Behavioral Change for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety: A Human-Centered Design Approach by MICA Center for Social Design

Behavioral Change for Pedestrian & Bicyclist Safety A Human-Centered Design Approach

ÂŠ 2019 Center for Social Design, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) Type is set in Montserrat and Source Serif

Table of Contents Introduction

Research

Synthesize

Ideate

Prototype

Implement & Iterate

Credits

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

In 2018, Baltimore City... 1 fatality every 11 days 1 injury every 56 mins 1 crash every 28 mins PROJECT OVERVIEW Pedestrians and cyclists are represented in over 20% of Maryland’s fatal traffic crashes (Maryland Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, 2019 Update). In densely populated areas around Baltimore, pedestrians are often at risk. The city sees 32% of all pedestrian involved crashes and injuries occur in Baltimore City. (Baltimore City Transportation Safety Plan, 2015). One-quarter of all pedestrians involved in crashes are under the age of 20, and nearly 60% are male (56.5%). Furthermore, research from Smart Growth America indicates that in every state where data was available, people of color were far more likely to be struck and killed while walking than non-Hispanic Whites (Dangerous by Design, 2016).

travel without an automobile are more likely to suffer debilitating injuries from coming into contact with vehicles. Between August 31, 2018 and May 10, 2019, an interdisciplinary team of students at MICA’s Center for Social Design, in collaboration with the Maryland Department of Transportation’s Highway Safety Office, worked to address barriers for Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety. Using a human-centered design approach, the team worked with pedestrians, bicyclists, and local organizations, to better understand the safety concerns of residents in and around the designated project area. After conducting primary and secondary research, the team worked with community members to iterate and develop a series of low-fidelity (simple and inexpensive) prototypes. The final design solutions were implemented, tested, and critiqued by project stakeholders, with the ultimate goal of creating a safer Baltimore for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Pedestrian crashes and fatalities have increased in recent years after historic declines, particularly for the most vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and bicyclists. While a more recent year of national and state fatalities has shown a decline, the risk and loss life for non-motorists continues to climb. Those who

Crash data reported by Maryland Highway Safety Office (MHSO) are derived from the State Highway Administration Safety Information Database (SHA-SID; 2015 and later, TANG), based on crash reports submitted to, and processed by, the Maryland State Police Central Records Division (CRD) utilizing the Enhanced Maryland Automated Crashes Reporting System (eMAARS) for the years prior to 2015, and from the Automated Crash Reporting System (ACRS) for the year 2015 and later.

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

The Center for Social Design

The Human-Centered Design Process

MICA’s Center for Social Design is dedicated to understanding social problems and supporting positive social change, since 2007. Located at the heart of Baltimore’s Station North Arts & Entertainment District, the Center utilizes a human-centered collaborative process to define and better understand social problems.

Human-centered design is a creative process dedicated to understanding people’s needs and designing interventions that better serve people’s needs. By working in close partnership with those most affected by an issue, practitioners seek to identify opportunities, generate ideas, and make tools that support positive change. The goal is to shift relationships between people and people, and people and institutions.

Social Problems

Frame & Plan

Research

Synthesize

Introduction

Our process includes multiple interwoven phases:

1. F RAME & PLAN: Organize existing scientific data and research associated with the problem. Facilitate discussions to better understand key data and research and to appropriately scope the engagement. 2. RESEARCH: Understand the culture and context of the problem by understanding the culture and context of the people involved. Talk to, observe, and learn from stakeholders to locate needs and assets to support. 3. SYNTHESIZE: Compile observations and research findings and look for common themes and insights. Embrace unexpected insight, ideas and inspiration. Find appropriate opportunities for intervention.

Ideate

4. IDEATE: Generate as many ideas as possible and defer judgment (no bad ideas). Be visual with idea generation and share openly. Draw concepts, not outcomes. Document the process and routinely combine and refine ideas. 5. PROTOTYPE: Make tangible representations of ideas and give them form. Prototype with people to better test assumptions, lower risk, align partners and stakeholders, work through arguments and reveal potential problems early. 6. IMPLEMENT & ITERATE: Test, iterate and develop prototypes in context. Document and collect feedback to inform strategies and interventions that are more likely to be adopted, and align with target outcomes.

