Study Details
Study Title: Designing for the Safety of Pedestrians, Cyclists, and Motorists in Urban Environments
Authors: Dumbaugh and Li
Publication Date:JAN, 2011
Abstract: Design solutions aimed at enhancing pedestrian safety are often considered incompatible with those intended to improve motorist safety. This assertion largely is based on the theoretical assertion that traffic crashes are the result of random driver error, and that designing roadways to be forgiving of these errors is the best way to enhance safety. However, crashes may instead be the product of systematic patterns of behavior associated with the characteristics of the built environment. This study investigates whether crash incidence in urban areas is the product of random error, or whether it is influenced by characteristics of the built environment. Negative binomial regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between several aspects of the built environment and the incidence of crashes involving motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists. Motorist crashes are subdivided into multiple-vehicle, fixed-object, and parked-car crashes to determine if these crash types had unique characteristics. Vehicle miles of travel (VMT) is used as a proxy for random error. Results show that factors associated with a vehicle crashing into a cyclist or pedestrian are largely the same as those resulting associated with a crash with another vehicle. The authors found VMT to be positively, but weakly, associated with crashes involving motorists and pedestrians. Stronger associations were found between crashes and characteristics of the built environment. Miles of arterial roadways and numbers of four-leg intersections, strip commercial uses, and big box stores were major crash risk factors. Pedestrian-scaled retail uses were associated with lower crash incidences. These findings suggest that design personnel should balance the inherent tension between vehicle speeds and traffic conflicts in order to enhance traffic safety for all users.
Study Citation: Dumbaugh, E., and Li, W., "Designing for the Safety of Pedestrians, Cyclists, and Motorists in Urban Environments." Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 77, No. 1, (2011) pp. 69-88.
Study Report: Download the Study Report Document
CMFs Associated With This Study
Category: Access management
Countermeasure: Change number of 3-leg intersections from X to Y
| CMF | CRF(%) | Quality | Crash Type | Crash Severity | Roadway Type | Area Type |
|---|
 | |  | Angle,Cross median,Fixed object,Head on,Left turn,Non-intersection,Parking related,Rear end,Rear to rear,Right turn,Run off road,Sideswipe,Single vehicle,Truck related | All | All | Urban |
| | | Angle,Cross median,Head on,Left turn,Rear end,Rear to rear,Right turn,Sideswipe | All | All | Urban |
| | | Parking related | All | All | Urban |
| | | Vehicle/pedestrian | All | All | Urban |
| | | Vehicle/bicycle | All | All | Urban |
Countermeasure: Change number of 4-or-more-leg intersections from X to Y
| CMF | CRF(%) | Quality | Crash Type | Crash Severity | Roadway Type | Area Type |
|---|
| | | Angle,Cross median,Fixed object,Head on,Left turn,Non-intersection,Parking related,Rear end,Rear to rear,Right turn,Run off road,Sideswipe,Single vehicle,Truck related | All | All | Urban |
| | | Angle,Cross median,Head on,Left turn,Rear end,Rear to rear,Right turn,Sideswipe | All | All | Urban |
| | | Parking related | All | All | Urban |
| | | Vehicle/pedestrian | All | All | Urban |
| | | Vehicle/bicycle | All | All | Urban |
