Links

You are here: Root > Reference
[ Add A Link ]

Reference

  • Pedestrian and Bicycle Transportation DRAFT Syllabus (736)
    Interesting as an overview what bike/ped training encompasses; such as Mionske, B., JD. (2007). Bicycling and the Law ‐ Your Rights as a Cyclist.

    And not to mention other good reference material.
  • Portland Tips, Graphs and Stats (4,044)
    A useful resource on the affect bike facilities have on use and safety.
  • Primary Seat Belt Laws and Offsetting Behavior: Empirical Evidence from Individual Accident Data (987)
    According to the offsetting effect theory, since drivers wearing seat belts feel more
    secure, they tend to drive less carefully and may cause more accidents, including
    those involving pedestrians. Most previous studies have used only state-level accident
    data, which cannot control for individual characteristics of drivers, vehicles, and the
    environmental factors surrounding the accidents. This paper uses individual-level
    accident data to analyze how drivers respond to the laws exploiting changes in the
    seat belt laws in a number of US states in the last decade. I find that the laws do not
    cause less careful behavior by drivers. In fact, they drive more carefully when more
    stringent seat belt laws are in effect, and this leads to less involvement of pedestrians
    in accidents. These results show that the offsetting effects do not exist when all
    accidents, including fatal accidents, are considered.
  • Rail-Trails and Safe communities (1,127)
    While rail-trails are hugely popular and successful
    once they are open, during the development phase trail promoters often have to answer a wide range of concerns that local residents may have about the impact of the proposed trail on their community. Stories of trails attracting drug dealers, murderers and rapists are perpetuated by trail opponents with only a handful of newspaper headlines to back up their assertions rather than empirical research. Despite numerous studies that have concluded rail-trails do not generate crime, concerns persist and fear of the unknown continues to provide fertile ground for trail opponents. The research that has been conducted, along with anecdotal evidence, suggests that converting an abandoned rail corridor to a trail actually tends to reduce crime by cleaning up the landscape and attracting people who use the trail for recreation and transportation.
  • Relationship Between Lane Width and Speed (1,033)
    Summary
    Many factors influence a driver’s choice of speed on an individual street. In addition to lane width, these factors include roadway curvature, roadside development, type of traffic control, and many others. It is challenging to isolate the effect of lane width on speed.
    ...
    There is no consensus in the literature on the relationship between lane width and speed. Some studies have shown speed reductions of as much as 3 mph for every foot of lane narrowing; other studies show a more slight speed reduction of about 1 mph per foot of lane narrowing or no significant effect at all. The studies generally agree that there is wide variability between sites, suggesting that lane width alone is not responsible for the entire speed reduction.
  • Resource Guide on Laws Related to Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety (771)
    Curious about the Uniform Vehicle Code or just how other states word their laws, then check out the NHTSA resource guide.
  • Ride Mapping Links (736)
    A listing of a whole bunch of sites that let you map your ride.
  • Ride Your Bike Safely [A collection of links] (691)
    Riding a bike is a physical activity that has many favorable benefits, two of them being that it is enjoyable and also great exercise. As people ride their bikes, they often get whisked away by the fun of it and so don’t even regard the activity as exercise, though it actually provides effective aerobic exercise that increases the pulse rate and so helps in burning fat. However, riding a bike can also prove to be a health risk if the activity is done carelessly and without the proper safety gear, or even without the proper precautions. In order to get the maximum benefit of enjoyment and exercise that bike riding provides, it is also fundamental to be safe while doing so.

    [Links for:]
    Proper Equipment
    Rules about Dealing with Motorists
    Rules of the Road
    Riding at Night
    Special Rules for Children
    Special Rules for Disabled People
    What To Do If You Get Stranded
    Cycling Organizations That Promote Safety
  • Risk Factors for Bicycle-Motor Vehicle Collisions at Intersections (1,002)
    In 1992, 722 bicyclists were killed in the United States in collisions with motor vehicles1, and an estimated 650,000 people were treated in emergency rooms for bicycle-related injuries.2 It is remarkable that, for a traffic safety problem of this magnitude, so little research has been conducted to establish the causes of these acci
  • Safety in numbers: more walkers and bicyclists, safer walking and bicycling (1,084)
    Objective: To examine the relationship between the numbers of people walking or bicycling and the frequency of collisions between motorists and walkers or bicyclists. The common wisdom holds that the number of collisions varies directly with the amount of walking and bicycling. However, three published analyses of collision rates at specific intersections found a non-linear relationship, such that collisions rates declined with increases in the numbers of people walking or bicycling.

    Data: This paper uses five additional data sets (three population level and two time series) to compare the amount of walking or bicycling and the injuries incurring in collisions with motor vehicles.

    Results: The likelihood that a given person walking or bicycling will be struck by a motorist varies inversely with the amount of walking or bicycling. This pattern is consistent across communities of varying size, from specific intersections to cities and countries, and across time periods.

    Discussion: This result is unexpected. Since it is unlikely that the people walking and bicycling become more cautious if their numbers are larger, it indicates that the behavior of motorists controls the likelihood of collisions with people walking and bicycling. It appears that motorists adjust their behavior in the presence of people walking and bicycling. There is an urgent need for further exploration of the human factors controlling motorist behavior in the presence of people walking and bicycling.

    Conclusion: A motorist is less likely to collide with a person walking and bicycling if more people walk or bicycle. Policies that increase the numbers of people walking and bicycling appear to be an effective route to improving the safety of people walking and bicycling.