Implement & Iterate

Prototype

Social Change

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Team In Fall 2018 and Spring 2019, the Center brought together a team of students to work with representatives from the Maryland Department of Transportation in addressing issues of pedestrian and bicycle safety, in Baltimore City. This team comprised both graduate and undergraduate students, with backgrounds ranging from graphic design, social design, digital design, urban planning, entrepreneurial business, dance, performing arts, and painting.

Partners The MICA students worked closely with staff from the Maryland Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Administration, and the Maryland Highway Safety Office. Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) is an organization comprised of five business units and one Authority. They are: The Secretary’s Office, State Highway Administration, Maryland Transit Administration, Motor Vehicle Administration, Maryland Port Administration, Maryland Aviation Administration, and the Maryland Transportation Authority. This unique approach provides the state’s leadership with the ability to develop a coordinated and balanced approach to transportation. Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) Serving as Maryland’s Governor’s Highway Safety Representative, the MVA Administrator provides overall leadership for the state’s highway safety program. Maryland Highway Safety Office (MHSO) The MVA’s Maryland Highway Safety Office is dedicated to saving lives and preventing injuries by reducing motor vehicle crashes through the administration of a comprehensive network of traffic safety programs. The MHSO is housed within the MVA, with direct supervision provided by the MVA’s Chief Deputy Administrator. Together, the group conducted research, held workshops, organized outreach events, and brainstormed ideas to promote safer travel conditions in Baltimore City.

Introduction

Design Challenge

How might we make Baltimore safer for pedestrians and bikers? SUSTAINABILITY

Introduction

Project Area The project focused on the area immediately surrounding the MICA campus and adjacent Boton Hill neighborhood. North Avenue and Preston Street served as the northern and southern edges for the project, while Charles Street and Eutaw Place served as the eastern and western most boundaries.

The project location has also major road work and construction projects taking place nearby. In Spring 2019, the Mount Royal Streetscape project added a short protected bike lane to MICAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main thoroughfare, Mount Royal Avenue. Plans for North Avenue Rising, a street and infrastructure improvement project, were also being finalized in Spring 2019.

The location contains several arterial roads and has a high volume of through traffic. Residents, elementary, middle school, and university students, pedestrians and bicyclists make their way across the more heavily trafficked main roads, by way of side alleys and residential streets

The MICA team had a deeper connection with the initial project area, being both residents and frequent users of the roads and existing infrastructure. As students, they were also able to build more immediate connections with their peers and other residents and local organizations.

This particular stretch of North Avenue contains several hotspots for traffic crashes. The busy area near Dolphin and John Streets had two pedestrians fatalities over the last several years, one in 2010 and one in 2009. (The 2009 fatality was a MICA student on the verge of graduating.)

With a smaller testing area, the team was able to develop deeper relationships with the community and explore location specific solutions. Ideas developed in the project area could then be replicated and scaled across the rest of Baltimore, Maryland.

In the whole study area for the years 2009-2017, there were 5 pedestrian fatalities and 1 bicyclist fatality.

RESEARCH A human-centered design process seeks to understand the culture and context of a problem by understanding the culture and context of the people involved. Design teams talk to, observe, and learn from stakeholders, to identify needs and support existing assets.

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Observations The team conducted observations across 10 different locations around the project area to get a better understanding of barriers to Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety. The locations were chosen strategically to represent a variety of roads and situations. The goal was to see how people interacted with heavy traffic on busy streets and how automobiles dealt with pedestrians and bicyclists on smaller, comparatively calmer, streets. The idea was to determine which infrastructure and traffic systems worked and which systems might be improved. After a few weeks in the field, the team returned with a number of key observations:

• Speeding cars are a BIG problem • Driver behavior depends on the areas that one commutes through • Some drivers fail to adjust speed in residential areas • People rarely use crosswalk buttons and often cross mid-block to catch buses • People using motorized chairs or walkers need more time at crosswalks • Crosswalk timing and city infrastructure does not benefit pedestrians • Visibility is a biker’s biggest concern • Kids play with one another, while waiting for transportation • There are many verbal and social interactions between older residents • Drivers often yell at pedestrians and bicyclists

Research

Student Engagement Building on initial observations, the team held three workshops with local students to learn more about their perspective on road usage.

