Category: Safety & Education

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Safety & Education

What’s a VRUSA and what does it say about Michigan?

A new report compares Michigan with five other Midwestern states.

Walking, accessibility, biking, and transit saw considerable improvements in policy and funding with the adoption of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. An often overlooked piece of those legislative changes was the creation of a new document: the Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessment (VRUSA, also pronounced Ver-roo-suh, for short).

The VRUSA is a tool to evaluate how a state Department of Transportation (DOT) understands the issue of traffic violence among people who walk, roll, and bike. It also documents what state DOTs are doing to address and improve the safety of vulnerable road users. 

While every state is supposed to follow the same guidance from the Federal Highway Administration with developing their own VRUSA, that does not always look the same in practice. These documents are essentially self assessments — the onus is on states to evaluate themselves and their efforts. 

In creating their VRUSAs, each state needed to detail their efforts to protect vulnerable road users in five key areas:

  1. Overview of VRU Safety Performance – what trends exist in VRU crashes and what progress is the state DOT making to address this?
  2. Summary of Quantitative Analysis – what data and methodology did the state DOT use to identify high-risk areas of VRUs?
  3. Summary of Consultation – who did the state DOT consult with in the community and what solutions did these individuals or groups offer?
  4. Program of Projects or Strategies – what specific steps is the state DOT taking to reduce VRU crashes?
  5. Safe System Approach (SSA) – how was the Safe System Approach incorporated into the state DOT’s VRUSA?

The first major deadline for states to complete and submit their VRUSA was November 2023. After that, states are expected to update the document as part of their Strategic Highway Safety Plan update, which must be completed every five years. 

Thanks to funding from the RE-AMP Network, we were able to study this further in partnership with BikeWalkKC, 1000 Friends of Iowa, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, Bike Cleveland and Transportation Riders United. We analyzed and compared the VRUSAs of Michigan and five other states and compiled our work into the findings below:

Click here to read the report: Comparing Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessments in the Midwest

The report covers three key areas:

  1. Ways that the Federal Highway Administration can strengthen its guidance on how state DOTs develop their VRUSAs,
  2. Details on how each state completed (or didn’t complete) the required parts of a VRUSA, and
  3. Recommendations on how those states can do more to support the needs of vulnerable road users in the future.

Additionally, the report makes recommendations for how each state DOT can do more to support the needs of vulnerable road users. What did this look like for Michigan?

  • MDOT’s program of projects and strategies should address the changes needed to make VRU safety a key criteria in road project funding prioritization (e.g. implementation of Virginia’s SMART SCALE program).
  • MDOT should identify existing projects and strategies that are a barrier to improving VRU safety.

In light of these points, the question becomes: “How can advocates in other states use this approach to push their state DOTs to do more for Vulnerable Road Users?” Examples include:

  • Draw attention to dangerous corridors. Use the report to highlight the dangers for people who walk, roll, and bike along corridors identified as harmful. Invite your state DOT staff and/or local media to do a walk audit along those corridors so they understand the challenges from the pedestrian perspective.
  • Share the VRUSA with local leaders. Make sure that the elected leaders and staff of communities that are overrepresented in your state’s VRUSA know and understand why their community is unsafe for vulnerable road users and what can be done to address it. That can help to strengthen your efforts to get the state DOT to do more.
  • Push state DOTs to take steps they have missed or ignored. What the VRUSA says or does not say is a reflection of what a state DOT has done or not done. Advocates can help the public understand that the poor safety outcomes may speak to the need for additional steps. In Missouri, for example, BikeWalkKC is using the VRUSA to push MoDOT to develop a statewide active transportation plan (one of only five states that has not taken this crucial step).

In publishing this report, we hope to demystify the Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessment for active transportation advocates across the country. The goal is to make it easier for people to understand what their state DOT is (or is not) doing for its most vulnerable road users. It serves as a tool to help people push their state DOTs to do better.

The fact that 54% of pedestrian fatalities occur on state-owned roads, according to the group Smart Growth America, means the VRUSA comes at a critical time in the fight for safer streets.

