Sponsor
This project was funded by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), a federally funded University Transportation Center housed at Portland State University’s Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC). Matching funds were provided through work with the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Document Type
Report
Publication Date
5-2018
Subjects
Traffic safety -- Oregon -- Portland, Cycling accidents -- United States -- Statistics
Abstract
The 2010 Highway Safety Manual (HSM) provides methods for predicting the number of motor vehicle crashes on various roadway facilities. However, it includes only a rudimentary method for predicting the number of bicycle-related crashes. Despite research demonstrating that bicycle volume is an important factor in estimating number of bicycle crashes, the method does not include the volume of bicyclists using the roadway. To remedy this, this project will investigate the potential of various simplified methods to include bicycle volumes in future versions of the HSM. By studying locations where bicycle traffic volumes, motor vehicle traffic volumes, bicycle collisions, and roadway facility types are known, the research team will study how best to predict bicycle collisions. This includes creating bicycle specific safety performance functions. The project will then examine how and if these methods could be simplified for use in future versions of the HSM. Potentially, bicyclist volumes could be simplified into high, medium, and low categories in order to reduce the need for difficult to find data. The impact of different facility types will also be investigated, such that a generalized table appropriate for HSM users can be generated. While this research cannot provide a final HSM-ready version, it will investigate locations where data are available and could lead the way in developing such. In addition, this work will investigate the impact of cyclist volume on bicyclist collision risk. This work could have an impact on cyclist safety by facilitating a better understanding of the impact of facility design on bicyclist safety by separating out the effect of bicycle volume on predicted bicycle crashes.
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/25831
Recommended Citation
Nordback, K., Kothuri, S., Gibson, G., Marshall, W., Ferenchak, N. Improving Bicycle Crash Prediction for Urban Road Segments. Project Brief NITC-RR-756. Portland, OR: Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC), 2018.
Description
This is a summary of TREC research project NITC-RR-756, which can be found online at: https://nitc.trec.pdx.edu/research/project/756
Final Report NITC-RR-756 can be found online at: https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/25840