MICA First Year Students The team spent time with a group of first year students at MICA, enrolled in a class called “Exploring Baltimore” to gain insight into how newcomers experience the city. The students shared their successes in navigating the city and described what barriers might need to be addressed for them to travel more often, such as access to information about public transportation options and better sidewalk lighting at night.

Mount Royal School Walk-to-School Day The team spoke with students from a local elementary and middle school about how they get to school each day. The team also conducted interviews amongst parents and learned that their greatest concerns for traffic safety revolve around speeding vehicles.

Art and Design College Accelerator Program (ADCAP) Workshop The team organized a workshop introducing high school students in MICA’s ADCAP program to the human-centered design process. The students were divided up into teams and prompted to freely ideate creative solutions for pedestrian and bicycle safety. Strong concepts emerged such as the value of visible crosswalks.

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Research

Community Engagement The team also attended community meetings, events, and met with project stakeholders to better understand existing initiatives around Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety.

North Avenue Rising Community Meetings The North Avenue Rising project is a joint venture by the city and state to improve transit stops, install bus lanes, and make targeted streetscape improvements to North Avenue. At a public meeting with several representatives of the project, the team learned that one of the biggest challenges with infrastructure is with system maintenance. The city would need over 1.8 billion dollars to update everything and the only resource to determine whether something might be broken is through the 311 report application. Plans for infrastructure changes to North Avenue were laid out and participants were asked to comment regarding any perceived issue or concern.

The Big Jump Block Party The Big Jump is a temporary multi-use path installed along Druid Lake Drive. Created for individuals traveling on foot, by bike, in wheelchairs, and with any other mobility device, the path allows users to cross Interstate 83 safely without an automobile. The Big Jump is regarded as a cheaply implemented proof of concept, meant to exist for approximately a year. During this time the city will gather data on how many people take advantage and use the lane.

ER/Shock Trauma The team had an opportunity to tour the Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland hospital. They learned that victims of car crashes have a greater chance of survival when put in a hospital within an hour of the injury. Additionally, 37% of patients in the center are injured from traffic related crashes. Shock trauma is busiest after midnight, during the summer.

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) One member of the team brought back a few insights after going through the process of applying for a Maryland driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s license. New drivers are required to take a theory test, vision test and driving skills test. A driving manual is provided to help one study, but the document is rather dense, dry, and generally forgotten once one had their licence in hand.

Reservoir Hill Community Meeting At a community meeting the team learned that Reservoir Hill residents were concerned about a recent construction project blocking roads and taking up a number of street parking spaces. There was also a major concern regarding an alleyway where drivers have been speeding through, in the wrong direction. Police had not been enforcing the area and residents were looking to alternative means to address the issue.

Bolton Hill Community Association The team briefly introduced the research project to members of the Bolton Hill Community Association to make them aware of the study being done in and around their neighborhood. A few residents expressed their interest in the project and recommended looking at speeding trucks in the area.

Habits to Last a Lifetime: Bicyclist and Pedestrian Safety for Children - Webinar In the webinar, hosted by the Governors Highway Safety Association and the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center, children were encouraged to be the champions of safety campaigns. Kids took part in a 4-week program where they were taught how to ride at night using lighting gear and how to fit themselves and others with appropriate helmets and headgear.

Research

Interviews In addition to attending numerous events, the team conducted a series of 15 one-on-one interviews. Interviewees included local officials, community advocates, nonprofit representatives, bicyclists, and pedestrians. The purpose of these sessions was to gather more personal insight into traffic safety conditions, in and around the project area.

“ The number one factor that needs to change is driver behavior.”

“ How can we use infrastructure to break down physical barriers between areas?”

Baltimore City Planner

“ I feel like drivers are in power because they are protected in this big car. They are able to be aggressive. Pedestrians don’t have that.” Pedestrian

Bicyclist

“ In an ideal world there should be a magic fund that installed lighting throughout the city. The kids stay out late riding their bikes, my biggest concern for them is their visibility.” Nonprofit Director

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Personas In order to summarize and humanize the data collected, the team created nine fictitious individuals. These archetypes helped to define the behaviors and concerns of different project stakeholders.