Streetsblog has also covered this report in Everything You Need to Know About Keeping Pedestrians and Bicyclists Safe In Your State, in One Document. It includes an interview with Michael Kelley of BikeWalkKC, who helped lead this project.

Two men in gray shirts with I bike KC standing in a colorful crosswalk with a church in the background
Categories
Complete Streets Safety & Education

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

The Detroit Greenways Coalition is joining communities around the world in observing the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, taking place on November 17th, 2024. This annual observance serves as an opportunity to honor the lives lost and affected by road traffic crashes, raise awareness about road safety, and advocate for safer, more sustainable transportation systems for all.

The Detroit Greenways Coalition, a non-profit organization dedicated to the expansion and improvement of the city’s network of safe walking, biking, and rolling pathways, recognizes the vital need for systemic change to prevent road traffic fatalities and injuries in Detroit and beyond. This day serves as a reminder of the human cost of unsafe roadways and underscores the importance of a holistic approach to transportation that prioritizes safety, equity, and environmental sustainability.

“We mourn the lives lost on our streets, and we stand with the families, friends, and communities who are affected by traffic violence,” said Todd Scott, Executive Director of the Detroit Greenways Coalition. “In Detroit, too many people are impacted by preventable crashes, and we are committed to advocating for policies and infrastructure that protect the most vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, cyclists, and people with disabilities.”

The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, which began in 1995, is observed in over 50 countries and calls for action on issues of road safety, justice for victims, and accountability for those who contribute to the epidemic of road traffic injuries and fatalities. In Detroit, the Coalition is amplifying its efforts to support Vision Zero goals—an initiative aimed at reducing all traffic fatalities to zero.

“We must work together to create safe streets that are designed for people, not just cars. We’re optimistic that the $62.5 million Detroit has received in Safe Streets for All funding will help address the most dangerous streets and intersections,” said Scott. “However, Detroit’s 1,285 road fatalities during the past decade (with nearly one-third being vulnerable road users) is a stark reminder that this work is far from done.”

Categories
Climate Action Safety & Education

Our MDOT Five-Year Transportation Plan comments

From the cover of MDOT's draft 5 year transportation plan

We submitted the below comments on MDOT’s 2025-2029 Five-Year Transportation Plan. This year we did not have any comments specific to Detroit projects within the plan. However, we did ask how this plan supports and helps meet MDOT’s Toward Zero Deaths goal and Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Carbon Neutrality pledge. We’d note that the plan’s cover includes a photo of 14th Street construction in Corktopwn that removed the bike lanes.

Safety

The MDOT trunkline safety goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries by 2050 will not be met by reliance on “several safety initiatives and strategies.” (Page 23) We ask for a more sober assessment that this goal will not be achieved without fundamental changes in how MDOT prioritizes, funds and designs its trunklines while also making investments that encourage modeshift to public transit and active transportation. The latter is critically necessary for MDOT to reach its safety goal, yet we don’t see this mentioned in the plan, even in Public Transportation Program Impacts. (Page 19).

We ask that you show the required annual performance targets to get MDOT to zero by 2050. If you can project pavement and bridge condition through 2040 then there’s no reason why safety can’t be given this similar forward looking graph.

MDOT’s prioritization of safety is not apparent from the provided project list, including the proposed HSIP list. Is MDOT prioritizing safety projects in the high-injury network? By far, Wayne County has more trunkline fatalities and serious injuries than any other Michigan county, yet no proposed HSIP projects are listed for it.

Carbon Neutrality

This plan has a modest mention of MDOT’s Carbon Reduction Strategy (using a broken hyperlink) but doesn’t show how these strategies affect the provided project list. Do these projects reduce carbon emissions and will they get the state to carbon neutrality by 2050?

Similar to our safety comments, we want to see carbon emissions performance targets through 2050. We want to know where we are at today and what changes need to be made to get us to zero.

And as we noted earlier, modeshift to public transit and active transportation must be clearly called out in the plan as a fundamental safety and carbon neutrality strategy.

Categories
Greenways Safety & Education

Detroit Trails Excluded

People gathered to celebrate the opening of the UniRoyal Promenade in October 2023.

