A Compendium of NHTSA Pedestrian and Bicyclist Research Projects: 1969–2007

Cleven, Arlene M.; Blomberg, Richard D. · 2007 · ROSA P / United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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Summary

This document serves as a comprehensive compendium of pedestrian and bicyclist safety research conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and its predecessor organizations from 1969 to 2007. Motivated by the significant toll of motor-vehicle-related crashes—exceeding 5,000 fatalities in 2005 alone—the report aims to synthesize decades of research to inform future countermeasure development. It consolidates findings from the Office of Behavioral Safety Research, providing a chronological overview of major activities, lessons learned, and standardized abstracts of relevant projects. The core methodology underpinning NHTSA’s research program is a behavioral approach to crash analysis, which shifted the focus from demographic data to the specific actions and errors of crash participants. This framework was established by two seminal studies: Snyder and Knoblauch (1971) for pedestrians and Cross and Fisher (1977) for bicyclists. These studies developed taxonomies of crash types based on a "function/event sequence" model. This model posits that crash avoidance requires successful completion of sequential functions: search, detection, evaluation, decision, and action. A crash occurs only when both parties fail to complete this sequence. The Snyder and Knoblauch study analyzed approximately 2,000 pedestrian crashes across 13 cities, identifying predisposing factors (e.g., parked cars, alcohol) and precipitating human errors. Similarly, the Cross and Fisher study examined bicycle/motor-vehicle crashes, defining problem classes and types based on operator, vehicle, and environmental factors. Key findings from these foundational studies identified that a small number of crash types account for the majority of incidents. For pedestrians, five major types—including "dart-out," "intersection dash," "multiple threat," and "vehicle turn/merge"—represented more than half of the sample. For bicyclists, seven major problem types were identified, such as "ride-out from a residential driveway" and "motorist turn/drive-out." The research highlighted that failure in the "search" function is the most critical controlling factor in crash causation, particularly for young children. The compendium further details how these taxonomies evolved over time, with subsequent studies refining crash types and merging categories where countermeasures overlapped. The significance of this work lies in its establishment of a behavioral foundation for traffic safety countermeasures. By disaggregating crashes into specific causal types, NHTSA enabled the development of targeted interventions involving engineering, education, and enforcement. The report concludes that understanding the specific behavioral errors and environmental conditions associated with each crash type is essential for effective prevention. It emphasizes that while crash taxonomies provide a robust framework for identifying problems, the ultimate goal is to modify the critical actions and function failures that lead to collisions. This compendium serves as a historical record and a guide for future efforts to reduce pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities by addressing the root behavioral causes of crashes.

Key finding

The compendium is a historical review and summary of research projects rather than a single study reporting a new empirical result.

Methodology

review

Provenance

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Topics

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• vru crash typology
• incidence prevalence
• cyclist safety
• regulatory evaluation
• pedestrian behavior perception
• child pedestrian

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).

• Applied Guidance: countermeasure evaluation
• Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes, observational prevalence