NHTSA's Bike Safety Program -- Ancient history from 1999
Summary: The US Dept. of Transportation (NHTSA) announced these initiatives in 1999. They are history but left here for that reason. For recent NHTSA publications and resources, see this newer page.
Bicycle Safety Initiatives
National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration
Summary for National Bicycle
Safety Network
January 20, 1999
Maria E. Vegega, Ph.D.
Marietta Pearson
Safety Countermeasures Division
Office of Traffic Injury Control Programs, NHTSA
and
Marvin Levy, Ph.D.
Research and Evaluation Division
Office of Research and Traffic Records. NHTSA
Note: This is an old description, but a few of the materials mentioned below are still available on the NHTSA website.
Bicycle safety issues and activities in the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration are primarily the responsibility
of Traffic Safety Programs, which is responsible for the
behavioral aspects of bicycle safety, including pertinent
research, public information and education, enforcement, and
outreach. The bicycle safety program is the responsibility of
both the Office of Traffic Injury Control Programs and the
Office of Research and Traffic Records. In addition, NHTSA's
National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) provides
information on fatalities and injuries due to bicycle-related
traffic crashes. Telephone inquiries regarding data should be
addressed to Ms. Louann Hall at 1-800-934-8517.
Many bicycle safety activities are carried out jointly with the
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC). NHTSA provides leadership and assistance to
the bicycle safety community through information and education;
partnerships and outreach; and technical assistance, training
and infrastructure support. Current NHTSA initiatives are
listed below.
Program Initiatives
- Bicycle Safety Materials
Effective March 1999, all bicycle helmets sold in the U. S.
must meet a uniform mandatory standard issued by the Consumer
Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Together with CPSC, NHTSA
developed a set of materials to inform consumers about the CPSC
standard and provide instruction on proper helmet usage. The
materials developed include a brochure (DOT-HS-808-747), a
poster (DOT-HS-808-746), and a flyer (DOT-HS-808757). The
brochure contains commonly asked questions about bicycle
helmets and safety, as well as information on the new bicycle
helmet standard. All materials are illustrated with the correct
way to wear a helmet.
- Earth Force Get Out Spoke 'n! Youth Bike Summit
NHTSA and CDC have initiated a partnership with Earth Force,
a leading environmental youth group, to celebrate National
Bike Month on May 5, 1999 by holding a Youth Bike Summit in
Washington, DC. The Summit will feature presentations of
awards to Get Out Spoke 'n! teams who have designed
the best community action programs to make their
communities more bike-friendly. The event will capitalize
on the national reach of the Get Out Spoke `n!
Campaign, encourage bicycling participation, and provide
much-needed visibility to bicycle safety issues by giving
local youth groups a strong incentive to take part in Get
Out Spoke'n!, including the chance to win a trip to
Washington, D.C., and to receive
national recognition as a youth leader in improving bicycle
safety and transportation.
- Ride Like a Pro Bicycle Safety Event
This event, conducted in partnership with the National
Football League, focuses attention on the importance of
children wearing bicycle helmets and learning safe riding
practices. Conducted in conjunction with Super Bowl
activities, Ride Like a Pro has used professional athletes
in the community to emphasize the importance of wearing a
bicycle helmet. All children attending the event are fitted
and given a bicycle helmet. We are developing a community
handbook to enable local communities to put on their own
Ride Like a Pro Event.
- Community Youth Bicycle Safety Initiative
NHTSA is working with the League of American Bicyclists
and the Youth Bicycle Education Network to implement an 18
month program to incorporate safety and helmet wearing into
the bicycle activities directed towards at-risk youth in
primarily urban areas. The project will include new PI&E
materials focused on urban youth, along with an
instructor's guide with community specific components to
allow it to be tailored as appropriate.
- Bike Patrol Training Module
In January, NHTSA will initiate an effort to work with Bike
Patrol Officers (Cops on Bikes) to develop training
materials that will provide law enforcement officers with
the information they need to be teachers of bike safety in
the community. In community policing, law enforcement
officers can serve as models and take advantage of
teachable moments to provide safety messages to community
residents.
- Emergency Nurses Association
Minor League Baseball games are very family-oriented and
provide an opportunity to demonstrate safety practices. The
Emergency Nurses Association will partner with Minor League
Baseball teams in their communities to sponsor bicycle
safety events in conjunction with baseball games, thereby
demonstrating safe riding and correct helmet practices.
- Ride Like a Pro Community Handbook
Because of the interest in the Ride Like a Pro Bicycle
Safety Event, NHTSA is developing a handbook to enable
communities to partner with sports teams and host their own
Ride Like a Pro event. This will provide opportunities to
reach far more children to demonstrate safe riding practices and
to emphasize the importance of bicycle helmets. We anticipate
that the Handbook will be available in 1999.
Research Initiatives
- Survey on Public Beliefs about Pedestrian and
Bicyclist Safety and Accommodation
NHTSA plans to conduct a national telephone survey of
approximately 4,000 adults respondents to assess public
attitudes, knowledge and behaviors regarding pedestrian and
bicyclist safety and accommodation. Information will be
collected and analyzed on a variety of topics including where
bicyclists ride; bicyclists' attitudes about drivers and vice
versa; impediments to bicycling, etc. It is anticipated that
data collection will be completed by the summer of 1999, with a
contractor's report submitted by the end of the year.
