Recent its_tsc_tr items

Child Restraint Use: Workbook and Guide for Evaluating Community-based Programs

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The leading cause of injury and death for children in California is motor vehicle crashes. To prevent these needless tragedies, the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), through the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, funds child passenger safety programs throughout the state. This workbook is designed to be used by these local programs to 1) evaluate the impact of their activities on child restraint use, 2) evaluate results to improve or modify the programs as needed, and 3) meet contractual evaluation requirements. Program evaluations can be difficult for local programs due to high service demands and limited resources. We hope this guide supports local programs and agencies by providing the evaluation method and tools. A before-and-after study design is described that measures restraint use before the intervention occurs (to provide a baseline rate) and then after the intervention (to document any change). The UC Berkeley Traffic Safety Center will offer direct...

Bicycle Helmet Use: Workbook and Guide for Evaluating Community-Based Programs

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Two thirds of bicycle deaths occur as a result of traumatic brain injury; 88% of these injuries can be prevented by a helmet. In 1994, the State of California passed a law requiring all bicyclists under the age of 18 to wear helmets. Despite these legal obligations, many bicyclists still do not wear helmets. The estimates of bicycle helmet use is disparate throughout the state, with some communities reporting up to 80% use and others, especially inner-city areas, reporting less than 10% use.

The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) provides grants for bicycle helmet education programs led by local community organizations. The Traffic Safety Center (TSC) at the University of California, Berkeley, contracted with OTS to develop a set of instructions specifically for these community organizations to measure the impact of their safety intervention program. The instructions presented in this guide are designed to be used by these local programs to 1) evaluate the impact...

Transportation and Health: Policy Interventions for Safer, Healthier People and Communities

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The public road system in the U.S. is the world’s busiest, sustaining more than 3 trillion vehiclemiles of travel each year on a network of more than 4 million miles of roads and highways. It has had enormous positive impacts on U.S. society, driving economic growth and innovation, providing mobility and opportunity to its users, and helping the U.S. maintain its global economic competitiveness. This system was built with a focus on motor vehicles; only recently has substantial funding and attention been given to transit, walking, and bicycling. There is still a huge disparity in how we travel: between 1990 and 2009 the yearly vehicle-miles traveled for passenger cars and light-duty trucks increased by 39 percent; yearly motor fuel consumption rose 27 percent, to 168 billion gallons. And for those unable or unwilling to purchase and use a private automobile for transportation, there can be disparate access to economic opportunity, services, and social interaction. Enhancing multimodal...

California Traffic Safety Survey 2025

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The 2025 Traffic Safety Public Opinion Study was conducted for the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center of UC Berkeley (SafeTREC). The findings of the 2025 Study are based on a sample size and eligibility criteria similar to previous years of data collection. A total of 2,319 responses were collected in April and May 2025 using an online selfadministered survey. Similar to previous years of the study, the survey panelists were provided through Marketing Services Group, a commercial sample and panel vendor.

The survey findings of the 2025 Traffic Safety Public Opinion Study are outlined in this report together with a comparison to previous years of data collection. Every effort was made to ensure the data representativeness and accuracy of the findings. To ensure a sample composition comparable to previous years, six quota groups were set for age and gender groups based on the California census, as well as...

2022 Statewide Traffic Safety Survey

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

2022 marked the thirteenth year of the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) California’s Annual Traffic Safety Study. The study is intended to create a better understanding of trends in traffic safety behaviors and help focus traffic safety programs, which include enforcement efforts along with public education campaigns to ensure they are effective in targeting areas with disproportionate traffic safety injuries. The survey is sponsored by the OTS while being administered by Ewald and Wasserman Research Consultants along with University of California Berkeley Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC). The 2022 wave of data collection for the statewide traffic safety survey was conducted with an online panel of California drivers instead of an intercept interview, as were previous waves of data collection. This decision was made due to the COVID-19 pandemic as alternative data was collected to avoid in-person contact between field interviewers and respondents. The...

California Traffic Safety Study - 2023