Introductions Tom Huber, WisDOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator Mike Amsden, Former WisDOT Research Analyst (now with T.Y. Lin, International)

Funding WisDOT Council on Research - $25,000 Matched with State Planning and Research Funding - $15,000

WisDOT Responsibilities for Bicycling 12,000 mile long State Highway System Manage federal funds for state highways and local roads Provide technical assistance on variety of local needs including bicycle issues Program assistance – State Patrol’s Bureau of Transportation Safety has had a long- standing bicycle safety program

What will be Covered Today Summary of the Bicycle Crash Analysis Effort - Tom Overview of the Findings of the Bicycle Crash Analysis – Tom Major crash types Identified – Tom Major Steps in Doing the Crash Analysis – Mike Tools that Aided the Analysis – Mike Limitations and Benefits of the Tools - Mike

Background State is both Urban and Rural 15 Metro Areas Excellent Secondary and Tertiary Roadway Systems (County and Town Roads) State Highway System – 12,000 miles with most having paved shoulders Most urban arterials do not have bike lanes

Why the Study? Only Cursory Analysis in State Bicycle Plan – Recommendation of the Plan to Do More Making Investments based on Limited Crash Information Safety Programs, like “Enforcement for Bicycle Safety” using National Crash Types, not Wisconsin Specific

Findings - Overall Bicycle Crashes have Continued to Drop – 14% over 6 years. Number of Fatalities over the Six Year Period were Similar

Findings – Crash Locations Crashes are Urban – 94% within an Urban Area and 83% within a City Crashes Occur at Intersections – 66% Crashes Occur on Main Streets – 56% on Arterial Streets

Findings – Who are in Crashes Male – 75% of Bicyclists Ages - 50% between 10 and 19; 10% under 10; 8% over 49 Alcohol a Factor in 4% of all Crashes (Either or both users of vehicles)

Findings – Crash Rates Relied on Household Travel Survey Data which provided Vehicle Miles Traveled (Wisconsin had an Expanded Survey in 2001/2002) Urban Areas had a much greater Crash Rate than Rural Areas Rural Areas had a much greater Fatality Rate than Urban Areas

Finding – Crash Rates Continued Milwaukee County had the Highest Average Crash Rate City of Madison had the lowest Crash Rate based on Bicycle Miles Traveled Based on Miles Traveled, the Crash Rate for Bicyclists was twice what it was for Motorists.

Findings – Rural Roadways Twenty foot Roadways had Double the Rate that 22’ Roadways had. Twenty-two foot had a 40% higher Crash Rate than 24 foot Roadways Overtaking Crashes were Significantly lower for 24 foot Roadways compared to 22 foot. Crash Rates for 5’ paved shoulders considerably lower than 3’ shoulders

Findings - Urban Part of Urban Analysis Fizzled with Complications Due to Local Data “Sidepath” Crashes Common – 29% of all Urban Crashes Most Crashes Occurring on Arterial Streets

Crash Type %

Crash Type %

Crash Type %

Crash Type 322 – 5%

Crash Type %

Crash Type %

Tools Used GIS Pedestrian & Bicycle Crash Analysis Tool (PBCAT) –Beta Tested for University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center

Local Resources Used State Highway Network File (STN) Local Roads Inventory MV4000 Reports

Steps Involved All Bicycle Crash Records for a Six Year Period (1999 – 2004) pulled from DMV Files Six Year Trend Analysis Completed Each Bicyclist Crash Record for 2003 manually pulled and Diagram Examined PBCAT used to Type Crashes

Steps Involved – Con’t GIS Used to Plot 2003 Crashes Additional Records Used for Adding to Rural Crashes (2002 & 2004 Crashes) Sorts, Sorts, Sorts! Analysis Written Crashes Plotted Against Bicycle Suitability Map Manual Written

PBCAT Ease of Use Basic Steps Involved How it worked with our data How you would do it differently

GIS Version Used Plotting Difficulties Time it Took What you would do Differently Accuracy Pay-off

Sorts, Sorts, Sorts Kept on Doing Sorts – GIS and Spreadsheets Permitted This Our Study took a separate Urban and Rural Direction Early On

Other Applications Bike Suitability Maps Easy Application Since Both Data Sources were in GIS

User Manual Need to Explain Steps for Future Updates – will Allow Time Series Analysis Documented Every Step – especially since MV4000 Files are Involved and so are the GIS applications Had a small contract for a Graduate Student (Mary Ebeling) to work on this Available Upon Request

Credits Council On Research Study’s Advisory Committee – Bremer, Schlabowski, King, Corsi, Glaze, McClain, Linsenmeyer, Fleming) Mary Ebeling – Developed of the User Manual