Sponsor: Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT)
PI: Brendan J. Russo, Co-PI: Edward J. Smaglik
Project Report: https://www.oregon.gov/odot/Programs/ResearchDocuments/SPR833FinalReport.pdf
In urban and suburban locations, intersections are where a variety of transportation modes converge, thus leading to an increased potential for conflicts, including those between bicyclists and motor vehicles. A common crash type involving bicycles at intersections is the “right/left-hook” where a right/left-turning vehicle collides with a through bicyclist. While various geometric treatments and signal control strategies (e.g. bike boxes, mixing zones, leading bike interval (LBI), split LBI, and others) have been used in attempts to mitigate right-left/hook conflicts, agencies often face questions about optimal treatments and when to use these treatments at intersections. There is a need to investigate how these treatments along with traffic characteristics impact bicycle-vehicle conflicts in order to take a more proactive approach in improving safety for these vulnerable road users. Given this need, the primary research objectives for this project are as follows: 1) Determine which factors affect the frequency and/or severity of bicycle vehicle-conflicts at intersections with different bicycle-related treatments; 2) Provide data-driven guidance as to the efficacy of certain intersection treatments in mitigating vehicle-bicycle conflicts, including consideration of how traffic and site characteristics impact these conflicts; and 3) Develop a countermeasure selection ‘toolbox’ which describes the performance (in terms of bicycle-vehicle conflicts) of bicycle-specific intersection treatments under different geometric and traffic conditions.