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Bicycles and Pedestrians

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State legislatures have been active the past decade in considering and adopting a variety of policies that encourage safe bicycling and walking environments, such as complete streets, funding mechanisms for bicycle and pedestrian facilities and programs, 3-foot passing laws, safe routes to school and traffic enforcement strategies.

These policies seem to be positively impacting the safety and convenience of bicycling and walking for transportation; trips made by bike or foot made up a combined 12 percent of total trips taken in the United States in 2009, almost double the six percent recorded in 1995. Over the same period, bicycle and pedestrian fatalities declined by six percent and 16 percent respectively. At the municipal level, some cities have seen their bicycling rates skyrocket by 100 percent or more in the past decade, as citizens and governments look for cheap, healthy transportation options.

Key NCSL resources include:

• New!  Keeping Bicyclists and Pedestrians Safe, LegisBrief, February 2013
• New! Traffic Safety Trends: State Legislative Action 2012, February 2013
• UPDATED! NCSL/NHTSA State Traffic Safety Legislation Database (ongoing)
• UPDATED! NCSL Transport Report Newsletter (monthly, covers various transportation topics)
• On the Move: State Strategies for 21st Century Transportation Solutions (2012 report)
• Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety, Transportation Review (2012 report)
• Safely Passing Bicycles (2012 Web brief)
• State Actions to Promote Healthy Communities and Prevent Childhood Obesity
• Major State Transportation Legislation, 2011 (2012 report)
• The State Legislative Role in Encouraging Bicycling and Walking (2008 report)
• Safe Routes to School and School Siting Web page (ongoing)
• Recent State Livability Initiatives in Minnesota: An Analysis (2011 report)
• Reversing the Trend in Childhood Obesity: Policies to Promote Healthy Kids and Communities (2011 report)
• Traffic Safety and Public Health: State Legislative Action, 2010 (2010 report)
• Promoting Healthy Communities and Preventing Childhood Obesity: Trends in Recent Legislation (2010 report)
• Promoting Healthy Communities and Reducing Childhood Obesity: Legislative Options (2009 report)
• Complete Streets (2007 LegisBrief)

Other resources are listed on the right side of this page.

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Updated February 2013