Mindfulness, time affluence, and affective appraisals of the journey to work: an exploration of relationships

To date, behavioral travel research has neglected to examine the role of mindfulness in the context of the work commute. Mindfulness is a psychological construct that involves a present-oriented, open, and nonjudgmental expression of conscious awareness. It has been associated with improvements to mental health, social engagement, and behavioral regulation. In this research, I examined ways in which users of different commuting modes (walkers, bicyclists, drivers, and bus users) perceive their journey to work from an affective stance. I then assessed commuter group differences with respect to dispositional mindfulness and time affluence (the perception that one has sufficient time to engage in pleasurable, meaningful activity). Finally, I explored direct and indirect relationships between mindfulness and commute-related attunement (the degree to which commuters find their work trip satisfying and peaceful), and how time affluence, commute-related stress, and competence partially mediate this relationship. I hypothesized that (a) non-motorized commuters would find their commute more affirming and less stressful than drivers or bus users; (b) that non-motorized commuters would report greater time affluence and mindfulness than drivers and bus users; and (c) that time affluence, competence, and stress would partially mediate a mindfulness-attunement relationship. I surveyed 786 university employees about their (a) relative degrees competence, stress, and attunement in the context of the work commute; (b) perceptions of time affluence over the previous month; and (c) levels of dispositional mindfulness. Our results revealed that bus users, walkers and bicyclists reported significantly less stress than drivers. Walkers and bicyclists reported greater positive journey-based affect than drivers and bus users. Additionally, walkers and bus users maintained relatively greater perceptions of time affluence than drivers. Structural equation models illustrated that mindfulness, operating through time affluence, competence, and stress both directly and indirectly enhances attunement to the commuting experience. Considered together, these findings suggest that in order to encourage individuals to engage in active transportation, it may prove profitable to enhance individual-level time affluence and sense of competence using non-motorized modes. This study also promotes the broadening of behavioral travel research to include investigations of ways in which mindfulness and elements of natural and built environments produce synergistic effects toward enhancing mental health.Master of City and Regional Plannin

Awareness of Vision Zero among United States’ road safety professionals

Abstract Background Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all fatalities and serious injuries from road traffic crashes, while increasing safe and equitable mobility for all. In 2015, the United States’ Department of Transportation announced the official target of the federal government transportation safety policy was zero deaths. In 2017, we assessed the dissemination of Vision Zero in the United States. Methods We conducted a web-based survey in 2017 among road safety professionals. Email invitations were sent using relevant membership directories and conference lists. Results We surveyed 192 road safety professionals, including planning/engineering (57.8%), public health (16.7%), and law enforcement/emergency medical services (EMS) (8.9%). Awareness of Vision Zero was higher among planning/engineering fields (97.3%) compared to law enforcement/EMS (76.5%) and public health (75.0%). Awareness was similar by number of years working in the field. Awareness was higher in the South (95.9%) and Northeast (95.0%) regions, followed by the West (90.8%) and Midwest (85.2%) Census regions. Among those that heard of Vision Zero (n = 174), 41.8% worked at a municipality with a Vision Zero campaign, while 41.2% did not. Among those working at a municipality with a Vision Zero campaign (n = 71), about half participated in the campaign (54.9%) while the other half did not (45.1%). Conclusions With widespread dissemination of the Vision Zero strategy to road safety professionals, next steps include evaluating how Vision Zero is being adopted, implemented, and maintained in communities, as well as the awareness and acceptability by community members, and to identify the most promising policies and practices

A novel Vision Zero leadership training model to support collaboration and strategic action planning

Introduction: While collaboration and cooperation are regarded as foundational to Vision Zero (VZ) and Safe Systems initiatives, there is little guidance on structuring VZ collaboration, conducting collaborative goal setting, and aligning tangible action across organizations. As part of a larger VZ mutual learning model, we developed a VZ Leadership Team Institute to support communities in collaborative VZ strategic planning and goal setting. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and evaluation of the Institute, which can serve as a foundation for other initiatives seeking to move VZ planning and implementation forward in a collaborative, systems-aware manner.Methods: In June 2021, eight multi-disciplinary teams of 3–6 persons each (n = 42 participants) attended the Institute, representing leaders from communities of various sizes. Surveys were administered pre, immediately post, and 6 months following the Institute. We measured confidence in a range of skills (on a 5-point scale, 1: not confident to 5: very confident). Surveys also measured coalition collaboration pre-Institute and 6 months post-Institute (on a 4-point scale, 1: strongly disagree to 4: strongly agree).Results: The largest increases in confidence from pre- to immediately post-Institute were for collaboratively drafting objectives and actions for VZ goals (pre-mean: 2.6, SD: 0.9 to post-mean: 3.8, SD: 0.9); incorporating equity into goals (pre-mean: 2.8, SD: 1.0 to post-mean: 3.9, SD: 0.8); and knowing how to keep VZ planning and implementation efforts on track (pre-mean: 2.6, SD: 1.0 to post-mean: 3.7, SD: 0.7). For all measures, average confidence in skills decreased from immediately post-Institute to 6 months post-Institute, but remained greater than average scores pre-Institute. Several measures of coalition collaboration maintained high agreement across time, and mean agreement increased for reporting that the future direction of the coalition was clearly communicated to everyone (pre-mean: .6, SD: 0.8; 6 months post-mean: 3.1, SD: 0.4). However, average scores decreased for feeling like the coalition had adequate staffing (pre-mean: 3.0, SD: 0.6; 6 months post-mean: 2.3, SD: 0.5).Discussion: The Institute utilized innovative content, tools, and examples to support VZ coalitions’ collaborative and systems-aware planning and implementation processes. As communities work toward zero transportation deaths and serious injuries, providing effective support models to aid multidisciplinary planning and action around a Safe Systems approach will be important to accelerate progress toward a safer transportation system

A systematic review of rodent pest research in Afro-Malagasy small-holder farming systems: Are we asking the right questions?

