News

As you head into the new year, take advantage of these funding opportunities to advance safe, active travel in California! 

Office of Traffic Safety Federal Fiscal Year 2024 

The UC Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC) is offering free Complete Streets Safety Assessments (CSSAs) to 16 California communities, including cities, counties, and school campuses with a population of over 2,500 people. CSSAs are comprehensive transportation safety assessments that focus on pedestrian and bicycle safety.

Explore our selection of upcoming funding opportunities for advancing safe, active travel in California! 

(Photo: Bloomberg Cities Network)

Join the celebration on #WalkRollToSchoolDay 2022!

Recent reports have continued to document the crisis of traffic deaths for people on our roadways. Data estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show that traffic fatalities reached a 16 year high in 2021, with an estimated 42,915 motor vehicle fatalities, a 10.5% increase from the 38,824 fatalities in 2020.

Explore our selection of upcoming opportunities for advancing safe, active travel in California! 

Accessing crash data plays an important role in assessing the safety needs and concerns for people walking and biking in our communities. To support those working to advance pedestrian and bicycle safety, we have recently updated our Pedestrian & Bicycle Crash Data by County webpage with the latest crash data, including county-specific pedestrian and bicycle crash data from 2017 - 2021 (SWITRS 2017 - 2021/Provisional 2021 update as of August 8, 2022). 

Explore our newest installments in the Stories From the Field Series to learn how people on the frontline are improving road safety for people who walk, bike and roll in their communities! In the two latest Safety Stories, the SafeTREC team talked with Adam Fukushima from the City of San Luis Obispo and Nicolay Kreidler with the California Bicycle Coalition.

(Photo credit: Safe Routes Partnership) 

Earlier this month, Smart Growth America released their “Dangerous By Design 2022” report, which includes the most up-to-date look at how dangerous state and metro areas are for people walking and identifies the deadliest places in the United States based on traffic fatalities between 2016 and 2020.

The US Department of Transportation has launched a new $1 billion dollar discretionary grant program to reconnect communities previously affected by transportation infrastructure like highways and rail lines. The Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP) Program is the first of its kind to designate federal funding to help reconnect communities previously cut off from opportunities by this infrastructure.

Accessing crash data plays an important role in assessing the safety needs and concerns for people walking and biking in our communities. To support those working to advance pedestrian and bicycle safety, we have recently updated our Pedestrian & Bicycle Crash Data by County webpage with the latest crash data, including county-specific pedestrian and bicycle crash data from 2017 - 2021 (SWITRS 2017 - 2021/Provisional 2020 - 2021 update as of June 21, 2022). 

The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) has released their latest annual spotlight report, "Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State: 2021 Preliminary Data" that provides an indepth overview of state and national trends in pedestrian traffic fatalities for 2021. Based on preliminary data provided by State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs), the GHSA projects that "drivers struck and killed 7,485 people walking in 2021 - the most in a single year in four decades."

"I have the data, now what?" A closer look at data collection, collaboration, and planning between community and governmental agencies

The latest addition to CATSIP is our updated and refreshed Complete Streets page with new resources and Policy Inventory, which now features California policies at the city, regional, and statewide level, as well as links to federal Complete Streets policies.

New Safety Stories highlight how communities are prioritizing active transportation safety

Accessing crash data plays an important role in assessing the safety needs and concerns for people walking and biking in our communities. To support those working to advance pedestrian and bicycle safety, we have recently updated our Pedestrian & Bicycle Crash Data by County webpage with the latest crash data, including county-specific pedestrian and bicycle crash data from 2017 - 2021 (SWITRS 2017 - 2021/Provisional 2020 - 2021 update as of March, 2022). 

Today is Walk to Work Day 2022! Each year in April, this day is an opportunity to celebrate the many benefits of having safe and convenient spaces to walk for all ages and abilities. Having a walkable community benefits everyone, with public health promoting benefits like improved fitness, reduced health risks, and a greater sense of community.

Caltrans and the California Transportation Commission (CTC) have now opened the Active Transportation Program (ATP) Cycle 6 Call-For-Projects. The 2023 ATP Cycle 6 is expected to include roughly $650M in funding from Federal, State SB1, and State Highway Account (SHA) funding. Project applications are due by June 15, 2022.

Accessing crash data plays an important role in assessing the safety needs and concerns for people walking and biking in our communities. To support those working to advance pedestrian and bicycle safety, we have recently updated our County Data: Pedestrian & Bike Collisions webpage with the latest crash data, including county-specific pedestrian and bicycle collision data from 2016 - 2020 (SWITRS 2016 - 2020/Provisional 2019 - 2020 update as of January, 2022).