Texas Pedestrian Safety Action Plan

In Texas and nationwide, pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries resulting from motor vehicle crashes continue to increase. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) created a Texas Pedestrian Safety Action Plan (PSAP) to address this rising number of pedestrian-related crashes occurring on Texas roadways. The PSAP provides TxDOT District staff analysis which identifies locations of concern for pedestrian safety as well as suggested countermeasure investments to create safer conditions for pedestrians. Texas Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and other local agencies may also find this helpful as they identify and program roadway investments within their jurisdictions.

The PSAP features two methods of statewide pedestrian crash analysis: systemic and targeted (also known as traditional or hot-spot). Systemic analysis is a data-driven process that identifies roadway and crash context attributes corresponding to pedestrian crashes (risk factors) to further identify locations of potential risk elsewhere in the roadway network. The proactive nature of systemic analysis makes it an ideal complement to more traditional (targeted) crash analysis. Targeted crash analysis investigates locations and concentrations of pedestrian crashes historically to determine locations where investments may be necessary. Pairing systemic crash analysis with targeted crash analysis results in priority locations that comprehensively address historical crash locations while also proactively working to reduce crashes.

A data-driven approach was used to identify suggested pedestrian countermeasures for the resulting roadway segments from each of these parallel analyses. Twenty-five engineering-related countermeasures and other educational/programmatic/operational countermeasures were selected based on a best practices review. These included all pedestrian countermeasures available in the latest Texas Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP). Then, utilizing available roadway design guidance and statewide data sets, engineering countermeasures along with several operational countermeasures were applied to prioritized roadway segments.

Products

The following products were created to communicate locations of historic or potential pedestrian risk from both statewide and District-specific levels:

• Statewide Summary Report
  • Appendix A - Pedestrian Safety Profiles: 4-page, high-level, District-specific summary of the PSAP results
    • Abilene
    • Amarillo
    • Atlanta
    • Austin
    • Beaumont
    • Bryan
    • Brownwood
    • Childress
    • Corpus Christi
    • Dallas
    • El Paso
    • Fort Worth
    • Houston
    • Lubbock
    • Lufkin
    • Laredo
    • Odessa
    • Paris
    • Pharr
    • San Angelo
    • San Antonio
    • Tyler
    • Waco
    • Wichita Falls
    • Yoakum
  • Appendix B- Select Pedestrian Crash Contributing Factors (2017-2021) by County: 4-page, high-level, District-specific summary of the PSAP results
• Pedestrian Safety Action Plan Screening Tool: an interactive online dashboard that allows users to layer the PSAP analysis results, filter attributes, and isolate geographic locations
  • PSAP Screening Tool FAQ

Next steps

PSAP implementation will include creating awareness of these products, assisting in their use, modifying the PSAP Screening Tool periodically to better meet the user’s needs, and documenting requested improvements in preparation for an eventual PSAP update. In addition, the PSAP results can be used in the following:

• Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) and the Vulnerable Road User (VRU) Assessment
• Safety project identification (e.g., Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), District safety funds)
• District Safety Plans and MPO Safety Plans
• Project Scoping
• Project Evaluation
• Grant Applications