CURIOUS CLAUDIA Claudia is a five year-old student in a nearby grade school in the area. She walks with her big brother to school every day. She doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t look both ways when she crosses the street, she just follows her brothers lead. Concerns: Claudiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mom is apprehensive of Claudia walking or biking by herself.

ADVENTUROUS ALVIN Alvin is a 13-year old student. He wakes up at five in the morning to take the city bus to get to school. His goals include saving enough money to get a dirt bike and having a shorter and less convoluted commute to school so he can wake up later. Concerns: His long commute makes him tired at school.

SWEETHEART SALLY Sally is a recent college graduate and now works as an intern in Baltimore. She is a transplant from another city and is used to biking and walking. She prefers to walk and bike over driving because of the many benefits it has over driving. She is observant and always follows the rules. Concerns: Broken crosswalk buttons. Worried about her safety when she bikes and commutes.

Research

AGGRESSIVE GREG Greg is a longtime driver who doesn’t like pedestrians because they get in his way. He doesn’t have a problem running red lights, not using a turn signal, or speeding if there isn’t any law enforcement around. His behavior may change if he sees a speed camera. Concerns: Blocked intersections during rush hour. Trees and bushes obstruct his view of pedestrians when trying to make a turn.

IRRESPONSIBLE RANDY Randy takes after his Uncle Greg’s need for speed. He loves the thrill of tailgating other drivers and pulling right up to pedestrians to make them walk faster at crosswalks. He likes to go out on weekends and occasionally drives to and from the bar. Concerns: He constantly has to take his car into the auto shop due to slamming his breaks often and has a few dents. Doesn’t like sharing roads with cyclists.

FEARLESS FELIX Felix is a college student. He is always on the go and wastes no time hopping from one class (or social activity) to another. He lives in one of the campus dorms and walks everywhere. He usually does not leave the dorm until 5 minutes before class so he always has to run and disregard crosswalk lights. Concerns: Getting to class on time. Possibility of getting hit/killed due to his risky behavior.

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

SQUEEGEE AJ AJ is a 13-year-old Baltimore squeegee boy who is currently out of school. He works at dangerous intersections- he encounters frequent near-misses with passing cars. He wishes to make money as a squeegee boy without fear of getting hit. Concerns: Getting run over by drunk drivers. Visibility in the street.

DARING DANICA Danica is an avid biker since the early 2000s and is the passionate head of the local chapterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bike society. She advocates for more and better quality bike lanes and is currently working with policymakers to include bike safety in their political agenda. Concerns: Crashes involving cyclists. Cyclists treated as secondary citizens of the road

DETERRED DALY Daly is 68 years old and uses a motorized wheelchair. He can not drive and relies on public transportation to go around town. Due to the fear of getting into an collision, he avoids leaving his house. Concerns: Inefficient public transportation in Baltimore. Missing buses when he crosses the street. Narrow sidewalks are not designed to accompany people on motorized wheelchairs.

Research

Design Principles To wrap-up the research phase, the team generated a series of rules for design and engagement, to guide the creation of equitable and socially impactful solutions. These principles served as foundational markers to frame and constrain all future ideas and procedures.

1 2 3 4 5 6

PROMOTE MOBILITY AS A HUMAN RIGHT

Travel is a privilege. Consider Baltimore’s history of inequitable design and seek to serve those who have been excluded.

PRIORITIZE COOPERATION BETWEEN USERS OF THE ROAD

Safety means cooperation between all road users. Create a design that is based around all forms of travel. Avoid building around any biases or favoritism.

INSPIRE CHANGE BY ENGAGING THE COMMUNITY

If you want to change the system, the community has to be involved.

WORK TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS

Find solutions that are flexible, easy to implement, and not dependent on any one group or individual.

SEEK BOTH SIDES OF THE STORY

Consider everyone’s perspective. Listen critically to everything said to understand where people are coming from.

DO NO HARM

Give back when you take and maintain any relationships that you initiate.