Back in 2017, we were made aware that trails within the city of Detroit were not included in the Michigan Trails Magazine — both the print publication and the website — which claims to include “more than 180 of Michigan’s best non-motorized biking, hiking, cross-country skiing, and water trails.”

According to the Internet Archive, the Detroit RiverWalk and Dequindre Cut were shown on the website in 2015.

We contacted the publisher and learned they were removed after they’d experienced an unfortunate smash-and-grab at a Detroit trailhead parking lot. The publisher told us they could no longer recommend Detroit trails to its readers.

They will simply become more easy prey for Detroit’s criminals. I would be doing Detroit’s criminals a big favor sending more easy money their way.

Email correspondence with the publisher, June 2017

We noted that a Macomb County trail had a murder, but that trail remained in the publication.

We shared this issue with the Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance, which we are a member of. The compromise they reached was for the publisher to link to our website’s Detroit Riverfront Trail Network page. When we recently added context to that page explaining this exclusion, the link was removed.

Our Tweet goes Viral

When dropping off our new Detroit Bike and Trail Maps at the Michigan Welcome Center in Southwest Detroit, we saw the magazine and tweeted about this exclusion.

It went viral with nearly 73K impressions in a week’s time, including a very thoughtful response from State Representative Laurie Pohutsky, who chairs the House Natural Resources, Environmental, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation committee.

Next Steps

We’ve patiently waited for a permanent solution to this issue. Our tweet has unexpectedly rekindled discussions on how to move forward on this.

We’ve met with MTGA, MEDC (who manages the Pure Michigan brand), and others. The Detroit News published the article, Michigan’s ‘premier’ trails magazine omits Detroit walkways ($). More groups have plans to release statements. We wouldn’t be surprised if some of the publication’s sponsors weigh in on this as well.

But in the end, it’s a private publication that can choose what to include and what not to.

We will continue doing our best making more people aware of this.

Thanks to Craig Wood and others who brought this to our attention and offered their assistance in this matter.

Categories
Safety & Education

Right Turns and Bike Lanes

There’s been some misinformation being shared on social media from bicyclists saying that motorists should be “adjacent to the curb, and sometimes that means entering what’s been striped as the ‘bike lane'”.

That’s not correct.

The cite Michigan Motor Vehicle Code, which says:

(1) The driver of a vehicle intending to turn at an intersection shall do so as follows:

    (a) Both the approach for a right turn and a right turn shall be made as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway.

MCL – Section 257.647

The law says the curb or the “edge of the roadway.” The Vehicle Code defines the “roadway” as that portion of a street that’s “improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel.” Bikes are not vehicles in Michigan, therefore bike lanes are not part of the roadway. Neither are parking lanes, shoulders or striped buffer areas.

MDOT’s “What Every Michigan Drive Should Know About Bicycle Lanes” provides this clear graphic showing how to properly make a legal right turn at the edge of the roadway.

In fact, driving in the bike lane to make a turn is a misdemeanor under the Michigan State Police’s Uniform Traffic Code Rule 322, which most Michigan cities, townships, villages, and counties adopt as local ordinances.

(1) A person shall not operate a vehicle on or across a bicycle lane, except to enter or leave adjacent property.
(2) A person shall not park a vehicle on a bicycle lane, except where parking is permitted by official signs.
(3) A person who violates this rule is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Uniform Traffic Code Rule 322

The big takeaways are don’t drive in the bike lane and don’t believe everything you read on social media.

Categories
Complete Streets Policy Safety & Education

Four Big Wins

Photo by Paul Schweiger

Update: Shortly after this post was published, the Governor signed HB 4012.

We’re involved in many different challenges at the city, state, and federal levels. We’ve been on a hot streak since late last year and we wanted to share the highlights of what we helped accomplish.

Restoring Bike Lanes ✅

We had heard that General Motors wanted the bike lanes removed on East Grand Boulevard primarily between their Factory Zero plant and I-75. There were concerns about truck traffic around bicyclists, though if that was correct, we would prefer seeing them advocate for separated infrastructure. People are going to bike on East Grand regardless and bike lanes are a proven safety countermeasure.

