Safe-D: Safety through Disruption

Developing a framework for prioritizing bicycle safety improvement projects using crowdsourced and image-based data

Abstract

During the last decade, non-motorized modes of transportation, including cycling and walking, have been spreading as they are considered economical, eco-friendly, and energy-efficient. With the expansion of active transportation, statistics show a significant increase in the number of fatalities. Between 2010 and 2019, there was a 36 percent increase in bicycle deaths in the United States. Moreover, despite the 41 percent drop in traffic volume in response to spring lockdowns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, 697 bicyclists lost their lives in crashes in 2020, and California with 118 fatalities was the deadliest state for bicyclists. In this project, we propose to develop a crash-risk scoring method for prioritizing Bicycle safety improvement projects in the county of San Diego. Caltrans has a great interest in this topic as many bicycle bridges need to be improved to meet new standards. The prioritization methodology will have a widespread applicability and can be adopted by Caltrans for similar projects. The majority of the studies on pedestrian and bicycle safety suffered from the limitation of the exposure data as they relied on traditional data collection methods. In this project, we will use a combination of traditional data (e.g., historical crash data, environment characteristics) as well as crowdsourced (e.g., STRAVA, StreetLight data) and image-based data in order to develop a robust model to identify high-risk locations. Since crowdsourced data could be biased towards males and more athletic people, we will investigate and utilize calibration methods to address this issue. Moreover, previous studies show a disproportionate bicycle crash distribution among people with different socio-demographic characteristics. We will investigate transportation equity factors to include in the proposed risk scoring method to account for social justice across all communities.

Project Highlights

  • Coming Soon

Final Report

06-010 Final Report

EWD & T2 Products

Coming Soon

Presentations/Publications

Coming Soon

Final Dataset

Coming Soon

Research Investigators (PI*)

Arash Jahangiri (SDSU)*
Steve Hankey (VT)*
Amir Reza Sadeghi (SDSU)
Sahar Ghanipoor-Machiani (SDSU)
Seyed Sajjad Abdollahpour (VT)

Project Information

Start Date: 2022-01-15
End Date: 2023-07-15
Status: Active
Grant Number: 69A3551747115
Total Funding: $212,236
Source Organization: Safe-D National UTC
Project Number: 06-010

Safe-D Theme Areas

Big Data Analytics

Safe-D Application Areas

Risk Assessment
Planning for Safety
Vulnerable Users

More Information

RiP URL
UTC Project Information Form

Sponsor Organization

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
University Transportation Centers Program
Department of Transportation
Washington, DC 20590 United States

Performing Organization

San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Dr
San Diego, CA 92182
USA