Developing Conflict Analysis as a Surrogate Safety Measure Using an Expert Survey

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.