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FHWA Home / Safety / Pedestrian & Bicycle / Pedestrian Forum – Spring 2017

Pedestrian Forum – Spring 2017

Volume 72

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U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration

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In this issue:

Noteworthy Local Policies that Support Safe and Complete Pedestrian
and Bicycle Networks

FHWA Resources on Measuring Pedestrian and Bicyclist Activity and Exposure to Risk

Small Town and Rural Multimodal Networks

Fostering Innovation in Ped/Bike Transportation Pooled Fund Study

NHTSA Awards Grants to Pedestrian and Bike Safety Focus States

Speed Setting and Speed Management Resources Now Available!

FHWA to Conduct Webinars on Designing for Bicyclist Safety

New Resources From NHTSA


Noteworthy Local Policies that Support Safe and Complete Pedestrian and Bicycle Networks

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Safety Office just finished development of the guide, Noteworthy Local Policies that Support Safe and Complete Pedestrian and Bicycle Networks. While much of the focus on bicycle and pedestrian travel in the United States is on building new infrastructure, policies (laws, regulations, ordinances, and procedures) also play a critical role in shaping how we use and manage our transportation systems

FHWA developed this guide to provide local and state agencies with tools to complement new infrastructure and program development. The guide is accompanied by case studies from across the country that support safe and complete street networks.

The guide's purpose is to assist local and State agencies by providing examples that agencies can use as references to institutionalize network-supportive policies and provide evidence to support policy adoption. Building on the principles of a complete pedestrian and bicycle network (cohesion, directness, accessibility, alternatives, safety and security, and comfort), the guide identifies six elements of effective policies to help create safe and complete multimodal networks:

Screenshot:  Cover of th Noever 2016  Noteworthy Loca Policies That Support Safe and Complete Pedestrian and Bicycle Networks

The guide also provides information on evaluating a policy framework's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to help develop implementation steps for advancing these policies. The guidebook (including case studies) are available to view and download here.

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FHWA Resources on Measuring Pedestrian and Bicyclist Activity and Exposure to Risk

Synthesis of Methods for Estimating Pedestrian and Bicyclist Exposure to Risk at Areawide Levels and on Specific Transportation Facilities:

As documented in the Summer 2016 edition of this newsletter, FHWA awarded a contract to Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) to develop a Scaleable Risk Assessment Methodology (ScRAM) last year. The contract lasts 4 years and allows 2 years to develop ScRAM and 2 years to provide technical assistance to localities that wish to use it.  As part of that contract, TTI developed a report to summarize the variety of methods used to estimate and evaluate exposure to risk in pedestrian and bicyclist safety analyses.

Photo: Bike Trail

This report summarizes numerous examples of exposure estimation methods at different geographic scales, and discusses the data sources and analytic methods used to estimate exposure. Other pedestrian and bicyclist risk factors besides exposure also are cataloged.

The next 12 months will be spent developing the ScRAM tool itself.  The first draft will be complete in the fall of this year and the final version will be complete in May 2018.

Bicycle-Pedestrian Count Technology Pilot Project Report

The FHWA recently released a new summary report on its "Bicycle-Pedestrian Count Technology Pilot Project."  The purpose of the pilot project was to increase the organizational and technical capacity of metropolitan planning organizations to establish and operate effective bicycle and pedestrian count programs, and to provide lessons learned for peer agencies across the country

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Small Town and Rural Multimodal Networks

Screenshot: Small Tow and Rural Multimodal Newtowrks

The FHWA Office of Human Environment recently released Small Town and Rural Multimodal Networks. This resource will help small towns and rural communities support safe, accessible, comfortable, and active travel for people of all ages and abilities. It provides a bridge between existing guidance on bicycle and pedestrian design and rural practice, encourages innovation in the development of safe and appealing networks for bicycling and walking, and shows examples of project implementation.


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Fostering Innovation in Ped/Bike Transportation Pooled Fund Study

Photo: Pedestrian crossing intersection

FHWA posted a new Fostering Innovation in Pedestrian and Bicycle Transportation Pooled Fund Study solicitation in January. If it meets its funding threshold, the study will emphasize short turnaround practical research on issues immediately relevant to practitioners. It will address national goals and priorities identified through input from local, State, and national partners in FHWA's Strategic Agenda for Pedestrian and Bicycle Transportation.

The Office of Planning, Environment, and Realty will serve as the administrator. Supporting offices include the Office of Operations, Office of Safety, Office of Safety Research and Development, Office of Infrastructure, Office of Highway Policy Information, and Office of Transportation Policy Studies. The initial call for participants will close May 31, 2017.

This proposed pooled fund provides a mechanism for Federal, State, regional, and local transportation agencies, academic institutions, foundations, private firms, and other stakeholders to collaboratively fund and implement pedestrian and bicycle research. Please share this information with partners and stakeholders in your State and encourage them to participate in this exciting opportunity. For background on transportation pooled funds, visit this site.