SYNTHESIZE At this stage in the human-centered design process, teams compile their observations and research findings, and begin to look for common themes and insights. They embrace unexpected ideas and find appropriate opportunities for interventions.

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Synthesize

Synthesize Over the course of a few weeks, the team summarized their findings by grouping all the data into several distinct categories. Quotes, stories and observations were finessed into specific insights backed by an accompanying theme. Together, the group worked to turn these insights into opportunities for possible growth and improvement.

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Infrastructure Cues to Prioritize Pedestrian Visibility

What we heard

Insight

Bicyclists are mainly concerned with their visibility to other road users

Drivers are expected to be aware of pedestrians, but often don't see them because the infrastructure does not support clear visibility.

Conflict happens when a pedestrian is somewhere a driver doesn't expect In 2009, a MICA student was killed on John and Howard streets in the late hours of the night

School zones and other areas where children and pedestrians are supposed to be safe are especially prone to this issue.

Opportunity

How might we ensure that pedestrians and bicyclists remain visible and at the forefront of a driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention?

Synthesize

Road Safety Cityhack & Prototype Festival

What we heard

Insight

“ The most challenging part of maintaining infrastructure is lack of money” - State Employee 311 is not working effectively

Because of challenges with maintaining infrastructure, change is slow to happen and residents often feel like their safety concerns are not being heard.

“ Our built environment has set our dependence on cars in concrete. It makes it very difficult and expensive to change that” - Non-profit employee

By prioritizing those who drive in and out of the city, the city creates an unsafe environment for locals who are less dependent on cars.

Opportunity

How might we impactfully bring up Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety concerns to policy makers in order to prioritize local needs?

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Visibility Through Fashion

What we heard

Insight

Bikers are concerned about visibility at night

Clear visibility is an issue in school zones for children, pedestrian sidewalks, and bike lanes.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; Pedestrians are where drivers do not expect and visibility is lowâ&#x20AC;? - Transit Employee

People may be more interested in wearing reflective clothing if they design it themselves, especially children.

Opportunity

How might we create reflective wearables and engage end users in the process?

Synthesize

Encouraging Lawful Use of Infrastructure Through Fun

What we heard

Insight

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am 50 years old and I still get nervous crossing the streetâ&#x20AC;? - Pedestrian

Pedestrians who disobey traffic rules are criticized, but rule breaking is often required to effectively cross the street.

Pedestrians are willing to cross mid-block across four lanes of traffic to catch the bus on North Ave

Opportunity

How might we enable pedestrians to quickly, lawfully and safely cross the street?

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Making Information Accessible and Entertaining

What we heard

Insight

“There were a lot of things I didn’t remember from when I was 16” - Government Employee

People are expected to be informed on the most relevant traffic laws and usage of public transit, but that education is not readily available.

“Education and enforcement go hand-in-hand” - Government Employee

Opportunity

How might we clarify traffic laws for travelers in Baltimore in unique and memorable ways?

Synthesize

IDEATE A human-centered design process seeks to generate as many ideas as possible, while deferring any and all judgment. The goal is to be visual with the inception of ideas and to share them openly. Participants are asked to draw concepts, not outcomes, and to document the process, while routinely combining and refining new concepts.

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Ideation

Ideate At the first community shareback, the MICA team brought together a group of stakeholders ranging from project partners to interviewees to personal connections. The MICA team shared the insights and opportunities identified during the synthesize phase, and invited participants to generate ideas in response. In small groups, participants reviewed each insight and opportunity and drew small sketches of their ideas. Participants were pushed to think creatively, defer judgement, and generate as many ideas as possible. After ideating, participants hung up their ideas for the large group to review. Each participant was given sticker dots to vote on their favorite ideas. From here, the MICA team took the top concepts and began to evolve them, making them more more intentional and practical.

PROTOTYPE It is important, in a human-centered design process, to make tangible representations of ideas in order to test assumptions with stakeholders. Testing assumptions early on reveals potential problems, lowers potential risks, and aligns stakeholders.

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Prototype

Preliminary Concepts From the shareback session, five ideas rose to the top.

