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Crashes between bicyclists/vehicles and pedestrians/vehicles are events that elicit emotions, opinions and values about what ought to be the “best” policy intervention. Several instruments, or policy tools, can be utilized to create healthy, livable transportation environments that support the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians along with motorists. However, in the policy decision-making realm, narratives and the underlying values become intertwined with facts to influence problem definition and produce an emphasis on certain types of tools to address safety. The details, reports, accusations and opinions expressed surrounding crashes are important as they shape the policy narrative that defines the event. Thus, casting bicyclists and pedestrians as “guilty-victims” may suggest a propensity to select one set of policy tools and this may be different than the policy tools selected if the target population is cast as “innocent victims.” This study investigates media coverage rates and the factors contributing to the emergence of a victim versus a villain narrative in fatal bicyclist and pedestrian crashes.

Conflict analysis appears more important for pedestrian and bicyclist safety assessment than crashes alone because willingness to walk and bicycle depends significantly on perceptions of safety. Understanding and identifying the rate of conflicts on a segment of intersection also may provide a better source of data for local decision-makers because crash data due to its infrequent occurrence rate may not identify a location as dangerous until a fatality or injury occurs. Conflicts between vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists occur at both intersections and street segments. The study seeks to develop a surrogate safety measure using conflict analysis, which considers conflict categories (severity of conflicts) and safety impact.

The recognition of the relationships between transportation, land use, infrastructure and services with health outcomes has prompted response from federal, state, regional, and local governments to integrate health objectives into their planning and policymaking process. The study applies an index-based analytical tool that can help transportation agencies in the decision making process related to active transportation investments. This paper has the following objectives: Present sketch planning metrics to assess safety and physical activity of pedestrian and bicyclists at both segments and intersections. Perform a comparative spatial analysis of transportation facilities that serve environmental justice (EJ) populations and as a control, transportation facilities that serve non-EJ populations