UW-Milwaukee researchers receive $1.6M from US-DOT to study pedestrian, bicyclist safety

MILWAUKEE — The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is giving UW-Milwaukee researchers $1.67 million to study pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

The DOT says pedestrian and bike fatalities make up nearly 20% of all traffic deaths in the nation and that number is on the rise.

Robert Schneider, a professor of urban planning at UW-Milwaukee, is one of the researchers leading an effort to help communities nationwide understand what it might take to reverse alarming trends.

“Should we invest more in the rapid implementation products – new cub extensions being put in? Should we invest more in efforts to make automated enforcement something that we can use in the city? What will ultimately be the most effective?” said Schneider.

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), 7,508 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes last year. The most pedestrian deaths since 1981.

The GHSA also found that between 2019 and 2022, pedestrian deaths surged 18% across America, now averaging about 20 per day on the nation’s roads.

“I am incredibly frustrated by the trends,” said Schneider.

Those numbers are why the DOT is giving UW-Milwaukee $1.6 million over five years to fund research around pedestrian and bicyclist safety through something called a University Transportation Center Program (UTC).

“We don’t have a great understanding of why we’re seeing this increase in pedestrian fatalities or bicyclist fatalities,” he said. “There are a number of theories, so our research is really digging into what some of those theories might lead to solutions.”

UW-Milwaukee is one of several universities that are a part of the UTC research. The project is being led by researchers at the University of New Mexico. Collaboration that Schneider sees as a win.

“When we learn from other communities, we can transfer that knowledge here into Milwaukee and the State of Wisconsin. And then, as we really know Wisconsin and Milwaukee well, we can share what we know with other parts of the country,” said Schneider.

Research that he hopes will ultimately lead to a solution to these deadly trends.

“Our research is going to help us identify which changes are the most important to make in the short term and in the long term,” said Schneider.

Right now, the research is in the planning stages. Schneider believes research projects will begin in August.

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