1 2 3 4 5

Infrastructure Cues to Prioritize Pedestrian Visibility Road Safety Cityhack & Prototype Festival Approaching Visibility Through Fashion Encouraging Lawful Use of Infrastructure Through Fun Making Information Accessible and Entertaining

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Infrastructure Cues to Prioritize Pedestrian Visibility Opportunity

Prototype

How might we ensure that pedestrians and bicyclists remain visible and at the forefront of a driverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention?

Experimenting with and using a wide variety of reflective and glowing materials, this prototype hopes to explore different methods to make pedestrians and bikers more visible. The idea is not only to illuminate individuals or environments, but also to promote alertness in drivers, slowing them down and teaching them to expect other road users through the use of visual cues and an awareness campaign.

Prototype

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Road Safety Cityhack & Prototype Festival Opportunity

Prototype

How might we impactfully bring up Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety concerns to policy makers in order to prioritize local needs?

This prototype aims to demonstrate what streets and public places that prioritize pedestrians might look like. A chosen venue will serve as a safe, controlled location to test long term transit and infrastructure improvements. Concepts should only be temporarily installed and designed to be quickly modified or implemented. The space will allow people to share their thoughts, suggestions and critiques regarding any proposed improvements or recommended topics to explore for long term improvements.

Prototype

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Visibility Through Fashion

Opportunity

Prototype

How might we create reflective wearables and engage end users in the process?

BAGS AND WEARABLES - This concept features a series of patches and buttons that are reflective and used in a variety of different ways to promote safety, visibility, and awareness. A few suggested safety slogans/catchy phrases include: BMORE AWARE, SHARE THE LANE, SHARE THE ROAD and BSAFE MORE STYLISH REFLECTIVE CLOTHING - This prototype looks to create reflective clothing by mixing fine glass bead shards into reflective printing ink. The material makes pedestrians and bicyclists glow with the same intensity as the painted lines on the street. There may also be a possibility to sell and distribute the clothing through the MICA store. Ultimately this project has the potential to create a trend throughout all of Baltimore.

Prototype

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Encouraging Lawful Use of Infrastructure Through Fun Opportunity

Prototype

How might we enable pedestrians to quickly, lawfully and safely cross the street?

ROAD SYMPHONY - This prototype encourages drivers and motorists to pay more attention to pedestrians and crosswalks. The idea includes creatively painted crosswalks that look like piano keys and motionactivated music that will play when a pedestrian is crossing. This can be expanded into a campaign that shows that all road users contribute to making “music” in the city by respecting each other’s space in the street. SOLAR STREETS - This prototype harnesses solar power to illuminate crosswalks and bike lanes, to make pedestrians and bikers more visible in the street. The project can also serve as a light installation that will improve the walking and biking experience in the city.

Prototype

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Making Information Accessible and Entertaining Opportunity

Prototype

How might we clarify traffic laws for travelers in Baltimore in unique and memorable ways?

HUMOR-FILLED DRIVING MANUAL - Contained in a small and portable book, this new and improved driving manual uses humor to make other-wise dry information memorable.

Prototype

IMPLEMENT & ITERATE Once a creative direction has been set, it is critical to iterateâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;continually test and make adjustments to the prototypesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;in context. In this part of the human-centered design process, teams collect and document all feedback, to inform future strategies. These notes help to make the final interventions more likely to be adopted and aligned with target outcomes.

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Made You Look Branding Initiative Building off of “Look Up, Look Out!”, the MICA team created a sub-campaign - “Made You Look.” The idea behind “Made You Look” is to bring awareness to bikers and pedestrians on the ground level. The team created a branding system to tie together future prototypes and interventions.

In Spring 2019 the Baltimore Metropolitan Council launched “Look Alive,” a multi-level marketing campaign to promote pedestrian safety in the Central Maryland region. In addition, the Maryland State Highway Adminsitration has used a “Look Up, Look Out!” campaign for the last several years.

Implement & Iterate

Made You Look

LOGO

BRAND KIT

The graphic icon for the Made You Look logo stands for equality among all road users.

