Automobile crashes are a major cause of death, disability and destruction. These crashes result in death and disable younger people more than most other major health risks, such as heart disease and cancer, and so cause more potential years of life lost. Automobile crashes are the most common cause of children dying before their parents, and for every traffic death, eight people are hospitalized with significant injuries and 100 are treated in an emergency room (Bergen, et al. 2014). Although the analysis in this report is based on hundreds-of-thousands of traffic fatalities, it is important to see beyond the numbers: every one of these deaths and disabilities is a major tragedy, often leaving families emotionally and economically devastated. Although there is nearly universal agreement that traffic safety is a prime planning goal for communities, incorporating public transportation into an overall traffic safety strategy has been overlooked. For the last half-century, there have been gains made through strategies of making the vehicle, driver and the road safer. Although distance-based (per 100 million vehicle-mile or billion vehicle-kilometre) crash casualty rates declined substantially between 1950 and 2000, per capita vehicle travel increased significantly during this period, offsetting much of the safety gains. Many of the most effective safety strategies, such as seatbelt and motorcycle helmet use, could be made even more compelling when paired with public transportation. While major investments in safer vehicles and roads, and various traffic safety strategies, have yielded positive outcomes, the U.S. still has the highest auto fatality rate amongst peer countries. Current traffic safety strategies should include public transportation and the land-use policies necessary to fully leverage public transit’s impact. This report describes a new approach that in addition to significantly reducing traffic crashes can provide other economic, social and environmental benefits. Most broadly, it can be described as transportation demand management (TDM), which refers to a variety of strategies that change how and how much people travel in order to increase overall transportation system efficiency. This report focuses on a subset of these strategies, called transit supportive policies, which improve and encourage public transportation and help create more transit-oriented communities. Public transportation is a very safe travel mode. Its passengers are ten times as safer per mile because they have about a tenth the per-mile fatality rate as automobile occupants. Transit-oriented development (TOD) residents have about a fifth the per capita traffic fatality rate as residents in automobile-dependent communities. Evidence described in this report indicates that even newer cities that developed during the Interstate Highway period can achieve significant reductions in traffic risk with transit supportive policies. Many traffic safety strategies, such as graduated licenses and anti-drunk-driving campaigns, depend on travellers having suitable alternatives to driving, public transportation improvements and transit-oriented development help make this happen. As a result, traffic safety programs become more successful and politically acceptable if implemented in conjunction with public transit supportive policies. However, when it comes to traffic safety, there are gaps between perception and reality. Most motorists consider themselves safer than average drivers (Allstate 2011) and many people have exaggerated fears of public transportation use (Litman 2014). Crashes are, fortunately, infrequent events; most drivers seldom have a crash and never cause an injury through one. As a result, our perception of traffic risk depends largely on how dangers are communicated by experts and the media, and these messages are often distorted in ways that create excessive fear of public transportation. Automobile crashes are generally local stories, while bus and train accidents are unusual and dramatic, and so tend to receive much wider coverage. Popular movies and television also tend to show motorists surviving extraordinary risks, for example, in car chases, while public transit vehicles and stations are often used to portray gritty urban conditions. Some transportation professionals also tend to understate automobile travel risks. Conventional traffic safety programs emphasize that, because most crashes can be blamed on special risks such as impaired driving or speeding, and modern vehicles offer significant occupant protection, a responsible driver in a modern vehicle is very safe. As a result, conventional traffic safety programs promote targeted strategies intended to reduce special risks, such as impaired and distracted driving. In this respect, deterrence is a key strategy because it dissuades most from these behaviours. Yet, the effectiveness of these targeted safety programs is muted, in part, because it is unrealistic to expect higher-risk travellers to reduce driving if they lack suitable alternatives. As this report shows, pro-transit policies complement conventional traffic safety strategies such as efforts to reduce youth, senior, impaired and distracted driving. Because transit supportive policies provide many benefits besides safety, they are an opportunity to build coalitions with other interest groups such as those concerned with traffic congestion problems, affordability, mobility for non-drivers, public health and environmental protection. This report investigates these issues. It compares the risks of various transportation modes and evaluates public transportation’s impact on traffic safety. It describes ways that public transit improvements, incentives and transit-oriented development can increase safety. It evaluates the degree to which public transportation safety benefits are considered in conventional traffic safety program planning and when public transit investments are evaluated. It identifies specific ways that traffic safety programs, transportation agencies, municipalities and individuals can take advantage of public transportation safety strategies. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting