TxDOT Research Library - TxDOT Research Project

Show:

North Texas Bicycle and Pedestrian Crash Analysis

What Was the Need?

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Strategic Agenda for Pedestrian and Bicycle Transportation has a goal to achieve an 80 percent reduction in pedestrian and bicycle fatalities and serious injuries within 15 years, and a 100 percent reduction in pedestrian and bicycle fatalities and serious injuries within 20 years. However, bicycle and pedestrian crashes and fatality rates in North Texas have been continually rising. FHWA has designated the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth as Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Focus Cities to highlight the need for improved safety for vulnerable road users. Currently, knowledge of bicycle and pedestrian crash data is limited to severity of injuries, environmental conditions, characteristics of victims, and crash locations. What is lacking in this data are the sequence of events that lead to bicycle and pedestrian crashes.

What's the Solution?

In this project, researchers will Code five years of bicycle and pedestrian crash reports for the 12-county North Central Texas Metropolitan Planning Area using the methodology developed by the NHTSA for the Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Analysis Tool. They will conduct an analysis to identify corridors with highly concentrated bicycle and pedestrian crashes and the unsafe actions that are contributing to the crashes. The goal is to provide safety countermeasures and recommendations for further study for these corridors and to review the crash narrative/diagram as part of the coding process to understand the true nature concerning the cause of the crash.

Research Benefits

Further analysis of the movements and actions of bicyclists, pedestrians, and motorists prior to a crash will help better understand the education needed to prevent crashes as well as the common characteristics of the built environment that contribute to unsafe actions and conditions. With this knowledge, emphasis can be placed to strategically focus on regional and state targets to reduce deaths and injuries, and to achieve the FHWA goal to reach zero deaths within the next two decades.

Project Number

0-6983

Status

Completed

link icon Copy link to this project.

Project Details

Start Date

9/1/2018

End Date

8/31/2020

Performing Institution(s)

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP); Texas A&M AgriLife Research

Research Team

RS: Marketa Vavrova

Sponsor

Project Manager

Chris Glancy

Contract Specialist

Barbara Davenport

TxDOT Advisor

Bonnie Sherman, PTN
Noah Heath, PTN
Cary Karnstadt, TPP
Dustin Wiggins, TRF
Tamara Gart, TRF
Bradley Peikert, BRY
Mark Poage, BRY
Phillip Hays, FTW
Tonya Wiley, ATL

Amount Funded

$249,500

Source

RFP 19-72 North Texas Bicycle and Pedestrian Crash Analysis