Research

Our best efforts to improve a community's walking and biking conditions start with sound research. Here we provide examples of statewide and national research centers with an emphasis on making walking and biking safer for all. In addition, your region may be home to a university with their own transportation safety research department that could serve as a great resource and partner in your local safety and community design projects.

  1. Turner-Fairbanks Highway Research Center – Safety
    http://www.tfhrc.gov/safety/safety.htm
    The Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) is a federally owned and operated research facility in McLean, Virginia. TFHRC is the home of the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) Office of Research, Development, and Technology. TFHRC provides FHWA and the world highway community with the most advanced research and development related to new highway technologies. The research focuses on providing solutions to complex technical problems through the development of more economical, environmentally sensitive designs; more efficient, quality controlled constructions practices; and more durable materials. The end result is a safer, more reliable highway transportation system.
  2. Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center
    http://www.walkinginfo.org/rd/safety.htm
    Many people don't walk because they are afraid of being struck by a motor vehicle. These fears are not unfounded. In the United States, motor vehicle-pedestrian crashes resulted in 4,749 pedestrian fatalities in 2003. Another 70,000 pedestrians sustained non-fatal injuries that year. This site provides resources that address safety issues as they relate to pedestrians, including reports and statistics.
  3. Traffic Safety Center – Bike and Pedestrian Research
    http://www.tsc.berkeley.edu/html/res_PS.html
    The Traffic Safety Center's overall research objective is to capitalize on the wide variety of nationally-recognized transportation, vehicle, public health and safety research conducted at UC Berkeley and to leverage these multiple disciplines and investigators to a distinctly identifiable set of research products aimed at traffic safety issues facing communities in California. Research teams consisting of people from engineering, city and regional planning, human factors, economics, vision science, and public health have been formed to investigate various traffic safety policies, interventions, and technologies.
  4. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – Research and Development
    http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/
    The Research and Development (R&D) program serves as the foundation that supports the Agency's goal to reduce motor vehicle injuries and fatalities. Through extensive research, development, testing, crash investigation, and data collection and analysis activities, R&D provides the scientific strength needed to support the Agency's motor vehicle and traffic safety goals.

MAKING THE CASE FOR BICYCLING AND WALKING: A BRIEF REFERENCE GUIDE

Walking and bicycling provide Californians a healthy, convenient alternative for everyday needs— whether it's bike commuting to work a few days per week, getting exercise or taking a walk to the grocery store for a few items.

Public health leaders understand the urgency of creating active community environments so we can build daily exercise back into our lifestyles. With careful planning and modest transportation investments, more Californians can enjoy walking and bicycling as safe, healthy, viable modes of everyday travel.

Well-designed compact neighborhoods make it practical to choose walking, bicycling and transit – especially for the high proportion of trips that are a few miles or shorter in length. Being able to choose these options instead of driving means less pollution, less traffic congestion, more open space, and economic vitality in our town centers.

The following fact sheets provide an overview of the benefits of walking and bicycling.

ECONOMIC VITALITY/VIABILITY

Communities that create facilities to encourage walking and bicycling realize significant economic benefits in the form of increased property values, tourist revenue, business relocation and reduced public health costs.

  • The San Antonio Riverwalk in Texas is reported to be the second most important tourist attraction in the state of Texas and the anchor of the city's $1.2 billion annual tourist trade.
    [National Park Service, 1995]

  • The Mineral Wells to Weatherford Rail-Trail near Dallas, Texas attracts approximately 300,000 people annually and generates local revenues of $2 million.
    [National Transportation Enhancements Clearinghouse, 1999]

  • Homebuyers are willing to pay a $20,000 premium to live in pedestrian friendly neighborhoods.
    [Urban Land Institute, 1999]

  • The National Association of Realtors says that trails are now the single most popular amenity that homebuyers look for, more important than swimming pools, golf courses, etc.
    [Wall Street Journal, 1999]

  • A $4.5 million investment in pedestrian improvements in Lodi, Calif., as part of a downtown revitalization, resulted in 82 new businesses relocating downtown, and a 30% increase in downtown sales tax revenues since work was completed in 1997.
    [Tony Goehring, Economic Development Coordinator, City of Lodi.]
  • Traffic calming pays: a 5 to 10 mph reduction in traffic speeds increases property values by 20%.
    [Victoria Transport Policy Institute, 1999.]

  • Walk- and bicycle-friendly communities attract tourists. In 1992, Vermont realized $13 million in economic benefits from touring bicyclists.
    [Vermont Agency of Transportation, 1995]

  • A trip diverted from motor vehicle to bicycle has a value of $3.58 for a 2.5-mile trip in an urban area during rush hour. The costs avoided include congestion, road, parking, gas, air pollution and noise pollution.
    [Victoria Transport Policy Institute, 1999]

  • Total costs associated with motor vehicle emissions range from $28 billion to $531b for health and $2.5b to $4.6b for crops.
    [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2001]

  • In a new housing development, lots immediately adjacent to the trail sold for $2,800 - 9% more per lot than those not adjacent to trails.
    [Brown County Wisconsin Planning Commission, 1998]

PUBLIC HEALTH

Public health officials and land use planners share a common goal of ensuring the health, welfare, and safety of residents. Walking and biking can significantly reduce health risks and health care costs in a nation battling an obesity epidemic and the negative health effects of sprawl.

  • Currently, over 60% of adults in America are overweight or obese.
    [Center for Civic Partnerships, 2002]

  • An estimated 78% of children do not get the minimum recommended level of daily exercise.
    [California Department of Health Services, 1999]

  • Over two-thirds of children walked or biked to school 30 years ago; less than 10% do today.
    [California Department of Health Services, 1999]

  • When children walk to school, it positively affects their academic performance, improves their self-image and independence, provides healthier social and emotional development, and increases the likelihood that they will grow into active adults.
    [Kids Walk to School, Center for Disease Control and Prevention]

  • Between 1977 and 1995, adult daily walking trips declined by 40%.
    [National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (2001)]

  • Increasing participation in regular moderate activity among the more than 88 million inactive Americans over age 15 could reduce annual national medical costs by $76 billion (in 2000 dollars).
    [Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, Sept. 2002]
  • One of the more important determinants of physical activity is a person's immediate environment (one's neighborhood).
    [King AC, et al. Health Psych 2000]

  • Seventy-five percent of Americans who reside in areas with ozone monitors are breathing in unhealthy amounts of ozone pollution, with 58 percent of monitored counties receiving an "F" rating for ozone levels from the American Lung Association in the 1998-2000 period.
    [American Lung Association: The State of the Air 2002 Report]

  • Motor vehicles account for approximately 30 percent of NO2 and VOC emissions, and about nine percent of particulate matter, or soot.
    [National Council for Science and the Environment, 1999.]

  • Smog pollution was responsible for more than 6 million asthma attacks in the summer of 1997.
    [Clean Air Network and U.S Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, 2000]

  • Leading researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predict a shift in auto trips to walking and biking as the most promising strategy to reduce diseases related to inactivity, such as heart disease and diabetes.
    [Koplan, Dr. Jeffrey, Director and Dietz, Dr. William, Centers for Disease Control 1999.]