The City was planning a public meeting to discuss options before anything happened. However, we got an email from a bicyclist in January that the bike lanes had been removed early.

We brought this issue up with Council member Scott Benson. When former Council President Brenda Jones had introduced an ordinance to require communtiy engagement before bike lanes went in, Benson got wording included so that engagement would be also required when they were removed. This was largely driven by the bike lanes inexplictably being removed from East Grand between I-75 and Woodward.

Fortunately, former City of Detroit CFO David Massaron started as GM’s chief economic development and real estate officer in January. Benson setup a meeting with him, DPW, and us. The result is the bike lanes will be reinstalled as soon as the weather allows.

This is a safety win for everyone, including the truck drivers. Long term, we’re advocating for the city to create safe bike infrastructure along all of East and West Grand Boulevard, connecting both ends of the RiverWalk, and creating a loop within the Joe Louis Greenway.

Keeping Downtown Sidewalks ✅

It’s not uncommon for residents and corporations to request that city vacate part of the public right-of-way. Engineering analyzes the impact on utilities and sends the petition to city council.

In late Novemeber we reviewed a request from the Detroit Athletic Club to vacate 60 feet of John R between Adams and Madison. Our concern was this included losing the sidewalk – a bad precedent, but especially in Downtown. We contacted Council member Gabriela Santiago-Romero’s office since she chairs the Public Health and Safety Committee where this request flowed through. We stated our opposition to the city “giving sidewalks to a private landowner and reducing walkability, especially within the Downtown.” We reached out to our disability advocates who shared our concern.

We met with the DAC and the Council member Santiago-Romero about the vacation, and to their credit, the DAC came up with an alternative that keeps the sidewalks on both sides of John R. The road itself will go from three lanes to two. We support this.

The biggest issue remains: Council received this vacation request without any information regarding the sidewalk removal, only the impacts on utilities within the right-of-way. We are looking at changing the city ordinance to require Engineering to analyze the impacts these requests have on non-motorized transportation.

Maintaining Residential Speed Limits ✅

Michigan law allows cities to use default speed limits in specific situations. They don’t require speed limit signs since motorists should know the defaults. For most residential streets in Detroit, the default is 25 MPH.

That default was set to expire on January 1, 2024. Why? The expiration had been added to gain the support of the Michigan State Police for some other legislation. MSP wanted to study whether they could raise this default. Apparently the effects of this on Detroit neighborhoods and many older suburbs wasn’t considered. We alerted the Michigan Municipal League of this issue.

Last year, House Bill 4126 was introduced to keep the 25 MPH default. Unfortunately it got “stuck” in the House throughout the summer. We reached out to House Speaker Joe Tate to help get the bill moving — and it did. From the House to the Senate, we worked with committee leaders to keep this bill progressing along. It was signed by the Governor Gretchen Whitmer in late November.

Setting Lower Speed Limits ✅

We’ve worked with State Representative Bradley Slagh for three sessions, but it seems we’ve finally helped push his speed limit bill onto the Governor’s desk.

Speed limits are commonly set based on the 85th fastest motorist when they aren’t using the default speed limits mentioned above. However, if the 85th fastest motorist was at 43 MPH, current law requires the limit to be rounded up to 45 MPH. Rep. Slaugh first introduced a bill to give road agencies the ability to round down to 40 MPH. However, it also unintentionally removed the ability of counties to set speed limits based on an engineering study, so we got involved.

We helped improved the text to clarify that all speed limits can be set based on engineering studies. We also got a resolution of support from city council thanks to Council member Benson.

The bill, House Bill 4012, also got slowed up and Speaker Tate got it moving to the Senate. We gave testimony in Lansing at the Senate Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The example we shared was of MDOT/MSP raising the speed limit by 10 MPH on Fort Street in Detroit despite it being between a neighborhood and Kemeny Rec Center/Park. After the change, a young boy was killed walking to the park. That was in Senator Stephanie Chang’s district, but after redistricting, was now in Senator Erika Geiss’, both of whom were on the committee with Geiss as chair.

The bill was unanimously moved to the Senate floor with a recommendation for approval. It’s now on the Governor’s desk.