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Over the last decade, demand for active transportation modes such as walking and bicycling has increased. While it is desirable to provide high levels of safety for these eco-friendly modes of travel, unfortunately, the overall percentage of pedestrian and bicycle fatalities increased from 13% to 18% of total road-related fatalities in the last decade. In San Diego County, although the total number of pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities decreased over the same period of time, a similar trend with a more drastic change is observed; the overall percentage of pedestrian and bicycle fatalities increased from 19.5% to 31.8%. This study aims to estimate pedestrian and bicyclist exposure and identify signalized intersections with highest risk for walking and bicycling within the city of San Diego, California, USA. Multiple data sources such as automated pedestrian and bicycle counters, video cameras, and crash data were utilized. Data mining techniques, a new sampling strategy, and automated video processing methods were adopted to demonstrate a holistic approach that can be applied to identify facilities with highest need of improvement. Cluster analysis coupled with stratification was employed to select a representative sample of intersections for data collection. Automated pedestrian and bicycle counting models utilized in this study reached a high accuracy, provided certain conditions exist in video data. Results from exposure modeling showed that pedestrian and bicyclist volume was characterized by transportation network, population, traffic generators, and land use variables. There were both similarities and differences between pedestrian and bicycle models, including different spatial scales of influence by mode. Additionally, the study quantified risk incorporating injury severity levels, frequency of victims, distance crossed, and exposure into a single equation. It was found that not all intersections with the highest number of pedestrian and bicyclist victims were identified as high-risk after exposure and other factors such as crash severity were taken into account., 1. Introduction According to the fatality analysis reporting system (FARS) encyclopedia, in 2016, 818 cyclists and 5987 pedestrians were killed in traffic accidents, making up 18.2 percent of all crash [...]

The concept of sharing, enabled by emerging technologies, is playing an increasingly important role in contributing to a transformation toward more sustainable transportation. This study aimed to contribute to the growing body of literature on on-demand transportation services, with a particular emphasis on sharing or pooling a ride when using services such as transportation-network companies (TNCs) and microtransit. The study conducted a shared mobility survey of over 2,500 respondents from selected locales across Texas—ranging from large urban areas to small cities and rural areas. We analyzed the survey data in detail using extensive statistical analysis and inferential techniques and adopted an analysis approach toward implementation-oriented research to address the gap between theory and practice. Demographic, as well as geographic and built-environment, factors were found to play an important role in determining whether users will opt for a shared or pooled service and/or how they perceive these alternatives. The findings highlight the importance of improving safety and security, increasing awareness of the benefits of ride-sharing, and designing appropriate policy measures to promote sustainable mobility. We identified potential operational improvements, government policies, and employer programs to improve shared-ride services and encourage their use, such as reducing uncertainty in shared rides and minimizing inconvenience for passengers. A critical finding was the need to prioritize operational improvements in shared-ride trips over solely relying on financial incentives to induce behavior change. Enhanced public awareness and education were also determined to be crucial regardless of the nature of improvements, policies, or programs that are implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring bicycle trips is no longer limited to traditional sources, such as travel surveys and counts. Strava, a popular fitness tracker, continuously collects human movement trajectories, and its commercial data service, Strava Metro, has enriched bicycle research opportunities over the last five years. Accrued knowledge from colleagues who have already utilised Strava Metro data can be valuable for those seeking expanded monitoring options. To convey such knowledge, this paper synthesises a data overview, extensive literature review on how the data have been applied to deal with drivers' bicycle-related issues, and implications for future work. The review results indicate that Strava Metro data have the potential—although finite—to be used to identify various travel patterns, estimate travel demand, analyse route choice, control for exposure in crash models, and assess air pollution exposure. However, several challenges, such as the under-representativeness of the general population, bias towards and away from certain groups, and lack of demographic and trip details at the individual level, prevent researchers from depending entirely on the new data source. Cross-use with other sources and validation of reliability with official data could enhance the potentiality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For blind individuals, access to safe and reliable transportation can be a challenge. Limited mobility options can culminate in a reduced quality of life and difficulty accessing housing and employment. Transportation network companies (TNCs) have emerged as a new mode of travel that has the potential to increase access to transportation for this segment of the population. The opportunities and challenges for TNC use by this population have not been widely studied. Through qualitative and quantitative methods, this study focused on gaining a better understanding of blind individuals' safety perceptions of TNCs relative to other travel modes. The findings suggest that a significant proportion of blind individuals may use TNCs, and direct TNC experience strongly influences their safety perceptions of this travel mode. While TNCs present an opportunity for blind riders to become more engaged in myriad activities, these companies can still make improvements in many areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]