SafeTREC

Low Cost Upgrades to At-Grade Crossing Safety Devices

Cooper, Douglas L
Ragland, David R
Felschundneff, Grace
2013

The only way to absolutely prevent all drivers from going around lowered gates at level rail-highway crossings is to make it physically impossible, or at least very difficult, for them to do so. While there are various options to accomplish this (constructing a separation of grade, closing the crossing, or deploying an impenetrable concrete barrier), most have high monetary or social costs. Alternative approaches—such as channelization devices and long-arm gates—while not 100 percent effective, can be used to prevent deaths and injuries while remaining economically feasible. Research has...

Roadway and Infrastructure Design and Its Relation to Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety: Basic Principles, Applications, and Benefits

Ragland, David R
Grembek, Offer
Orrick, Phyllis
Felschundneff, Grace
2013

Road deaths are forecast to double by 2020, with the burden falling most heavily on low- and middle-income countries and, within those countries, on the most vulnerable and poorest road users. Half of the 1.2 million people killed and 50 million injured in road crashes each year are pedestrians, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and users of unsafe public transport; and more than 90 percent are from low- and middle-income countries. Because these are the areas where rapid motorization is taking place, the issue of safety in increasingly multi-modal environments is now of critical importance,...

Development and Application of the San Francisco Pedestrian Intersection Volume Model

Schneider, Robert J.
Henry, Todd
Mitman, Meghan F.
Stonehill, Laura
Koehler, Jesse
2013

The San Francisco pedestrian volume modeling process refined the methodology used to develop previous intersection-based models and incorporated variables that were tailored to estimate walking activity in the local urban context. The methodology included two main steps. First, manual and automated pedestrian counts were taken at a sample of 50 study intersections with a variety of characteristics. A series of factor adjustments were applied to produce an annual pedestrian crossing estimate at each intersection. Second, log-linear regression modeling was used to identify statistically-...

Documenting Targeted Behaviors Associated with Pedestrian Safety

Cooper, Jill F.
Schneider, Robert J.
Ryan, Sherry
Co, Sean
2013

The purpose of this study is to provide an exploratory analysis of the proportion of pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers exhibiting four specific behaviors at 12 intersections near transit stations in 4 the San Francisco Bay Area. The target behaviors include: 1) pedestrians crossing the roadway while using a mobile device, such as a cell phone, 2) pedestrians crossing a signalized intersection against a red light, 3) bicyclists running a red light at a signalized intersection, and 4) automobiles turning right on red without stopping. These four behaviors are important because they may...

Do All Roadway Users Want the Same Things?

Sanders, Rebecca L
Cooper, Jill F
2013

This paper presents findings from a recent study on roadway design preferences among pedestrians, drivers, bicyclists, and public transit users along a major urban corridor in the East San Francisco Bay Area. Sponsored by the California DOT, the research focused on exploring design preferences that could increase perceived traffic safety, walkability, bikability, and economic vitality along urban arterials. Results from an intercept survey showed that all user groups desire similar roadway design features along the test corridor, which carries 25,000-30,000 motorists bi-directionally and...

Missed or Delayed Medical Care Appointments by Older Users of Nonemergency Medical Transportation Services

MacLeod, Kara E.
Ragland, David R.
Prohaska, Thomas R.
Irmiter, Cheryl Irmiter
Satariano, William
Leary, Mary A.
2012

Non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) can prevent emergency care as a result of delayed or missed medical appointments. Medicaid provides NEMT for low income individuals who have no other means of transportation and this is a critical component of the health care delivery system. This study examined cancelled trips in Medicaid adults age 65+ to explore whether barriers persist for a growing segment of the population who face particular challenges of age-related declines in health and function. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted using transportation brokerage...

How Common is Pedestrian Travel To, From, and Within Shopping Districts?

Schneider, Robert J.
Pande, Swati S.
2012

Growing interest in sustainable transportation systems and livable communities has created a need for more complete measures of pedestrian travel. Yet, many performance measures do not account for short pedestrian movements, such as walking between stores in a shopping district, walking from a street parking space to a building entrance, or walking from a bus stop to home. This study uses a 2009 intercept survey and the 2009 National Household Travel Survey to quantify pedestrian travel to, from, and within 20 San Francisco Bay Area shopping districts. Overall, walking was the primary...

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and the California EMS Information System (CEMSIS) Working Paper

Doggett, Sarah
Ragland, David R.
Felschundneff, Grace
2019

This study examines data from the California EMS Information System (CEMSIS) to identify factors that influence prehospital time for EMS events related to motor vehicle collisions (MVCs). While only 19 percent of the United States population resides in rural areas, over half of all traffic fatalities involve rural motor vehicle collisions. Rural and urban MVCs result in similar injury severities, however relative inaccessibility of trauma centers and prehospital EMS time (activation, response, and transport time) likely contribute to the generally higher mortality rate in rural areas. For...

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

Cooper, Jill F.
Ragland, David R.
Ewald, Katrin
Wasserman, Lisa
Murphy, Christopher J.
2015

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.

Influential Factors on Level of Injury in Pedestrian Crashes: Applications of Ordered Probit Model with Robust Standard Errors

Jang, Kitae
Park, Shin Hyoung
Chung, Sungbong
Song, Ki Han
2010

Pedestrian-involved crashes that occurred in the city of San Francisco over a six-year period, 2002–2007, were analyzed to examine various influential factors on the injury severity of pedestrian crashes. The crash data extracted from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) include five categorical levels of injury severity in traffic crashes also in addition to detailed information about the features of each crash. This study applied an ordered probit model for injury severity analysis to specify the ordinal nature of injury categories. To draw unbiased implications from...