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Joseph Ferreira. Minikel, Eric Vallabh Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning 2011-03-07T14:37:34Z 2011-03-07T14:37:34Z 2010 2010 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61511 703227153 Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning; and, (S. M. in Transportation)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2010. This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 98-100). Cycling is an attractive transportation mode but has not attained a large mode share in the United States, in part because it is correctly perceived as dangerous. Much literature on cyclist safety and the built environment has focused on bicycle facilities such as bike lanes, while fewer studies have addressed route choice, specifically side streets versus arterials. The cities of Berkeley, CA and Cambridge, MA have pursued opposite strategies, Berkeley creating “bicycle boulevards” out of residential side streets while Cambridge has added bike lanes to major arterial roads. I hypothesize that side streets are safer than arterials regardless of which street has been treated for cyclists, both in terms of collision rate and fraction of collisions that are severe. For each city, I use cyclist count data with police-reported bicycle-motor vehicle collision data to compute relative collision rates for pairs of parallel streets that are alternate routes to reach the same destinations. In a detailed analysis of Berkeley I find that bicycle boulevards have categorically lower collision rates than arterials, with no difference in severity. I demonstrate, with very limited data, how to apply the same methodology to Cambridge and find results somewhat suggestive that side streets have lower collision rates than arterials. I highlight shortcomings in current data collection practices that make this research difficult. by Eric Vallabh Minikel. S.M. in Transportation M.C.P. 100 p. eng Massachusetts Institute of Technology M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 Urban Studies and Planning. Civil and Environmental Engineering. Street typology and bicyclist safety : a systems approach Thesis application/pdf Publication unknown unknown <Publication xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/1.1/" id="6a92c068-c77b-4e15-b115-7ce772373d80"> <Type xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/vocab/COAR_Publication_Types">http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_1843</Type> <Language>eng</Language> <Title>Street typology and bicyclist safety : a systems approach</Title> <PublishedIn> <Publication> </Publication> </PublishedIn> <PublicationDate>2010</PublicationDate> <Authors> <Author> <DisplayName>Minikel, Eric Vallabh</DisplayName> <Affiliation> <OrgUnit> </OrgUnit> </Affiliation> </Author> </Authors> <Editors> </Editors> <Publishers> <Publisher> <DisplayName>Massachusetts Institute of Technology</DisplayName> <OrgUnit /> </Publisher> </Publishers> <License>http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582</License> <Keyword>Urban Studies and Planning.</Keyword> <Keyword>Civil and Environmental Engineering.</Keyword> <Abstract>Cycling is an attractive transportation mode but has not attained a large mode share in the United States, in part because it is correctly perceived as dangerous. Much literature on cyclist safety and the built environment has focused on bicycle facilities such as bike lanes, while fewer studies have addressed route choice, specifically side streets versus arterials. The cities of Berkeley, CA and Cambridge, MA have pursued opposite strategies, Berkeley creating “bicycle boulevards” out of residential side streets while Cambridge has added bike lanes to major arterial roads. I hypothesize that side streets are safer than arterials regardless of which street has been treated for cyclists, both in terms of collision rate and fraction of collisions that are severe. For each city, I use cyclist count data with police-reported bicycle-motor vehicle collision data to compute relative collision rates for pairs of parallel streets that are alternate routes to reach the same destinations. In a detailed analysis of Berkeley I find that bicycle boulevards have categorically lower collision rates than arterials, with no difference in severity. I demonstrate, with very limited data, how to apply the same methodology to Cambridge and find results somewhat suggestive that side streets have lower collision rates than arterials. I highlight shortcomings in current data collection practices that make this research difficult.</Abstract> <Access xmlns="http://purl.org/coar/access_right" > </Access> </Publication>