Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Education and Outreach
TTI researchers are working on several TxDOT Traffic Safety Grant projects surrounding pedestrian and bicycle safety education. These include the Walk.Bike.Safe Texas outreach project where a detailed crash analysis was recently completed for the state examining fatal and injury crashes involving people walking and bicycling. An infographic, video, and presentation as well as social media messages have been developed based on the findings.
The second is one where researchers are training law enforcement officers on the state laws surrounding walking and bicycling. Roll call videos as well as videos which describe laws and definitions have been created and are shown in the classes. Officers earn TCOLE credit attending these classes.
Finally, researchers have been working on identifying barriers to understanding laws surrounding the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists. Surveys, focus groups, interviews have been conducted and recommendations made based on the findings.
Transportation Safety Education: A Strategic Guidance Report
Transportation safety is a priority issue for transportation planners, engineers, policy makers, and citizens. At all levels of government, transportation safety efforts and programs traditionally take a multidisciplinary approach to safety that includes engineering, enforcement, education, and evaluation. While transportation safety has increased significantly over the last several decades, recent increases in roadway fatalities in the United States are a rising concern.
In 2016, the Austin City Council adopted the Vision Zero Action Plan to address transportation safety. The Action Plan, developed by Austin’s Vision Zero Task Force, is a data-driven approach to reduce both the number of lives lost and the number of serious injuries on Austin roads to zero. As part of the City’s efforts to implement the Action Plan, the City of Austin and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) undertook foundational research to identify best practices and guidance for developing effective educational campaigns, based on regional and national experience. This work intends to inform local and regional transportation safety education programs and help craft a coordinated regional approach.
The research detailed in this document focuses on transportation safety education approaches that aim to address the underlying values, beliefs, and norms that influence the way people act while moving around the region by car, train, bicycle, bus, motorcycle, on foot, or other mode of travel. Due to the interrelated nature of regional transportation in Central Texas, researchers gave special attention to the practices, strategies, and examples that highlight regional collaboration and coordination.
This report provides a foundation of best practices and an evaluative framework for transportation safety education campaign approaches. The findings are based on several project activities, including a scan of academic literature; a review of current best practices in transportation safety education; a survey of existing transportation safety programs in Central Texas; and interviews with select transportation safety professionals in U.S. cities.
BE SAFE BE SEEN Implementation
TTI researchers are working with TxDOT to develop and implement education and awareness campaigns about bicycle and pedestrian safety. BE SAFE BE SEEN Implementation plans have been developed for the TxDOT Austin district and the TxDOT Waco district. The plans identify tools and strategies to communicate safety messages to particular audiences. TTI researchers have also developed plans for evaluating the effectiveness of these programs.
Please click below to view BE SAFE BE SEEN Implementation Plans:
As part of the Waco District BE SAFE BE SEEN work, pedestrian and bicycle count data has been collected at several intersections along I-35 through Waco to better understand the travel patterns during construction and across different seasons of the year. The counts have been gathered using video cameras and automatic counters.
Improving Dynamic Message Signage for Weather -Related Events and Other Situations (Virginia Department of Transportation, 2022)
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) deploys dynamic message signs (DMS) extensively on roadways statewide as part of its intelligent transportation system. Signs are used to convey both advance warning and real-time information to motorists as needed. This project uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods to develop recommendations for how VDOT can improve its DMS message before and during major weather events to provide more actionable information to motorists and positively impact motorists behavior. The research included focus groups and surveys with Virginia motorists and commercial vehicle drivers.