffic's Human Toll: A Study of the Impacts of Vehicular Traffic on New York City Residents, 2006.

     

  • Marked crosswalks in uncontrolled intersections (i.e., those without traffic lights) have been associated with higher rates of pedestrian injuries in some studies.

    Federal Highway Administration (US Department of Transportation), 2002. Safety effects of marked vs. unmarked crosswalks at uncontrolled locations – Executive summary and recommended guidelines. Report no. FHWA-RD-01-075. Washington, D.C.

     

  • Density of liquor license outlets, population density, and walking to work, in combination, were found to be significantly associated with the density of pedestrian–motor vehicle collisions by census tract in Denver.

    Kuhlmann AKS, Brett J, Thomas D, Sain SR. Environmental characteristics associated with pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions in Denver, Colorado. American Journal of Public Health. September 2009; Vol 99, No. 9.

     

  • Residents of the most sprawled U.S. counties have about four times the average traffic fatality rate as residents of the least sprawled counties.

    Ewing, R., Schieber, R. and Zegeer, C., 2003. Urban Sprawl as a Risk Factor in Motor Vehicle Occupant and Pedestrian Fatalities.

     

  • A smaller number of lanes on a street is associated with less crashes. Studies on conversions of undivided four-lane roads to three lane roads (two through lanes plus a center turn lane) reduced total crashes by between 17 and 62 percent.

    Ewing R, Frank L, Kreutzer R. Understanding the Relationship between Public Health and the Built Environment: A Report to the LEED-ND Core Committee. 2006.

     

  • A review of 23 studies examining the impacts of transportation infrastructure on bicycling injuries or crashes determined that clearly-marked, bike-specific facilities (i.e. cycle tracks at roundabouts, bike routes, bike lanes, and bike paths) were consistently shown to provide improved safety for cyclists compared to on-road cycling with traffic or off-road with pedestrians and other users. Marked bike lanes and bike routes were found to reduce injury or crash rates by about half compared to unmodified roadways.

    Reynolds CCO, Harris MA, Teschke K, Cropton PA, Winters M. The impact of transportation infrastructure on bicycling injuries and crashes: a review of the literature. Environmental Health, 2009; 8:47.

     

  • A review article looking at impacts of transportation infrastructure on bicycling injuries and crashes found that street lighting, paved surfaces, and low-angled grades appear to improve cyclist safety.

    Reynolds CCO, Harris MA, Teschke K, Cropton PA, Winters M. The impact of transportation infrastructure on bicycling injuries and crashes: a review of the literature. Environmental Health, 2009; 8:47.

     

  • The major advantage of infrastructure modifications, compared to helmet use, is that they provide population-wide prevention of injury events without requiring action by the users or repeated reinforcement.

    Reynolds CCO, Harris MA, Teschke K, Cropton PA, Winters M. The impact of transportation infrastructure on bicycling injuries and crashes: a review of the literature. Environmental Health, 2009; 8:47.