01044611

Component

The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate pedestrian/bicyclist safety within the Central Arkansas Regional Transportation Study (CARTS) area. Motor vehicle crashes (traffic accidents) have traditionally been analyzed to assess the safety of a given intersection or roadway segment, but crashes involving other modes have often been overlooked. This study establishes a baseline from which future comparative assessments can be made. Ultimately, it should serve as a basis for identifying design issues, funding priorities and/or safety policies which need to be addressed in order to improve the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists of Central Arkansas. An overview of the total, type and severity of injury is considered first; followed with examinations by risk group, geographic area, crash condition, and spatial relationship to determine if any trends are apparent. The analysis concludes with a discussion of the potential costs of such injuries to society. In general, the findings were consistent with national and other regional findings with respect to risk group, area type, and crash condition. Generally, these types of crashes tended to occur in areas with higher population densities and with higher percentage of minorities. They also tended to occur more in commercial areas, such as central business districts. Black males under 16 had the highest pedestrian and bicyclist injury rate. However, Hispanic males 16 and over had the highest pedestrian fatality rate. Nearly 65% of non-freeway pedestrian injuries were not at intersections, contrasting with the nearly 61% of bicyclist injuries occurring at intersections. The injury rate for multilane roadways with raised or depressed medians was 56% and 58% lower than with a TWLTL or no median, respectively. The Little Rock-North Little Rock metropolitan area’s ten year pedestrian fatality rate is lower than the national rate but slightly higher than the state’s rate. However, there was a 10% increase between the 1995-1999 and the 2000-2004 rate, with the latter being higher than the national and state rate as well as two other similar metropolitan areas for those years. Nearly 85% of pedestrian fatalities were not at the intersection and 75% of bicycle fatalities occurred at the intersection. Of all “at intersection” injuries, only 20%, including three pedestrian fatalities and one bicyclist fatality, were controlled by a traffic signal or pedestrian signal. Nearly half of the pedestrians were crossing the roadway when killed. About 60% of them occurred during dark, dawn, or dusk conditions. An average posted speed limit of 49 mph was determined for the fatal crashes on state highways.

01044603

English

18p

2006

10th National Conference on Transportation Planning for Small and Medium-Sized Communities

CD-ROM

Appendices (3) ; Figures (10) ; References (4) ; Tables (6)

Bicycle crashes; Central business districts; Fatalities; Injuries; Injury severity; Injury types; Intersections; Medians; Metropolitan areas; Minorities; Multilane highways; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Periods of the day; Population density; Speed limits; Trend (Statistics); Two way left turn lanes

Bicycle safety

Arkansas; Little Rock (Arkansas); North Little Rock (Arkansas)

Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning; I80: Accident Studies

TRIS, TRB

Mar 23 2007 11:49AM

• A Pavement Management System for County Roads in the State of Alabama
• Application of an Internet-Based Travel Survey in a Medium-Sized Community
• Applying Value Methodology to Metropolitan Transportation Planning
• Better, Stronger Faster; How Oblique Aerial Imagery Is Changing the Face of Transportation Planning
• Bozeman Bicycle Network Plan
• Comparison and Evaluation of Simplified Transportation Project Selection and Prioritization Methodologies for Use by Small and Medium Sized Planning Agencies
• Design Considerations to Mitigate Non-Response in Regional Household Travel Surveys
• Developing a Consistent, Flexible, and Defensible Methodology for State and Regional Transportation Planning
• Development of Travel Demand Modeling Tools for Small Area Planning Purposes
• Discrete Event Simulation of Forecasted Non-Urban Freight Movement
• Evaluating the Relative Safety of Access Management Treatments in Micro-Simulation
• Getting Innovative Traffic Forecasting Model Networks "In Shape" Quickly Using GIS Datasets
• Highway Ranking Model
• Implementation of a Public Transportation System in Casper, Wyoming
• Importance of Modeling Ozone Formation Attributable to Rural Interstate Traffic
• Innovative Financing at the Local Level: Project Funding for a Regional Transportation Agency
• Integrating Access Management into Local Transportation Planning
• La Entrada al Pacifico: Viability and Potential Impacts on the Odessa-Midland, Texas Area and Other Small Communities
• Local Road Safety Audits: A New Approach to an Old Problem
• Microsimulation for Transportation Planning for Small Communities
• New Approach for Updating Highway Functional Classifications
• PlanCheyenne - Co-Planning for MPOs
• Planning Analysis Toolbox for Small Urban Areas in North Carolina
• Potential Use of GPS Data for Calibrating Travel Demand Models
• Safe Routes to School in Superior, WI and Duluth, MN
• Safety Conscious Planning for Small and Medium Size Urban Areas
• Six Hints for Better Public Process
• Strategic Transportation, Environmental Planning Process for Urbanizing Places (STEP UP)
• Successful Use of Public Involvement Tools - Johns Pass Bridge Project
• Supporting Transportation Planning in Small MPOs Through Partnerships and Innovative Methods
• The Bridge Between NEPA and Corridor Studies: The Story of Northern Bridge Corridor Study
• US-280 Access Management - Managing Small Town Economics
• Using Simplified Regression Analysis in Financial Planning for an MTP, or Seeing the Forest for the Trees
• Web-Based Delivery of Geospatial and Transportation Data for a Rural Intelligent Transportation Systems Project
• When Big Projects Come to Smaller Places: The Communication Challenge
• Which Came First? The SR 386 Area Study