App-based Crowd Sourcing of Bicycle and Pedestrian Conflict Data

Most agencies and decision-makers rely on crash and crash severity (property damage only, injury or fatality) data to assess transportation safety; however, in the context of public health where perceptions of safety may influence the willingness to adopt active transportation modes (e.g. bicycling and walking), pedestrian-vehicle and other similar conflicts may represent a better performance measure for safety assessment. For transportation safety, a clear conflict occurs when two parties’ paths cross and one of the parties must undertake an evasive maneuver (e.g. change direction or stop) to avoid a crash. Other less severe conflicts where paths cross but no evasive maneuver occurs may also impact public perceptions of safety. Most existing literature on conflicts focuses on vehicle conflicts and intersections. While some research has investigated bicycle and pedestrian conflicts, most of this has focused on the intersection environment. In this project, the authors propose field testing a crowd-sourced data app to better understand the continuum of conflicts (bicycle/pedestrian, bicycle/vehicle, and pedestrian/vehicle) experienced by pedestrians and cyclists; the study also tests the effectiveness of the app and its associated crowd-sourced data collection. This study assesses the data quality of the crowd sourced data and compares it to more traditional data sources while performing hot spot analysis. If widely adopted, the app will enable communities to create their own data collection efforts to identify dangerous sites within their neighborhoods. Agencies will have a valuable data source at low-cost to help inform their decision making related to bicycle and pedestrian education, enforcement, infrastructure, programs and policies.

• Record URL:
  https://wmich.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/u883/2017/TRCLC_RR_15_07_0.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/61000/61700/61771/TRCLC_RR_15_07_0.pdf
• 
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This document was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Texas, Arlington

  Arlington, TX  United States  76010

  Transportation Research Center for Livable Communities

  Western Michigan University
  Kalamazoo, MI  United States  49009-5316

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Mattingly, Stephen
  • Casey, Colleen
  • Johnson, Taylor
  • Rahman, Z
  • Kawadgave, R
  • Nostikasari, D
  • Roeglin, N
• Publication Date: 2017-1-15

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 98p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bicycle crashes; Data collection; Data quality; Field tests; High risk locations; Literature reviews; Mobile applications; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrian-vehicle crashes; Traffic conflicts
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01637760
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: TRCLC 15-7
• Contract Numbers: TRCLC 14-01
• Files: UTC, NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: May 22 2017 9:44AM