Safety in Numbers? Accessibility, Traffic, and Safety of Nonmotorized Travelers

Principal Investigator(s):

Andrew Owen, Lead Researcher, Acc. Obsv., Center for Transportation Studies

Co-Investigators:

  • David Levinson, Former U of M Professor, Civil, Environmental and Geo-Engineering

Project summary:

This project developed a risk model for pedestrian and bicycle travel in urban areas that reflects the cross-modal interactions produced by varying levels of nonmotorized and motorized travel on individual road segments or intersections. To supply nonmotorized travel volumes where measurements are unavailable or insufficiently detailed, a model of nonmotorized travel volume was developed that incorporates, as independent explanatory variables, both descriptors of the local environment and metrics reflecting properties of the surrounding networks and transportation infrastructure as well as of land use. These approaches help resolve two challenges identified in existing research of nonmotorized travel safety: the need for metrics that reflect the risk exposure produced by cross-modal traffic volume interactions, and the need for risk models that can be applied in local contexts such as individual streets and intersections.

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