- Bicyclist Research Compendium
Over the past 30 years NHTSA has conducted research addressing
problem identification, countermeasure development (including
public information and education; training; and model
legislation), and evaluation. This compendium provides a
synthesis of NHTSA's bicyclist research program from the 1960'
throughout the 1990s. It also provides a synopsis of each study,
and a subject and author index. It is anticipated the compendium
will be available by the end of 1999.
- Bicycle Safety Resource Guide
This is a resource guide for the bicycle safety professional--a
person who is pro-active in developing bicycle safety programs
at the state or community level. It is designed to aid in
matching problems identified by the professional or community at
large with countermeasures that can be used to reduce the size
of the problem. The guide contains a matrix of 40 safety
problems identified by members of the bicycling community (e.g.,
motorist & bicyclist errors; visibility/conspicuity problems,
high risk locations) for each of 15 implementer groups ( e.g.,
public and private highway safety groups; law enforcement,
elected officials). Within each cell of the matrix is a listing
of existing and proposed countermeasures. These countermeasures
are described more fully in a separate section. A CD-ROM version
of the bicycle safety resource guide is in preparation and will
be submitted by the contractor in March, 1999.
- Literature Review on Pedestrian and Bicyclist
Conspicuity
In 1995, about 300 bicyclists were killed in crashes with
motor vehicles between the hours of 6 p.m. and midnight and
another 17,000 were injured. This study will involve an in
depth review of newly developed materials and technologies
relating to pedestrian and bicyclist conspicuity, and will
also identify any national and international programs that
have targeted pedestrian and bicyclist conspicuity. The
project began this past September and a contractor's report
will be submitted during mid 1999.
- Enhancing the Detection/Recognition of
Bicycles
Research into identifying ways to make the
bicycle/bicyclist more visible to oncoming motorists have
focused primarily on the use of special retro-reflective
materials that are sensitive to the light from oncoming
vehicle headlamps and reflect a portion of the incident
light back to the driver. Not enough attention has been
devoted to the development of novel bicycle
detection/recognition systems. A Small Business Innovative
Research (SBIR) award was recently made to explore the
feasibility of developing low cost and low maintenance
systems, possibly integrated into the bicycle design, that
substantially increase bicycle/cyclist detection and
recognition distances from all directions. A technical
report is due during calendar 1999.
- Beta Testing of the Pedestrian and Bicyclist
Crash Analysis Tool (PBCAT)
In order for communities
to efficiently focus their pedestrian crash countermeasure
efforts, they need to know about the types of crashes that
pedestrians are most commonly involved in, and the most
effective ways to counter these crashes. The Federal
Highway Administration is developing a prototype software
package that users can use to "type" pedestrian and
bicyclist crashes automatically. Detailed crash reports, as
well as a list of potential countermeasures can be
generated for target groups (e.g., young children, adult
riders). NHTSA's effort, to be initiated during calendar
1999, will involve beta testing the software package, and
developing recommendations for product refinement.
Other Initiatives
- Secretarial Initiative for Pedestrian and
Bicycle Safety
A coordinated DOT approach to promote walking and bicycling
as safe, efficient, and healthy ways to travel. By the Year
2000, the Initiative will reduce by 10 percent, the number
of injuries and fatalities occurring to bicyclists and
pedestrians; and double the national percentage of
transportation trips (from 7.9% to 15.8%) made by bicycling
and walking. The initiative has three components:
- increased awareness of the pedestrian and bike
fatality and injury problem;
- development of a "Toolkit" of resource materials
that states and communities can use to achieve their
goals;
- the Partnership for a Walkable America.
- Patterns for Life
This five-year program, begun in FY 1996, is designed to
help
agencies and organizations within local communities form
lasting partnerships with each other, and to provide the
resources necessary to reduce the number of children (ages 0-
10) killed and seriously injured each year in traffic
crashes. The first two years of the program focused on child
passenger safety, primarily child safety seat issues.
Bicycle and pedestrian issues are now being integrated into
the program. Under this program, NHTSA developed a series of
TIP Sheets on pedestrian, bicycle and school bus safety, as
well as the Ride Like a Pro Community Handbook. NHTSA
is now working with Fire & Rescue personnel to develop a
training module to enable fire & rescue personnel to teach
pedestrian, bicycle and school bus safety to interested
community groups. Finally, NHTSA will initiate a effort to
create a set of developmentally-based guidelines to enable
professionals, parents and care givers to access when a
child is able to walk to school, cross a street, or ride a
bike without adult supervision.
- Safe Communities
This NHTSA initiative encourages communities to identify and
address their own injury problems. Because bicycle issues are local in nature, the
Safe Communities program presents opportunity to raise bicycle issues on local
traffic safety agenda. Characteristics of a Safe Community include:
- use local data to identify community injury problems,
costs, and who pays;
- expanded partnerships beyond traditional traffic safety
partners to include
health, medical, and business;
- citizen involvement from the beginning, i.e., citizens
are involved in
identifying community traffic injury problems and potential
solutions to the
problem;
- have in place a comprehensive injury control system
that addresses
prevention, acute care, and rehabilitation.
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