Abstract
Studying Visual Experience to Inform Infrastructure Design
Streets are designed for vehicle efficiency. Engineers reference vehicle-based codes, use detailed models to optimize vehicle flow, and conduct evaluations with driving simulators before implementing design. A constraint, rather than
a design variable, is pedestrian and cyclist safety, as roadway designers currently lack the ability to quantify and test safety prior to construction. Collecting this missing data is at best challenging and expensive, and at worst, unsafe.
Professor Megan Ryerson fills this gap by using eye tracking technology to collect and study the user-based data and perspective towards transforming how roadway designers understand, measure, and implement safety interventions.
Description
CYCLIST EXPERIENCE AND THE VALUE OF DESIGN
Purpose: This study serves to complement the Safe Mobility studies conducted on Philadelphia Streets with the capacity to test the impact of design features, such as road striping, paint, and signage. Paired testings allow the research team to identify the impact or value of specific interventions, controlling for other variables.
Design: Variables will include (1) design features such as pavement paint, including specifications such as the color, texture, and style of striping, and (2) physical elements such as bollards and signage.
INTERACTION OF SCOOTERS WITH OTHER MODES
Purpose: Scooter share programs are gaining traction as a new component of the modern, urban transportation system. Their interaction with existing modes has yet to be fully studied; towards this end, Bird, a leader in dockless scooter share, is interested in capturing the experience of using scooters and sharing facilities with other modes.
Design: Bird will provide scooters to the Center for Safe Mobility for use on a closed circuit. Participants will recreate a typical street experience (e.g. a cyclist, pedestrian, and scooter user may each be equipped with eye tracking glasses to understand the negotiation between modes).
Timeline
Fall: Collect data from cyclists in and around Philadelphia, code raw data
Fall: Publish perspective piece in Issues in Transportation
Winter: Code! Develop safety variables, test correlations, etc.
Spring: Collect more data to expand analysis
Summer: Publish Results
Strategic Description / RD&T
Deployment Plan
Work hand in hand with SEPTA and PennDOT to ensure that the new methods of safety analysis are integrated into planning documents.
Work with AASHTO and NACTO on this as well (through SEPTA deployment partner relationships).
Expected Outcomes/Impacts
My work will develop brand new methods to estimate safety and visibility.
Expected Outputs
TRID
Individuals Involved
| Email |
Name |
Affiliation |
Role |
Position |
| mryerson@upenn.edu |
Ryerson, Megan |
University of Pennsylvania |
PI |
Faculty - Tenured |
Budget
Amount of UTC Funds Awarded
$243500.00
Total Project Budget (from all funding sources)
$362500.00
Documents
| Type |
Name |
Uploaded |
| Publication |
New Rules for Old Roads |
April 14, 2021, 8:44 a.m. |
| Progress Report |
341_Progress_Report_2021-03-31 |
April 14, 2021, 8:44 a.m. |
| Publication |
Evaluating cyclist biometrics to develop urban transportation safety metrics |
Oct. 24, 2021, 8:29 p.m. |
| Publication |
Edge conditions and crash-avoidance roles: the future of traffic safety in the world of autonomous vehicles |
April 6, 2022, 4:41 a.m. |
| Publication |
An epidemiological diffusion framework for vehicular messaging in general transportation networks |
April 6, 2022, 4:42 a.m. |
| Publication |
Safety at the edge: a safety framework to identify edge conditions in the future transportation system with highly automated vehicles |
April 6, 2022, 4:43 a.m. |
| Progress Report |
341_Progress_Report_2022-09-30 |
Oct. 7, 2022, 7:56 a.m. |
| Final Report |
Final_Report_-_341.pdf |
Sept. 15, 2023, 10:59 a.m. |
Match Sources
No match sources!
Partners
| Name |
Type |
| SEPTA |
Deployment Partner Deployment Partner |
| PennDOT |
Deployment Partner Deployment Partner |
