ITS Berkeley

Community-Based Pedestrian Safety Training in Virtual Reality: A Pragmatic Trial

Schwebel, DC
Combs, T
Rodriguez, D
Severson, J
Sisiopiku, V
2016

Child pedestrian injuries are a leading cause of mortality and morbidity across the United States and the world. Repeated practice at the cognitive-perceptual task of crossing a street may lead to safer pedestrian behavior. Virtual reality offers a unique opportunity for repeated practice without the risk of actual injury. This study conducted a pre-post within-subjects trial of training children in pedestrian safety using a semi-mobile, semi-immersive virtual pedestrian environment placed at schools and community centers. Pedestrian safety skills among a group of 44 seven- and eight...

The Active Living Research 2015 Conference: The Science of Policy Implementation

Rodriguez, D
Lounsbery, MAF
Sallis, J
2016

The 2015 Active Living Research (ALR) Conference highlighted the theme of policy implementation because many policies are recommended to enhance active living, and policy adoption is becoming more common, but policies cannot be effective until they are implemented. A better understanding of active living policy implementation will assist researchers and practitioners in improving their policy recommendations and implementation practice.

Obtaining Longitudinal Built Environment Data Retrospectively Across 25 years in Four US Cities

Hirsch, J
Meyer, K
Peterson, M
Rodriguez, D
Song, Y
Peng, K
Huh, J
Gordon-Larsen, P
2016

Neighborhood transportation infrastructure and public recreational facilities are theorized to improve the activity, weight, and cardiometabolic profiles of individuals living in close proximity to these resources. However, owing to data limitations, there has not been adequate study of the influence of timing and placement of new infrastructure on health over time. Methods: This protocol details methods of the four cities study to perform retrospective field audits in order to capitalize on existing longitudinal health data from the coronary artery risk development in young adults (CARDIA...

Walkability and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Associations from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Braun, L
Rodriguez, D
Evenson, K
Hirsch, J
Moore, K
Roux, AV Diez
2016
We used data from 3227 older adults in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (2004–2012) to explore cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between walkability and cardiometabolic risk factors. In cross-sectional analyses, linear regression was used to estimate associations of Street Smart Walk Score® with glucose, triglycerides, HDL and LDL cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and waist circumference, while logistic regression was used to estimate associations with odds of metabolic syndrome. Econometric fixed effects models were used to estimate longitudinal...

The Built Environment and Walking Behavior: Addressing Residential Sorting through Matching in the Cardia Study

Braun, L
Rodriguez, D
Song, Y
Meyer, K
Lewis, C
Gordon-Larsen, P
2016
Recent research has shown neighborhood walkability to be positively associated with walking behavior. However, accounting for selective migration and socio-spatial segregation is an ongoing challenge. These forms of residential sorting may result in individuals who are not comparable across levels of neighborhood walkability and may therefore lead to biased inferences about the built environment. We explored the implications of residential sorting using coarsened exact matching (CEM), a method that compares individuals who have similar characteristics but are exposed to different “treatments...

Short-Term Planning and Policy Interventions to Promote Cycling in Urban Centers: Findings from a Commute Mode Choice Analysis in Barcelona, Spain

Braun, L
Rodriguez, D
Cole-Hunter, T
Ambros, A
Donaire-Gonzalez, D
Jerrett, M
Mendez, M
Nieuwenhuijsen, MJ
Nazelle, A De
2026
Cycling for transportation has become an increasingly important component of strategies to address public health, climate change, and air quality concerns in urban centers. Within this context, planners and policy makers would benefit from an improved understanding of available interventions and their relative effectiveness for cycling promotion. We examined predictors of bicycle commuting that are relevant to planning and policy intervention, particularly those amenable to short- and medium-term action. We estimated a travel mode choice model using data from a...

Private and Public Modes of Bicycle Commuting: A Perspective on Attitude and Perception

Tirado, A
Nazelle, A De
González, D
Cole-Hunter, T
Garcia-Aymerich, J
Martinez, D
Anaya, E
Rodriguez, D
Jerrett, M
Nieuwenhuijsen, MJ
2016

Public bicycle-sharing initiatives can act as health enhancement strategies among urban populations. The aim of the study was to determine which attitudes and perceptions of behavioural control toward cycling and a bicycle-sharing system distinguish commuters with a different adherence to bicycle commuting.  Methods: The recruitment process was conducted in 40 random points in Barcelona from 2011 to 2012. Subjects completed a telephone-based questionnaire including 27 attitude and perception statements. Based on their most common one-way commute trip and...

Effect of a Community-Based Pedestrian Injury Prevention Program on Driver Yielding Behavior at Marked Crosswalks

Sandt, LS
Marshall, S
Rodriguez, D
Evenson, K
Ennett, ST
Robinson, W
2016
Few studies have comprehensively evaluated the effectiveness of multi-faceted interventions intended to improve pedestrian safety. “Watch for Me NC” is a multi-faceted, community-based pedestrian safety program that includes widespread media and public engagement in combination with enhanced law enforcement activities (i.e., police outreach and targeted pedestrian safety operations conducted at marked crosswalks) and low-cost engineering improvements at selected crossings. The purpose of this study was to estimate the effect of the law enforcement and engineering improvement components of the...

Air Pollution, Social Disadvantage, and Walking in Six United States Cities: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Chen, YH
Adar, S
Marshall, J
Hirsch, J
Rodriguez, D
Evenson, K
Sampson, P
Magzamen, S
Kaufman, J
Roux, A
2016
Physical activity may be influenced by walking opportunities, which can differ substantially across neighborhoods. Air pollution similarly varies by location. It remains unclear whether more walking occurs in highly polluted neighborhoods and whether socially disadvantaged populations are less likely to experience walkable neighborhoods with clean air. We studied the spatial distributions and associations of neighborhood level air pollution, walkability, and social factors with self-reported walking. Overall walking was reported between 2010-2012 by 3,661 Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis...

Land Development Impacts of BRT in a Sample of Stops in Quito and Bogotá

Rodriguez, DA
Vergel-Tovar, E
Camargo, WF
2016

Despite the growing popularity of bus rapid transit (BRT), little is known about its impacts on land development. In this paper we examine the land development impacts of BRT in Bogotá and Quito, two cities that have made a variety of BRT investments over the last two decades and with Curitiba, they have been world pioneers of BRT. Relying on 10 years of data, we use a quasi-experimental research design to quantitatively examine changes in land development in both cities. Outcomes include land market characteristics such as built area added per year (both cities), units added (Quito...