Toolkit Links:

Read the full National Survey of Pedestrian & Bicyclist Attitudes and Behaviors 2002.

Read the details of a telephone survey of 800 American adults in 2002 conducted by Surface Transportation Policy Project.

Read the full report The effect of crosswalk markings on vehicle speeds in Maryland, Virginia, and Arizona.

Read the full report An Analysis of Factors Contributing to "Walking Along Roadway" Crashes: Research Study and Guidelines for Sidewalks and Walkways

Consult a walkability checklist.

Read the details of the Pedestrian Facilities Users Guide: Providing Safety and Mobility published by Federal Highway Administration in March 2002,

Internet Resources:

National Center for Bicycling and Walking: www.bikewalk.org Resources include tools for advocates, a pedestrian design guide, links to walkability checklists, training and an annual conference.

Victoria Transport Policy Institute online encyclopedia: http://www.vtpi.org Online encyclopedia of transportation information and research includes pedestrian improvements and programs to promote walking and bicycling.

Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center: http://www.walkinginfo.org Includes street design information, current research, walkability checklist, and an "ask an expert" tool (see "information clearinghouse").

Creative Communities International: http://www.lesstraffic.com David Engwicht's community-based programs for taming neighborhood and school traffic and creating more public space. Includes the walking school bus, pace car, and street reclaiming programs.

California Walks: http://www.californiawalks.org Includes links to local pedestrian advocacy groups, upcoming events and conferences, and safe streets techniques (site is under development).

Read the Neighborhood Walking Guideline at the site of walkinfo.org.

Mean Streets: California State report is available at http://www.ewg.org/pub/home/reports/meanstreets/states/CA.html

Read the Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Guidance by the Federal Highway Administration.

Another guideline for bike infrastructure design is available at the site of National Center for Bicycling and Walking.

Read the Portland City Pedestrian Master Plan.

Data sources for pedestrian collisions

While there is very complete and consistent data on vehicle volumes and collisions, there is very little data on how many pedestrians there are on streets and how many pedestrian are hit by cars. Most pedestrian collision data is based on police reports, which are often incomplete. Those pedestrian collisions that are reported end up in the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System, or SWITRS. This is available online, but only at the city and county level (see http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/switrs2000.html) Hospitals also have some pedestrian injury records, but this may be difficult to access. Some good sources for collision data are:

Public Works Agency: the PWA analyzes intersections using detailed SWITRS data. The public can access this, but only by making a public records request through the City Attorney's office.

Oakland Pedestrian Master Plan: the Pedestrian Master Plan lists Oakland's most dangerous intersections, streets, and schools, based on SWITRS data from 1996 to 2000 (see chapter 2). http://www.oaklandnet.com/government/Pedestrian/index.html

California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS): OTS has pedestrian collision data for all cities and counties. See http://www.ots.ca.gov/cgi-bin/rankings.pl

UC Berkeley Traffic Safety Center (TSC): The TSC website has links to pedestrian collision data from a variety of sources. However, most are at the state or county level. http://www.tsc.berkeley.edu/html/data.html

Data Collection Tools

Speed evaluation tool, neighborhood traffic audit, and street inventory form: see Streets and Sidewalks, People and Cars: The Citizen's Guide to Traffic Calming, by Dan Burden (available through the Local Government Commission: email pubs@lgc.org, or call (916) 448-1198).

Survey forms, traffic count form, and walking contest ideas for kids: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/pedbimot/bike/Safe-Routes-2004/index.html (NHTSA's Safe Routes to School program)

Walkability checklists: http://www.cawalktoschool.com/checklists.php
(multi- lingual versions), http://www.walkinginfo.org/cps/checklist.htm

Reading List/Key Publications

"Walkable Streets, a Toolkit for Oakland" published in 2004 by Urban Ecology, who graciously allowed us to copy passages liberally for this tool. Click here to read the report in its entirety.

Streets and Sidewalks, People and Cars: The Citizen's Guide to Traffic Calming, (Dan Burden, available through http://www.lgc.org or call (916) 448-1198.

City Routes, City Rights: Building Livable Neighborhoods and Environmental Justice by Fixing Transportation (Conservation Law Foundation, Boston, 1998), http://www.clf.org/uploadedFiles/CLF/General/Publications/City_Routes_City_Rights.pdf Also see Take Back Your Streets: How to Protect Communities from Asphalt and Traffic (Conservation Law Foundation, Boston, 1998) http://www.clf.org/general/index.asp?id=386.

Helping Ourselves: How to Design and Implement Transportation Solutions in Low-Income Communities (TALC/Transportation Choices Forum, October 1999) http://transcoalition.org/reports.html

Intrigue and Uncertainty: Towards New Traffic-Taming Tools (David Engwicht, http://www.creative-communities.com/eBooks/index.htm). Also see Street Reclaiming (David Engwicht, New Society Publishers, 1999).

Making Streets that Work: Neighborhood Planning Tool (City of Seattle, May 1996) http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/transportation/makingstreetsthatwork.htm

Mean Streets 2002: Pedestrian Safety, Health and Federal Transportation Spending (Surface Transportation Policy Project, November 2002). Also see: Dangerous by Design, Caught in the Crosswalk, and other reports. http://www.transact.org/PDFs/ms2002/MeanStreets2002.pdf

Pedestrian Facilities Users Guide: Providing Safety and Mobility (US DOT, FHWA, March 2002 (FHWA-RD-01-102) http://www.walkinginfo.org/pdf/peduserguide/peduserguide.pdf

Toolkit for Pedestrian Advocates (AmericaWalks, Sept 2000). http://www.americawalks.org/resources/