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NHTSA Awards Grants to Pedestrian and Bike Safety Focus States

Map depicting Pedestrian-Bicycle Focus Cities/States 2015 The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) entered cooperative agreements with the Arizona Governor's Office for Highway Safety, the Florida Department of Transportation, and the Tennessee Governor's Highway Safety Office to support implementing education and enforcement components of their local Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Action Plan. As background, FHWA's Safety Office and NHTSA have been working to aggressively reduce pedestrian deaths by focusing extra resources on the cities and states with the highest pedestrian fatalities and/or fatality rates since 2004 (these are known as Focus States and Cities). The states and cities were revised in 2015 to include bicyclists and to what you currently see in this map.

Each State awarded a NHTSA grant will identify State management processes and approaches that provide ongoing support for local communities to strategically address pedestrian and bicyclist safety with education and enforcement efforts. Over the years, NHTSA has provided a total of $5.5 million in grant money to Detroit, Michigan; Louisville, Kentucky; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New York City; Chicago, Illinois; Florida; New Mexico; Arizona, Tennessee and North Carolina.

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Speed Setting and Speed Management Resources Now Available

Image: Collage of speed Feeback Signs, Curve Deleneation, Roundabout and Road Diet

Vehicle speed plays a major role in whether a pedestrian lives or dies after being struck by a motor vehicle. To help tackle the complex and cross cutting safety issue of speeding, the FHWA Office of Safety has developed a set of case studies and fact sheets designed to illustrate how to set appropriate speeds and to highlight some effective speed management countermeasures:

Speed Limit Basics: provides introductory
information about various types of speed limits and speed concepts and the available technical tools and informational guide for setting different speed limits.

Speed Management Countermeasures: More than Just Speed Humps: discusses the variety of speeding countermeasures available and factors that should be considered when selecting the most appropriate one.

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FHWA to Conduct Webinars on Designing for Bicyclist Safety

The FHWA Safety Resource Center developed a course entitled "Designing for Bicyclist Safety" for its Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety Focus States and Cities.  The course will be presented as a three-part webinar series.  The three parts of the training will follow the four modules of the course and will be delivered as follows:

  1. Introduction to Bicycle Safety Principles and Tools–April 11.  Register here.
  2. Design Solutions Along the Roadways–April 17.  Register here.
  3. Design Solutions at Intersections–April 25.  Register here.

The webinars are FREE and open to anyone who wants to listen in. Registration information can be found here.

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Text: FHWA

Tamara Redmon, Pedestrian Safety Program Manager
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE
Room E71-303
Washington, DC 20590

Phone: 202-366-4077
Fax: 202-366-3222
E-mail: tamara.redmon@dot.gov

This Pedestrian and Bike Forum is available on the Web at http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/ped_bike/pedforum/
To receive information on future newsletters, please use the esubscription service provided on this site: http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/esubscribe.cfm. Scroll down to "Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety" and select "subscribe" next to "Pedestrian Forum."

Helping Communities to provide safe and convenient transportation choices to all citizens, whether it's by walking, bicycling, transit, or driving is a high priority of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Each year, unfortunately, pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities comprise about 16 percent of all traffic fatalities and there are approximately 5,500 pedestrian and bicyclist deaths. Another 115,000 pedestrians and bicyclist are injured in roadway crashes annually. Pedestrian and bike safety improvements depend on an integrated approach that involves the four E's: Engineering, Enforcement, Education, and Emergency Services. The Pedestrian and Bike Forum highlights recent pedestrian and bike safety activities related to the four E's that will help save lives.

FHWA logo.

New Resources From NHTSA

2015 Pedestrian Traffic Safety Facts Released

NHTSA recently released its 2015 data fact sheet for pedestrians. Some notable information from the fact sheets for 2015 includes:

–5,376 pedestrians were killed and an estimated 70,000 injured in traffic crashes in the United States.

–Pedestrian deaths accounted for 15 percent of all traffic fatalities in motor vehicle traffic crashes.

–The 5,376 pedestrian fatalities were a 9.5 percent increase from 4,884 pedestrian fatalities in 2014.

–19 percent of the pedestrians killed in 2015 were struck in crashes that involved hit-and-run drivers.

–26 percent of pedestrian fatalities occurred between 6-9 p.m. in 2015.

Updated Analysis of Pedestrian and Pedalcyclists Crashes with Hybrid Vehicles (DOT HS 812 371)

Screenshot: Trraffic Safety Facts Cover

Hybrid and electric (HE) motor vehicles are becoming increasingly common in the United States, and this is a concern to the visually impaired community. The issue is that HE vehicles are harder to hear and therefore less detectable than vehicles with an internal combustion engine (ICE); this may heighten the risk of pedestrian collisions with HE vehicles. This Research Note tests the hypothesis that the quieter operation of HE vehicles results in a higher pedestrian crash involvement rate, especially in certain low-speed maneuvers since HE vehicles operate mainly by electrical power at lower speed.

Among other things, the research note concludes that HE vehicles have approximately 20 percent higher likelihood of pedestrian crashes than ICE vehicles if all speed maneuvers are included and only engine type (ICE or HE) is considered. This likelihood of pedestrian crashes of HE vehicles is approximately 50 percent higher if only low-speed maneuvers are considered.

Logo: Pedestrain and Bicycle Information Center


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