There are a variety of tools that transportation professionals can use to improve safety in our communities.
E-Micromobility In Motion
From e-scooters to e-bikes, electric micromobility (e-micromobility) is transforming how Floridians choose to move around the region. As these new mobility options grow in popularity, they bring both opportunities and challenges. With the rise of e-micromobility, how should we be preparing for what is next? This white paper explores how Florida can embrace and support this emergent mobility option by providing policy, programmatic, and infrastructure recommendations. It also summarizes the current policy landscape in Florida along with nationwide ridership trends, current safety issues and opportunities for better integrating e-micromobility into Florida’s transportation system. The paper is intended to inform transportation professionals and policymakers about best practices and tools to support the safe and effective adoption of e-micromobility.
E-Micromobility: A Primer for Florida Transportation Professionals and Policymakers
Tiny Vehicles, Big Safety Challenges: Planning for E-Micromobility
This Vision Zero Safety Speakers webinar explores the rapid growth of electric micromobility, and how communities are adapting to ensure safety for all road users. Expert panelists discussed emerging trends, policy guidance, and best practices for integrating e-micromobility into transportation systems. E-bike expert Clint Sandusky shared practical safety tips for both riders and those who share the road with them. The session concluded with a panel discussion and audience Q&A. Learn more about e-micromobility and watch the webinar below.
Countermeasures Toolkits
The Countermeasures Toolkits identify strategies to prevent crashes or reduce their severity when they do happen. These strategies, known as countermeasures, are broken into engineering and non-engineering strategies, as well as policy guidance.
MetroPlan Orlando also has developed a Quick Build Guide that can help local governments address safety issues in a cost-effective and timely way.
NON-ENGINEERING COUNTERMEASURES
Non-engineering countermeasures aim to influence users by changing the social environment to encourage or enforce better behavior. Such strategies can influence large segments of the community via marketing campaigns, high-visibility enforcement and publicized sobriety checkpoints. These can affect the social environment by increasing the perceived risk of being caught, or they can be focused on specific roadway users like teen drivers or motorcyclists.
This toolkit presents non-engineering countermeasures organized into the five categories of the Safe System approach, which include Safe Road Users, Safe Speeds, Safe Roads, Post Crash Care, and Safe Vehicles.
Non-Engineering Countermeasures Toolkit
ENGINEERING COUNTERMEASURES
Engineering countermeasures promote street designs that protect people when mistakes happen, instead of making mistakes worse. This toolkit describes various engineering countermeasures, how they can be applied, and their expected effectiveness (crash reduction). The toolkit also includes general information about each tool’s application, typical placement, estimated costs, and delivery timelines.
The key objectives of the toolkit are to:
- Inform partner jurisdictions about safety treatment options and appropriate uses and contexts
- Communicate safety tools using easy-to-understand language and graphics
- Facilitate coordination among staff, contractors, developers, and the community when discussing transportation safety improvements
- Create a shared understanding and realistic expectations around safety treatments
Engineering Countermeasures Toolkit
More information is available from the Federal Highway Administration’s Proven Safety Countermeasures Resources.
USING THE QUICK BUILD METHOD
The Quick-Build method helps local governments improve transportation safety cost effectively. Using this technique, communities can test infrastructure changes that create safer public spaces while building enthusiasm and support for more permanent infrastructure. Once a project is accepted by the community, Quick Build projects can be maintained for years or rebuilt using more durable materials.
We hope you’ll read and share this guide and that the Quick Build method will prove to be a tool your community can use to move towards achieving Vision Zero.
METROPLAN ORLANDO SPEED STUDY
Serious injuries and deaths increase with speed. This is true for drivers and passengers inside a vehicle, as well as people outside the vehicle like walkers, bicyclists, and other drivers. Reducing speeds by even a few miles per hour can mean the difference between life and death.
MetroPlan Orlando completed a Speed Management Network Analysis in 2022 to examine how fast cars are going and to identify Central Florida roads with critical safety concerns. The project focused on identifying city and county roads in need of speed reduction strategies.
Just changing out a speed limit sign doesn’t slow cars down. Speed reductions must be accompanied by design changes to create safer conditions. The goal of the analysis is for future projects to incrementally redesign roads to achieve these target speeds.
Read the full Speed Management Network Analysis:
Speed Management Network Analysis – December 2022
BICYCLIST CRASH TYPES AND RISK
Direction, intersections, and speed were key factors in data on motorist crashes with bicyclists in Central Florida. MetroPlan Orlando completed research in 2021 on factors most likely to contribute to such crashes, using regional streets with different cycling conditions.
Over the years, we’ve collected detailed data on crashes involving bicyclists. Improved technology has allowed us to get more accurate bicyclist counts. The combination of these two data sources has increased our ability to understand relative risks of various bicycling environments and bicyclist behaviors.
The research report’s executive summary contains information on the research methods, a recap of results, and several safety recommendations — for bicyclists and motorists. Full research results are contained in the white paper.
Bicyclist Crash Types and Risk White Paper – July 2021
OTHER TECHNICAL TOOLS AND RESOURCES
NTSB SAFETY RESEARCH REPORTS
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducts research, data analysis, and reporting on emerging transportation safety problems and past accident and injury trends. This research helps stimulate improvements in transportation policies, programs, or processes, and may also advance technical improvements in transportation systems, subsystems, or equipment. Learn more here.
FHWA SAFE SYSTEM HIERARCHY
This document introduces the Safe System Roadway Design Hierarchy as a tool to characterize engineering and infrastructure-based countermeasures and strategies relative to the goal of eliminating deaths and serious injuries.