Our best efforts to improve a community’s walking and biking conditions start with sound research. Here we provide examples of statewide and national research centers with an emphasis on making walking and biking safer for all. In addition, your region may be home to a university with their own transportation safety research department that could serve as a great resource and partner in your local safety and community design projects.
Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center
http://www.walkinginfo.org
Many people don’t walk because they are afraid of being struck by a motor vehicle. These fears are not unfounded. In the United States, motor vehicle-pedestrian crashes resulted in 4,749 pedestrian fatalities in 2003. Another 70,000 pedestrians sustained non-fatal injuries that year. This site provides resources that address safety issues as they relate to pedestrians, including reports and statistics.
Traffic Safety Center – Bike and Pedestrian Research
http://www.tsc.berkeley.edu/html/res_PS.html
The Traffic Safety Center’s overall research objective is to capitalize on the wide variety of nationally-recognized transportation, vehicle, public health and safety research conducted at UC Berkeley and to leverage these multiple disciplines and investigators to a distinctly identifiable set of research products aimed at traffic safety issues facing communities in California. Research teams consisting of people from engineering, city and regional planning, human factors, economics, vision science, and public health have been formed to investigate various traffic safety policies, interventions, and technologies.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – Research and Development
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/
The Research and Development (R&D) program serves as the foundation that supports the Agency’s goal to reduce motor vehicle injuries and fatalities. Through extensive research, development, testing, crash investigation, and data collection and analysis activities, R&D provides the scientific strength needed to support the Agency’s motor vehicle and traffic safety goals.
Turner-Fairbanks Highway Research Center – Safety
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/research/tfhrc/offices/safety/
The Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) is a federally owned and operated research facility in McLean, Virginia. TFHRC is the home of the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Office of Research, Development, and Technology. TFHRC provides FHWA and the world highway community with the most advanced research and development related to new highway technologies. The research focuses on providing solutions to complex technical problems through the development of more economical, environmentally sensitive designs; more efficient, quality controlled constructions practices; and more durable materials. The end result is a safer, more reliable highway transportation system.