ICON VARIATIONS

COLOR PALETTE

TYPOGRAPHY

Montserrat ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Roboto Condensed ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

APPLICATION SAMPLES

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Mini-pilots

Street Wear This project entails the design of unique clothing and accessories, using reflective materials, for pedestrians and cyclists commuting in Baltimore City. The aim is to encourage travelers to voluntarily adopt the newly created items and make those users more visible to automobile drivers. Reflective wearables have the potential to serve as a platform to carry an awareness campaign. Written messages can be a way to spark interest and engage the community around a serious issue. The team set up a pop-up table on MICA’s Campus to distribute reflective buttons and collect additional feedback from students. They also tested the reflective materials at night to see if they made wearers more noticeable to drivers.

Key Assumptions If reflective products are stylish and well-designed, then road users will be more inclined to procure and use them. If drivers see reflective materials on pedestrians and cyclists, then they will be reminded to reduce their speed and avoid a collision.

Feedback Around 49% of all the students surveyed think visibility is a problem around MICA’s campus. In addition, 75% of those students think that reflective clothing would make drivers more aware of them. However, only 43% of those surveyed would be willing to wear reflective clothing.

Key Takeaways •

The idea is feasible but the design must be branded according to user

•

People were interested in the idea were not so interested in wearing reflective gear

Implement & Iterate

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Final Implementation The Baltimore Department of Transportation gave the MICA team a table at the third annual Safety City Day to test DIY reflective materials on clothing and bicycle gear for youth. Since students from the MICA campus seemed less interested in wearing or making reflective materials, the team wanted to see if a younger demographic would be more receptive to the concept. Over the course of the event over thirty children and parents took the time to decorate safety vests, helmets, and their clothing. Participants were also able to screen print custom designs onto tote bags, with a light reflective ink. The activities received very positive feedback from the event organizers and parents. The children were observed to be extremely enthusiastic in experimenting with the reflective tapes, sprays, and inks.

Implement & Iterate

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Mini-pilots

Bright Lanes The Bright Lanes project uses infrastructure cues and engaging crosswalk designs to encourage law-abiding behavior for both drivers and pedestrians. This project aims to install eye-catching and thoughtprovoking pieces, such as creative crosswalks, illuminated infrastructure elements, colorful wayfinding pathways to pedestrian facilities, and/or informative signs. To test the concept, the MICA team partnered with Mt. Royal School. The school had added a new pedestrian walkway in their parking lot to separate pedestrians from cars, but pedestrians werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sure how to use the walkway yet. The team used temporary spray chalk to add different designs to the walkway, with the goal of promoting more pedestrian use of the path.

Key Assumptions If infrastructure elements are designed to be clear and engaging, then people will be more inclined to obey traffic rules. If infrastructure elements are made more visible, then drivers will be able to anticipate the actions of other road users and reduce speed to prevent crashes.

Feedback The MICA team observed the walkway before and after the spray chalk was installed and recorded pedestrian behavior. Observations were conducted around school dismissal time (2-4pm). The team also collected surveys from 16 parents and 10 students. Survey participants were asked to reflect on if the temporary chalk art encouraged them to use the pedestrian walkway. Overall, a majority of respondents were excited about the colorful walkway and thought the paint drew more attention to use it. However, others expressed concerns such as needing to incorporate broader outreach and information about using the newly designated walkways. Another concern was that it looked unfinished and unclear. Further testing could include a larger sample size and a broader campaign around using the pathway.

Implement & Iterate

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Before Walkway Cues (n= 201)

Survey

44% of pedestrians used the designated walkway

Responses to the installation were generally positive - 84% approval ratingâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;through physical and online surveys, and in conversation with parents, students, faculty and staff.

31% of pedestrians walked through the parking lot 25% of pedestrians walked through both the designated walkway and parking lot

84% of all respondents rated the installation favorably

After Walkway Cues (n= 182)

10% of all respondents felt the installation was neither successful or unsuccessful

56% of pedestrians used the designated walkway 36% of pedestrians walked through the parking lot

6% of all respondents felt that the installation had no benefits

8% of pedestrians walked through both the designated walkway and parking lot

Key Takeaways A majority of survey respondents were excited about the colorful walkway and thought the paint drew more attention to use it. Some survey participants expressed concerns such as needing to incorporate broader outreach and information about using the newly designated walkways. Another concern was that it looked unfinished and unclear. Further testing could include a larger sample size and a broader campaign around using the pathway.

