The objective of this research was to explore design thinking among teams of high school students. This objective was encompassed in the research question driving the inquiry: How do teams of high school students allocate time across stages of design? Design thinking on the professional level typically occurs in a team environment. Many…

Pedestrian navigation through public spaces reflects the nature of interaction between behavior and environment. This study compared pedestrian choice behavior at shopping mall intersections in China and the United States. The study found that in both countries (a) pedestrians chose movement patterns that involved the fewest steps and (b) there…

Researchers from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University prepared a case study of CODES (Community Outreach and Development Efforts Save). CODES is a coalition of 35 people and organizations in northern Manhattan committed to promoting safe streets, parks and schools. The case study analyzed the factors that prompted CODES'…

Background: The prevalence of obesity in children is high, and many do not meet physical activity recommendations. The Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program encourages school-aged children to walk and bike to school. We assessed the condition of the walking/biking environment around schools in Louisiana prior to the state's first SRTS program.…

The second edition of the "Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) University Course on Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation", a set of resources designed to provide background materials for an undergraduate or graduate university course on bicycling and walking, is now available from the FHWA. The FHWA distributes this teaching resource to…

This "Student Workbook" contains 24 lessons of resource material that is intended for use in university courses on bicycle and pedestrian transportation. The lessons span a wide range of topics including an introduction to bicycling and walking issues, planning and designing for bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and supporting elements and…

Traffic lights are an important part of the transportation infrastructure, regulating traffic flow and maintaining safety when crossing busy streets. When they go awry or become nonfunctional, a great deal of havoc and danger can be present. During power outages, the street lights go out all over the affected area. It would be good to be able to…

Research on bystander intervention has produced a great number of studies showing that the presence of other people in a critical situation reduces the likelihood that an individual will help. As the last systematic review of bystander research was published in 1981 and was not a quantitative meta-analysis in the modern sense, the present…

Pedestrian safety is a serious concern at busy intersections and pedestrian campuses across the nation. Although crosswalks and signs inform pedestrians where to cross, there is no standard protocol for pedestrians to signal drivers that they wish to use the crosswalks, except to stand in or at the crosswalk. We examined the effects of two…

The process of integrating visual information and planning a safe crossing is cognitively demanding for many young children. We assessed relations between traffic characteristics, aspects of children's executive functioning (EF), and pedestrian behavior, with the aim being to determine whether well-developed EF would predict safer pedestrian…

Street intersections are a source of accidents--for both automobiles and pedestrians. This article presents an intersection challenge that allows students to explore some possible ways to change the traditional intersection. In this challenge, teachers open up the boundaries and allow students to redesign their world. The first step is to help…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate use of a personal digital assistant (PDA) with picture, auditory, and video prompts as a portable self-prompting device to facilitate independent pedestrian travel by three high school age students with moderate intellectual disabilities. Using a multiple probe design across three destinations and their…

Participants who are blind discriminated vehicle paths and made crossing decisions for hybrid vehicles with and without artificial sounds added. Several artificial sounds matched the performance of tasks observed with vehicles with internal combustion engines. These data, with previous vehicle-detection results, indicate that selecting artificial…

Pedestrians with visual impairments need to cross streets where traffic signals and traffic signage are not present. This study examined the influences of several interventions, including a pedestrian's use of a mobility cane, on the behavior of drivers when they were expected to yield to a pedestrian crossing at an uncontrolled crossing.…

Adolescent pedestrians are a particularly vulnerable group of road users. This research tested the applicability of the recently developed Adolescent Road user Behaviour Questionnaire (ARBQ) amongst a sample of 2006 Spanish adolescents. Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the full scale found that the original three factors did not adequately fit the…