Pedestrian Observation and Data Collection Curriculum

Jennifer Dill, Portland State University

Summary:

This guidebook provides a comprehensive set of class exercises suitable for students in courses related to travel behavior, traffic safety, urban planning and design, community health, or civil engineering. Exercises include activities developed through this project as well as an extensive set of educational materials drawn from online resources. The exercises developed as part of this project focus on pedestrians. They include elements of both traditional traffic counts and behavioral components, the latter of which are often lacking from current data collections efforts. By encouraging students to consider behavioral interactions of roadway users, these exercises can provide field experience with the data that underlies behavioral traffic theory and agent-based traffic models. The materials are organized to provide helpful guidance and insights to instructors that were gained through the pilot testing of classroom materials. Activities drawn from existing resources and an extensive reading list are detailed in the appendices. Materials include lecture slides, data collection forms, and classroom exercises. Activities drawn from existing resources address different facets of pedestrian and bicycle planning. Combined, these resources provide a comprehensive set of educational materials that can be used by instructors with little or no experience in pedestrian-related curriculum as a foundation for incorporating these topics into their teaching. The guide may also prove useful for organizations interested in pedestrian and bicycle planning and provide additional resources for experienced instructors.

Project Details

Project Type:
Education
Project Status:
Completed
End Date:
June 30,2017
UTC Grant Cycle:
Natl Education Round 2
UTC Funding:
$39,990