There are many approaches that agencies and organizations can take to analyze pedestrian and bicycle safety and identify and address safety needs. For example, some cities and states have initiated pedestrian or bicyclist safety audits, an unbiased evaluation of the walking and biking environment, which can be performed before, during, or after the construction of a project. Surveys of road user safety and perception of risks are another common tool, often used in broader public engagement and planning processes. The Highway Safety Manual provides an established process for transportation agencies to consider safety improvements. The Manual is complemented by the Crash Modification Factor Clearinghouse, an online resource updated with the latest research on the effectiveness of countermeasures. There are many other resources available that can complement or enhance safety evaluations. 

NCHRP Research Report 893: Systemic Pedestrian Safety Analysis provides guidance on how communities can proactively identify sites for potential safety improvements using a systemic approach, as opposed to a "hot spot" approach. This systemic approach can identify safety solutions as sites across a network before crashes occur. 

Often, more robust safety analyses require more or better data, so tools such as Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Analysis Tool (PBCAT), FHWA's Guide for Scalable Risk Assessment Methods for Pedestrians and Bicyclists, or NCHRP Report 797: Guidebook on Pedestrian and Bicycle Volume Data Collection can be used to enhance data quality. For more information on volume data see Counting and Estimating Volumes. See also the National Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Data Clearinghouse for data availability.

Resources

Guidance to Improve Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety at Intersections (NCHRP 926) provides a table-based approach to selecting pedestrian and bicyclist safety intersection countermeasures based on context, cost and crash type and a summary page listing the effectiveness of each countermeasure.

Guide for Improving Pedestrian Safety at Uncontrolled Crossing Locations (FHWA) provides step-by-step method for selecting crossing treatments, including Table 1 which recommends countermeasures by speed limit, traffic volume, and number of lanes.

Audit Tools for walking and biking help identify concerns and potential alternatives or solutions.

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Intersection Safety Indices help prioritize intersection crosswalks and intersection approaches with respect to pedestrian and bicycle safety and led to two online tools for countermeasure selection: PEDSAFE and BIKESAFE.

Guidebook on Identification of High Pedestrian Crash Locations documents methods and examples used to identify or prioritize high pedestrian crash sites.

More Resources >

 

Examples

Chapter 4 of Systemic Pedestrian Safety Analyses Contractor's Technical Report describes analysis conducted to supplement knowledge for risks associated with midblock pedestrian crashes and demonstrated the application of the recommended analysis approach.

Don't Cut Corners: Left Turn Pedestrian and Bicyclist Crash Study uses a data-driven approach to examine left turn pedestrian and bicyclist crashes in New York, New York.

Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Analysis proactively identifies locations to prioritize safety improvements with the goal of preventing future crashes in Seattle, Washington.

Risk Factors for Pedestrian and Bicycle Crashes describes the development of a tool to improve methods to identify and prioritize pedestrian and bicycle crash locations for the Oregon Department of Transportation.

More Examples >