We are a team of city planners, public health professionals and engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, at the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center. We would like to invite you to take part in our research study, which concerns pedestrian and bicycle safety.

Procedures

If you agree to participate, we’ll ask you to complete an online survey. We’ll ask you to provide information about places you’ve gotten into an accident, almost gotten into an accident, or otherwise felt unsafe. Each submission should take about 3 minutes to complete. Make sure descriptions do not include identifying information, such as names or vehicle license plates numbers.

Benefits

There is no direct benefit to you from taking part in this study, but we hope that the information will help planners identify the most dangerous locations for pedestrians and bicyclists and develop appropriate policy to address safety issues.

Risks/Discomforts

This study involves minimal risk, but you may become uncomfortable if you recall a particularly upsetting accident or close call. You are free to skip any question you don’t wish to answer or stop participating at any time. As with all research, there is a chance that confidentiality could be compromised; however, we are taking precautions to minimize this risk.

Confidentiality

Your study data will be handled as confidentiality as possible. If the results of this study are published or presented, we won’t use individual names or other personally identifiable information. To minimize risks to confidentiality, we will store all data in an encrypted format on password-protected computers. Only the research team members will have access to the data. When the research is complete, we will save data for possible use in future research that we do. We’ll keep the de-identified study data indefinitely.

Costs

There are no costs for you to participate in the study, unless your only internet access is through a pay-per-use wireless plan. If using a cellphone, cost estimates vary based on the individual data plan, but could range from nothing (for unlimited plans) to $0.30 per submission.

Rights

Participation in research is completely voluntary. You are free to decline to take part in the project. You can decline to answer any questions and are free to stop taking part in the project at any time. Whether or not you choose to participate, to answer any particular question, or continue participating in the project, there will be no penalty to you or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled.

Questions

If you have any questions about this research, please feel free to contact Berkley Safe Tree. You can reach Kate Beck at walkridesafe@berkeley.edu. Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.