PEDSAFE, or the "Pedestrian Safety Guide and Countermeasure Selection System," was first developed in 2003 as a suite of tools intended to provide transportation practitioners with the latest information available for improving the safety and mobility of those who walk. The on-line tools provide the user with a list of possible engineering treatments, as well as education and enforcement programs, to improve pedestrian safety and/or mobility based on user input about a specific location. The PEDSAFE website was recently updated to include new treatments that can help mitigate a known crash problem or achieve a specific performance objective.
The new PEDSAFE (2013) is comprised of four main sections:
- Guide: Contains basic and background information, which helps practitioners better understand the issues facing pedestrians, how to analyze crashes, and how to implement new treatments.
- Countermeasures: A comprehensive list of more than 60 engineering countermeasure options, as well as details of each countermeasure, including its description, purpose, considerations, safety effect, and estimated cost.
- Case studies: A collection of 85 case studies, or success stories, that document one or more of the countermeasures that have been implemented, along with the background of the problems, pedestrian safety solutions selected, and the results of the treatments.
- Selection Tool: Expert countermeasure selection system software that allows users to input the basic safety problem and site conditions. This system will propose a "short list" of candidate treatment options that likely would be suited to address the specific pedestrian safety problem for that situation.
While past versions of PEDSAFE were produced in printed form, PEDSAFE 2013 is only available on-line.