Pedestrian and bicyclist deaths account for a significant percentage of U.S. highway fatalities—for example, 14 percent in 2008. As a result, the FHWA’s Office of Safety established pedestrian and bicyclist safety as one of its top priorities, and the FHWA, together with several other agencies, sent a team of twelve U.S. pedestrian and bicycling transportation specialists to Europe to study European approaches to pedestrian and bicyclist safety and mobility. The countries visited—Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom—were chosen because of their innovative approaches to non-motorized transportation, as well as the potential transferability of their policies and practices. This course describes the findings of the team and presents its recommendations for U.S. practice. The course contains material that should be required knowledge for anyone concerned with pedestrian and bicyclist issues in the U.S. This course is based on the Federal Highway Administration document, FHWA-PL-10-010, “Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety and Mobility,” February, 2010.

Learning Objectives

• Policies and factors influencing pedestrian and bicyclist safety and mobility
• Engineering and design elements for pedestrians
• Engineering and design elements for bicyclists
• Traffic safety education for children and adults
• Enforcement elements
• Public policies that encourage bicycle use
• Procedures for evaluating bicycle and pedestrian policies