Research: Equity

Equity is a central component of our work at the Safe Routes Partnership. Who gets to move?, Where?, When?, and How? are questions about power and access. Who makes these decisions and for whom? Historical legacies and sustained realities of structural discrimination (based on race, class, gender, sexuality, immigration status, etc.) have created inequality of roles and participation in transportation planning decisions, which has, in turn, disparately impacted transportation options and access for different populations. Because transportation facilitates access to opportunities (educational, social, recreational, professional, etc.) and participation in the public sphere, limited transportation opportunities compound existing disparities in education, employment, political engagement, health, and safety.

Within the field of transportation research, equity has largely been omitted from academic scholarship and insufficiently applied in practice (Lee et al., 2017). Fortunately, equity is increasingly gaining traction among policymakers and practitioners in the transportation world especially as more people realize that a greater modal shift to active, sustainable transportation simply cannot occur without an equity perspective (McAndrews et al., 2017; McNeil et al., 2017; Lusk et al., 2017).

This section highlights research that demonstrates the need for and value of an equity perspective in Safe Routes to School and active transportation overall. We’ve pulled out available research in this Equity category to make it easily accessible and encourage further research into the equity implications. These research summaries are cross-posted in relevant research sections, since equity is not an add-on, but a core component of Safe Routes to School and active transportation.

Research Highlights:

  • Low-income Americans currently walk and bike more than Americans with higher incomes, and the fastest growth in biking is occurring among people of color (McKenzie, 2014 and League of American Bicyclists 2013). However, sidewalks exist in only 49% of low-income communities, compared to 90% in high-income communities (Gibbs, et a.l, 2012).
  • There are harmful, and even fatal consequences of insufficient infrastructure for safe walking and biking:
    • Children from families with low income, who are twice as likely to walk to school, disproportionately face more traffic and personal safety challenges while en route to/from school (McDonald, 2008).
    • Black and Latino people are twice as likely to be killed while walking (Maciag, 2014).
    • Black people are 30% more likely to be killed biking, and Latino people are 23% more likely to be killed biking (League of American Bicyclists, 2013).
    • Fear is a big barrier to bicycling for Blacks and Hispanics. While most people are afraid of traffic danger while bicycling, Black and Hispanic communities are disproportionately worried about being victims of crime (i.e., robbery and assault) while biking, as well as racial profiling and police harassment. Transportation professionals must consider how broader structural inequalities like racism can hinder active modes of transportation for people of color (Brown, 2016).
    • While most bike share users tend to be white and middle-class, there is high interest and demand for bike share from underrepresented groups, such as people of color and people with low income). A majority of people with low income would like to use bike share more and low-income people of color are more inclined to try bike share for exercise, recreational, and social reasons (McNeil et al., 2017).
    • Black women have higher risks of nonfatal injury than women of other racial groups when traveling by foot or by car. More alarmingly, black women are the only demographic group with a higher risk of fatal injury as pedestrians than as motor vehicle occupants (McAndrews et al., 2017).
    • A ground-breaking study of near misses in the United Kingdom has revealed that bicycling speed is the main factor affecting near miss rates (incidents that don’t result in injuries but still are scary, annoying, and/or stressful). Women, who tend to bike more slowly than men do, experience higher rates of near misses than men, which can factor into and perpetuate the gender gap in bicycling. This underscores the importance of quality, safe bicycling infrastructure, particularly for more vulnerable groups (Aldred, 2016).
    • There are racial differences in bicycle infrastructure preferences and bicycling practices planners and engineers must keep in mind to increase equity in bicycling. For example, compared with white people, more Black and Hispanic people would bike more if they could bike with family and friends. This suggests that creating wider bike lanes that enable people to ride alongside each other, rather than in single file, may help increase cycling among people of color (Lusk et al., 2017).

 

Research
Constructing the cycling citizen: A critical analysis of policy imagery in Brisbane, Australia

Key takeaways:

  • Policy documents represent cyclists as white middle-aged men in lycra (MAMILs), which is an exclusionary image and representation of cyclists and cycling. The language, images, and representations used in cycling policy discourse impacts cycling modal share.
Research
Low-Income, Urban Children’s Perspectives on Physical Activity: A Photovoice Project

Key takeaway:

  • In this study, interactions with parents and peers and availability of sedentary media activities, after-school programs, and community centers influenced frequency and intensity of physical activity.
Journal Article, Research
Metrics That Matter for Population Health Action

Key takeaway:

  • Sharing health data with communities can start conversation about inequities and need for change, and metrics selected with a purpose in mind can track progress. Gathering health measurements can be challenging and should incorporate multi-sector partners.
Journal Article, Research
Promoting Equality Through Bicycle Education in the United States

Key takeaway:

  • A comprehensive approach to bicycle safety incorporates bicycle education in addition to road engineering.
Research
Pursuing Equity in Pedestrian and Bicycle Planning

Key takeaway:

  • Equity has emerged as a 6th “E” in transportation planning aimed at achieving fairness in mobility and accessibility for all community members by allocating resources according to their needs.
Research
Safe Routes Partnership: Using Coalition Building to Uplift Equity

Key takeaway:                         

  • Collaborative, comprehensive efforts with multi-sector stakeholders are needed to work toward equitable built environments.
Research
Cycling Near Misses: Their Frequency, Impact, and Prevention

This paper reports findings from The Near Miss Project, the first-ever UK study of cycling near misses—incidents that don’t result in an injury but were nevertheless scary, annoying, and/or stressful—of 1,500 cyclists. 

Research
Fear: A Silent Barrier to Bicycling in Black and Hispanic Communities

Fear is a big barrier to bicycling for Blacks and Hispanics (i.e., fear of traffic collisions, fear of robbery and assault, fear of being stranded with a broken bicycle, fear of police racial profiling, and fear of verbal harassment). 

Research
Disparities in Shared Use Agreements, Policies and Plans

This brief examines how likely children and teenagers younger than age 18 live in communities that have adopted shared use agreements in the form of resolutions, ordinances, or formal agreements, and the partnerships involved with those agreements. 

Report, Research
Active Transportation Equity: A Scan of Existing Master Plans

Key takeaway:

  • The inclusion of equity as a stated goal is emerging in pedestrian and bicycle plans across the country. This report recommends that plans include more details about the process of defining equity and improving data for equity-related performance measures.