Seven quick things I learned about bicycling nationally

By Jennifer Dill, TREC director.

I recently completed a national poll of people living in urban areas in conjunction with the National Association of Realtors® on Community and Transportation Preferences. The overall results are posted here. The survey included 3,000 adults living in the 50 largest urban areas in the U.S. (That includes suburban areas, as well as denser urban cores.) Here are some highlights related to bicycling.

1.    Less than one in five people have biked in the past month.

Overall, 72% of the adults surveyed said they were physically able and know how to ride a bike. Of those, 25% had ridden in the past month. (The survey was conducted in mid-May, so weather was reasonable.) That means only about 18% of adults in these urban areas biked recently. Most of the people who had biked, rode only for exercise (60%, or 15% of those who are able to bike), while the others (40%, or 10% of those who are able to bike) made at least some bike trips for transportation, such as to work, school, shopping, etc.
Note: From here on I will be focusing only on those people who are physically able and know how to ride a bike.

2.    There are gender and generational gaps.

This isn’t a big surprise, but women were less likely to bike than men,...

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Towards Effective Design Treatment for Right Turns at Intersections with Bicycle Traffic

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The overall goal of this research was to quantify the safety performance of alternative traffic control strategies to mitigate right-turning-vehicle/bicycle collisions, often called "right-hook" crashes, at signalized intersections in Oregon.

A two stage experiment was developed in the OSU high-fidelity driving simulator to investigate the causal factors of right-hook crashes at signalized intersections with a striped bike lane and no right-turn lane, and to then identify and evaluate alternative design treatments that could mitigate the occurrence of right-hook crashes.

Experiment 1 investigated motorist and environmental related causal factors of right-hook crashes, using three different motorist performance measures:

  1. visual attention,
  2. situational awareness (SA) and
  3. crash avoidance behavior.

Data was collected from 51 participants (30 male and 21 female) turning right 820 times in 21 different experimental scenarios. It was determined that the worst case right-hook scenario occurred when a bicycle was approaching the intersection at a higher speed (16 mph) and positioned in the blind zone of the motorist. In crash and near crash situations (measured by time-to-collision) the most common cause was a...

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Cyclist Compliance at Signalized Intersections

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Summary: Although the running of red lights is perceived by motorists as a commonplace behavior for cyclists, little research has been done on the actual rates of cyclist compliance at signalized intersections. Furthermore, little is known about the factors that influence cyclist non-compliance. This research seeks to illuminate the rates of and reasons for infringement against red lights using video footage and survey data from cyclists in Oregon. 

Bio: Sam became interested in transportation and planning while studying abroad in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. After benefiting from the efficient transit service and excellent walkability there, he came back to the states with a gusto for safe, efficient, and environmentally sustainable transportation. After finally figuring out what to do with his Civil Engineering degree, he enrolled in Portland State. Sam's research interests include cyclist behavior and the comprehension and safety implications of new infrastructure. Originally hailing from Kansas, he has grown weary of Wizard of Oz jokes but is otherwise happy to call Portland his home, especially with the abundance of good coffee, micro brews, and stellar pie that PDX has to offer.

Lessons from the Development of a Guidebook on Pedestrian and Bicycle Connections to Transit

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Lessons from the Development of a Guidebook on Pedestrian and Bicycle Connections to Transit

To improve safety and increase transit use, transit agencies and the jurisdictions they serve have to approach transit service as door-to-door not just stop-to-stop.

...

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Sam Baek and the Jajeongeo: Visiting the Bike City of Korea

The video begins at 2:13.

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Abstract: City of Davis Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator Tara Goddard recently visited Sangju, South Korea as part of a "sister city" delegation. Sangju is the "Bike City" of Korea, with a bicycle mode share approximately that of Davis and Portland combined. Tara will share photos and lessons learned from that trip, compare the bicycle facilities of Sangju with that of Davis and Portland, and discuss opportunities for future bicycle research in East Asia.

Friday Transportation Seminar: Bicycle Safety (and Other) Research at CARRS-Q in Brisbane, Australia

LOCATION: PSU, Urban Center Building, Room 204 (Distance Learning Center Wing)
LIVESTREAM ONLINE: Click here on the day of the seminar to stream it live

SEMINAR VIDEO

Bicycle Safety (and Other) Research at CARRS-Q in Brisbane, Australia

This presentation will begin with an overview of the activities of the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety-Queensland. Then a number of bicycle safety research projects...

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Youth Mobility Concepts--Planning Safe Routes for Kids

The video begins at 2:10.

Millennials prefer walking to driving, so housing market is changing

Trick or Treatment? Impact of Route-Level Features on Decisions to Walk or Bike

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Speaker: Joseph Broach, Ph.D. Candidate, Portland State University
Topic: Trick or Treatment? Impact of Route-Level Features on Decisions to Walk or Bike
Summary: Some travel routes attract people walking and cycling, while others may scare them away. What features of street environments are most important, and how do available routes affect decisions to bike or walk on a specific trip? 

Research to date has focused on either large-scale areal measures like "miles of bike lane nearby" or else has considered only shortest path routes. Neither method is suited to capturing the impact of targeted route-level policies like neighborhood greenways. This session will present a new technique for measuring bike and walk accessibility along the most likely route for a given trip. The method is applied to travel data, and results provide new insight into the relationship between route quality and travel mode choice.

Measuring and Modeling Cyclists’ Comfort and Stress Levels

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Measuring and modeling cyclists’ comfort and stress levels

Some researchers have tried to categorize cyclists’ levels of traffic stress utilizing facility or traffic data that can be readily measured in the field, such as motorized travel lanes, travel speeds, and type of bicycle infrastructure.

This seminar will present data and modeling results utilizing two novel data sources:

(a) real-world, on-road measurements of physiological stress as cyclists...

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