Implement & Iterate

Final Implementation Using the feedback collected, the MICA team then installed a permanent design at the school. Equus Striping, a pavement marking company based in DC, donated industry standard traffic paint to the project. The team worked to finalize several different design options, which were presented to the school, who picked the direction they liked most. The team spent over 10 hours producing the stencil, laying down the designs, and painting the final marks. The walkway can be found and viewed at the Mount Royal School parking lot off of Mosher Street.

IMPLEMENT AND ITERATE

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Mini-pilots

DIY TOOLKIT The goal of the DIY (Do It Yourself) toolkit is to provide communities with materials and the instructions necessary to create their own crosswalk installation, street mural, or reflective street wear.

Key Assumptions If people are empowered with knowledge, resources, and formal support, then they will take action to improve their communities.

Key Takeaways Community organizations, artists, and project leads are all incredibly interested in receiving clearer instructions on how to paint street murals in the right of way. Most of the existing information can be difficult to locate or navigate and the process for applying to obtain a Right of Way Art projects permit has been described as confusing.

Implement & Iterate

IMPLEMENT AND ITERATE

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Implement & Iterate

Bringing it all together To wrap up the project the team turned the final community shareback into a pop-up safety hack. The team set up different interactive stations to engage participants in our prototyping process and collect additional feedback.

The Safety Cityhack is a series of community outreach events that brings some kind of vehicle into a neighborhood that wants to collaborate with city and transit officials. The transport will contain materials for an infrastructure installation, educational collateral, equipment for producing reflective wearables, and overarching instructions about how to create any single prototype. It will be an opportunity for community engagement around road safety.

STATION 1: RE-CAP This station provided a quick re-cap of the process. STATION 2: STREETWEAR This station engaged participants in screenprinting their own reflective tote bag, spray painting helmets with reflective spray paint, and applying reflective stickers to bikes and backpacks.

The use of a mobile vehicle allows problems to be addressed at the locations where people are most concerned about them. The vehicle can be ordered into any neighborhood and brought to any existing event as an outreach tool to more easily repair poor street design. The Cityhack is essentially a series of consecutive pop-up events that travel to different locations, meeting site specific needs. The goal is to facilitate creative activities that enhance pedestrian safety and promote any existing campaign and educational outreach about local traffic safety.

STATION 3: BRIGHT LANES This station provided spray chalk and stencils so that participants could create their own temporary designs on the sidewalk and street. STATION 4: FEEDBACK This station asked participants to reflect on the entire process by answering the following three questions: •

How has your participation in this project impacted you and what have you taken away from this past year? What have you learned? What do you remember?

•

What do you think the project should prioritize moving forward?

•

What suggestions do you have for improving the project? How can we ensure sustainability?

CREDITS

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Project Lead Becky Slogeris Community Leads Kate McGrain Hannah Shaw Center for Social Design Mike Weikert Lee Davis Project Team Vilde Ulset Noni Devora Kristi Liu Quinton Batts Levi Tran Connie Zheng Shuang Wu Mason Cook

Credits

Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety

Partners

Doug Mowbray Traffic Records Program Manager, MHSO

Jeff Dunckel Pedestrian-Bicycle Safety Program Manager, MHSO

Sean Lynn GIS Senior Project Manager, Washington College GIS Program

Daniel Knopp Senior Research Analyst, University of Maryland Baltimore

Credits

Advisors

Graham Coreil-Allen - Public Artist and Creative Director at Graham Projects Graham Projects is a Baltimore-based creative agency making cities more inclusive and livable through public art and civic engagement.

Jasper Barnes - Director of BYKE Collective Baltimore Youth Kinetic Energy (BYKE) collective is dedicated to personal and professional development through learning bicycle mechanics, practicing safe ridership, and building community.

Brittany Young - Founder and CEO of B-360 B-360 utilizes dirt bike culture to end the cycle of poverty, disrupt the prison pipeline, and build bridges in communities. Through a STEM education program, community engagement, workforce pipelining and events , B-360 equips disconnected youth and adults with the skills to secure educational and career opportunities in STEM fields, while changing perceptions of dirt bike riders and engineers.