Effect of Various Speed Management Strategies on Bicycle Crashes for Urban Roads in Central Florida

In recent years, cycling has become an increasingly popular transportation mode around the world. In comparison with other popular modes of transportation, cycling is economical and energy efficient. While many studies have been conducted for the analysis of bicycle safety, most were limited in bicycle exposure data and on-street data. This study tries to improve the current safety performance functions for bicycle crashes at urban corridors by utilizing crowdsource data from STRAVA and on-street speed management strategies data. Speed management strategies are any roadway alterations that cause a change in motorists’ driving behavior. In Florida, these speed management strategies are defined by the Florida Department of Transportation design manual. Considering the disproportionate representation of cyclists from the STRAVA data, adjustments were made to represent more accurately the cyclists based on the video detection data by developing a Tobit model. The adjusted STRAVA data was used for bicyclist exposure to analyze bicycle crashes on urban arterials. A Bayesian joint model was developed to identify the relations between the bicycle crash frequency and factors relating to speed management strategies. Other factors, such as vehicle traffic data, roadway information, socio-demographic characteristics, and land use data, were also considered in the model. The results suggest that the adjusted STRAVA data could be used as the exposure for bicycle crash analysis. The results also highlight the significant effects of speed management strategies, such as parking lots and surface pavement. It is expected that these findings could help engineers develop effective strategies to enhance safety for bicyclists.

Promoting Sustainable Mobility: A Perspective from Car and Public Transport Users

Sustainable mobility is becoming a key factor in improving the quality of life of the residents and increasing physical activity (PA) levels. The current situation of sustainable mobility and its analysis is a first step in understanding the factors that would encourage residents to discover and choose alternative modes of travel. The present study examined the factors that encourage the choice of active modes of travel among urban adult population. Walking and cycling were analyzed as the most sustainable forms of urban mobility from the perspective of car and public transport (PT) users. Total of 902 subjects aged 18 years or older were analyzed in the study to assess commuting habits in Kaunas city, Lithuania. The majority (61.1%) of the respondents used a passenger vehicle, 28.2% used PT, and only 13.5% used active modes of travel. The results showed that safer pedestrian crossings, and comfortable paths were the most significant factors that encourage walking. A wider cycling network, and bicycle safety were the most important incentives for the promotion of cycling. Our findings show that the main factors encouraging walking and cycling among car and PT users are similar, however, the individual characteristics that determine the choice of these factors vary significantly.