Non-‐reported traffic accidents on OSU campus: Student data

 Oregon State University Policy Analysis Laboratory Non-­‐reported traffic accidents on OSU campus: Student data Aaron Cochran and Ivan Kuletz Problem Statement While major traffic accidents mostly get reported, a number of student-­‐involved traffic accidents go unreported to authorities on the Oregon State campus. The result is that data on these accidents is limited. This brief investigates the location and types of accidents that students fail to report on the OSU campus. Background In the November 2014 Transportation Choices Survey, students were asked if they were involved in an accident on or near campus (Q43-­‐47), and if the accident was reported. Of those that had non-­‐reported accidents, N=345 responses listed something in the open-­‐
ended response question (Q47). Responses that gave a location that could be identified on the campus map were kept and other responses were discarded in the analysis, leaving N=227 responses with enough detail for analysis. Analysis Of the students reporting having been in an accident, 261 and 231 students were walking and biking, respectively. This value is notably larger than the N=345 responses regarding non-­‐reported accidents and analyzed from Q47. The difference is due to the fact that students were prompted to select multiple options on Q43, which asked “Have you ever been involved in a transportation-­‐related accident on the OSU campus? (Check all that apply).” Some students reported accidents involving multiple means of transportation. The overwhelming majority of accidents in the student survey involved being hit by bicycle in some way (N = 223), although not all of those accidents listed any response to Q47, thus providing no identifiable spatial information. 1 Oregon State University Policy Analysis Laboratory Figure 1 -­‐ Accident type density. N = 474 responses (Q44) Value 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Accident description I ran into a pedestrian I was hit by a bicyclist I ran into a bicyclist I was hit by a car or truck I ran into a car or truck I was hit by a transit vehicle or shuttle I ran into a transit vehicle or shuttle I was hit by someone on a motorcycle or scooter I ran into someone riding on a motorcycle or scooter I was hit by someone on a skates/skateboard/longboard I ran into someone on a skates/skateboard/longboard No other person was involved in the accident Table 1 -­‐ Legend for Accident Type Density (Fig 1) 2 Oregon State University Policy Analysis Laboratory Of the accidents listed in the survey, 227 responses gave identifiable location information about the site of the accident. Some were vague responses (eg., “outside of Milam”) while others identified the exact intersection (eg., “26th and Campus Way”). Due to the mixed precision in the responses and the small sample size, it was decided to group the accidents into zones using the grid layout of the official OSU campus map. Responses that clearly spanned multiple zones, such as “On Monroe” or “On campus way,” were discarded. The cumulative number of responses has been labeled on the map below, and zones color-­‐
coded into three tiers based on the number of accidents. Figure 2 -­‐ Non-­‐reported accidents on OSU Campus. Red zones represent the highest number of accidents, green the lowest. The Transportation Choices Survey is broadly representative of the student overall student population that is eight times larger. Most non-­‐reported accidents revealed through the survey involved at least one bicycle, and occurred in the center of campus. Because specific accident locations were not always given, accidents were grouped into regions of campus. This resulted in less precise information, but still shows that the majority of non-­‐reported accidents occurred in the most densely populated areas of campus. Additionally, data analysis was subject to the limitations and biases of the survey instrument. 3 Oregon State University Policy Analysis Laboratory Policy Recommendations 1) 2) 3) 4) Sponsor an information campaign about bicycle traffic and awareness of pedestrians and cyclists along the most populated routes through the center of campus, particularly on Campus Way and SW 26thSt. Design pathways that separate bicycles and pedestrians. Limiting shared use of paths by pedestrians and cyclists should reduce cyclist-­‐pedestrian accidents. Better temporal control in the survey questions would enable analysts to determine the frequency of accidents. This would provide a more accurate picture of how many accidents occur, and at what times they are most likely to occur. Collect accurate spatial data in future OSU transportation surveys. This may be accomplished through the utilization of the heat-­‐map feature in Qualtrics survey software. Having students click on an easily recognizable map of the campus in the location where their accident occurred will produce more meaningful and usable results. Further Reading 1) Qualtrics Heat Map Tutorial: http://www.qualtrics.com/university/researchsuite/basic-­‐
building/editing-­‐questions/question-­‐types-­‐guide/heat-­‐map/ 4