Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety – Literature Review

Brookshire, Kristen; Kumfer, Wesley; West, Alyson; Thomas, Libby; Judelman, Belinda; Proulx, Frank; Hintze, Michael · 2025 · ROSA P / United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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Summary

This 2025 literature review, commissioned by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and conducted by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, addresses the disproportionate safety risks faced by pedestrians and bicyclists in the United States. Although these modes constitute only 12.9% of travel mode share, they account for approximately 20% of traffic fatalities. The report synthesizes academic and government research primarily from 2013 to 2020 to identify risks, evaluate countermeasures, and improve data collection methods. The motivation stems from consistent growth in pedestrian fatalities since 2009 and the need to align with the National Roadway Safety Strategy and Safe System Approach principles, which aim for zero serious injuries. The study employs a comprehensive review of existing literature, categorizing findings into four main areas: crash patterns and trends, risk factors (human behavior, built environment, vehicle characteristics), effectiveness of safety interventions, and methods for measuring safety. The authors analyze various data sources, including police-reported crash data, hospital and emergency medical services records, and surrogate safety measures like time-to-collision and post-encroachment time. The review highlights that risk is a complex function of exposure, infrastructure, and user volume, noting that while overall crash numbers may rise with increased pedestrian or bicycle activity, individual risk per person may decrease. Key findings reveal significant disparities in safety outcomes. Pedestrian fatalities are disproportionately higher among Black, Hispanic, and American Indian or Alaska Native populations, as well as men, who represent 70% of pedestrian deaths despite comparable walking rates to women. Bicyclist fatalities have remained stable at roughly 2% of total traffic fatalities, with men being seven times more likely than women to be involved in fatal crashes. The report emphasizes that vehicle impact speed is a critical determinant of survival; the risk of pedestrian fatality rises from 10% at 24 mph to 50% at 41 mph. Consequently, engineering countermeasures such as road diets, traffic calming devices, and improved lighting are identified as effective methods to reduce speeds and increase visibility. The review also notes emerging concerns related to transportation network companies, automated vehicles, and e-scooters. The significance of this report lies in its systematic synthesis of evidence to guide the selection of appropriate countermeasures and data collection strategies. It underscores the necessity of moving beyond simple crash counts to include exposure and contextual data for accurate safety analysis. By detailing the effectiveness of specific interventions, such as speed management and protected intersections, the report provides a framework for practitioners to eliminate risks through infrastructure separation and minimize injury severity through speed reduction. The findings support the implementation of systemic safety analyses and the adoption of consistent crash typing frameworks, such as the Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Analysis Tool, to better understand and mitigate the complex interactions between road users and the built environment.

Key finding

The report synthesizes existing literature to identify that pedestrian and bicyclist safety risks are driven by complex interactions between human behavior, the built environment, and vehicle characteristics, and can be mitigated through targeted engineering countermeasures and improved data collection methods.

Methodology

review

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• cyclist safety
• vru crash typology
• incidence prevalence
• vru conspicuity
• demographic disparities
• pedestrian behavior perception

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes, observational prevalence