Rodent pests are especially problematic in terms of agriculture and public health since they can inflict considerable economic damage associated with their abundance, diversity, generalist feeding habits and high reproductive rates. To quantify rodent pest impacts and identify trends in rodent pest research impacting on small-holder agriculture in the Afro-Malagasy region we did a systematic review of research outputs from 1910 to 2015, by developing an a priori defined set of criteria to allow for replication of the review process. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We reviewed 162 publications, and while rodent pest research was spatially distributed across Africa (32 countries, including Madagascar), there was a disparity in number of studies per country with research biased towards four countries (Tanzania [25%], Nigeria [9%], Ethiopia [9%], Kenya [8%]) accounting for 51% of all rodent pest research in the Afro-Malagasy region. There was a disparity in the research themes addressed by Tanzanian publications compared to publications from the rest of the Afro-Malagasy region where research in Tanzania had a much more applied focus (50%) compared to a more basic research approach (92%) in the rest of the Afro-Malagasy region. We found that pest rodents have a significant negative effect on the Afro-Malagasy small-holder farming communities. Crop losses varied between cropping stages, storage and crops and the highest losses occurred during early cropping stages (46% median loss during seedling stage) and the mature stage (15% median loss). There was a scarcity of studies investigating the effectiveness of various management actions on rodent pest damage and population abundance. Our analysis highlights that there are inadequate empirical studies focused on developing sustainable control methods for rodent pests and rodent pests in the Africa-Malagasy context is generally ignored as a research topic

Awareness of Vision Zero among United States’ road safety professionals

Abstract Background Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all fatalities and serious injuries from road traffic crashes, while increasing safe and equitable mobility for all. In 2015, the United States’ Department of Transportation announced the official target of the federal government transportation safety policy was zero deaths. In 2017, we assessed the dissemination of Vision Zero in the United States. Methods We conducted a web-based survey in 2017 among road safety professionals. Email invitations were sent using relevant membership directories and conference lists. Results We surveyed 192 road safety professionals, including planning/engineering (57.8%), public health (16.7%), and law enforcement/emergency medical services (EMS) (8.9%). Awareness of Vision Zero was higher among planning/engineering fields (97.3%) compared to law enforcement/EMS (76.5%) and public health (75.0%). Awareness was similar by number of years working in the field. Awareness was higher in the South (95.9%) and Northeast (95.0%) regions, followed by the West (90.8%) and Midwest (85.2%) Census regions. Among those that heard of Vision Zero (n = 174), 41.8% worked at a municipality with a Vision Zero campaign, while 41.2% did not. Among those working at a municipality with a Vision Zero campaign (n = 71), about half participated in the campaign (54.9%) while the other half did not (45.1%). Conclusions With widespread dissemination of the Vision Zero strategy to road safety professionals, next steps include evaluating how Vision Zero is being adopted, implemented, and maintained in communities, as well as the awareness and acceptability by community members, and to identify the most promising policies and practices

Measuring Pedestrian Level of Stress in Urban Environments: Naturalistic Walking Pilot Study

Walking is the most basic and sustainable mode of transportation, and many jurisdictions would like to see increased walking rates as a way of reducing congestion and emission levels and improving public health. In the United States, walking trips account for 10.5% of all trips undertaken. To increase this rate, additional research on what makes people feel more comfortable while walking is needed. Research on pedestrian quality of service (QOS) has sought to quantify the performance of the pedestrian facilities from a pedestrian’s perspective. However, the impact of pedestrian safety countermeasures on pedestrian QOS for roadway crossings is largely unknown. The objective of this study is to discern pedestrian QOS based on physiological measurements of pedestrians performing normal walking activities in different traffic contexts. The naturalistic walking study described in this paper recruited 15 pedestrians and asked each to wear an instrumented wristband and GPS recorder on all walking trips for one week. Surprisingly, the findings from the study showed no correlation between participants’ stress levels and individual crossing locations. Instead, stress was associated with roadway conditions. Higher levels of stress were generally associated with walking in proximity to collector and arterial streets and in areas with industrial and mixed (e.g., offices, retail, residential) land uses. Stress levels were tempered in lower-density residential land uses, as well as in forest, park, and university campus environments. The outcomes from this study can inform how planners design urban environments that reduce pedestrian stress levels to promote walkability. Walking is the most basic and sustainable mode of transportation, and many jurisdictions would like to see increased walking rates as a way of reducing congestion and emission levels and improving public health. In the United States, on a typical day in 2017, there were 38.9 million walking trips accounting for 10.5% of all trips undertaken. Walking is thus the second most prevalent mode after driving or riding in an automobile (1). Despite this, walking has received far less attention than the automobile with respect to guidance on planning, designing, and operating safe, functional, and comfortable facilities. Early research efforts on pedestrian quality of service (QOS) analysis employed vehicular performance measures such as delay and density. More recent research efforts have sought to quantify the operation of the pedestrian facilities from the pedestrian’s point of view and have been included in the recent versions of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) (2, 3). The HCM defines QOS as “a description of how well a transportation facility or service operates from a traveler’s perspective.” The HCM 6th ed. uses pedestrian delay as the basis for determining the level of service (LOS) of uncontrolled street crossings (3). The effects of some countermeasures on LOS can be evaluated using the HCM based on their ability to improve motorist yielding rates to pedestrians, shorten crossing distances, or both, which tends to reduce pedestrian delay. However, it is not known whether the presence of safety countermeasures improved QOS in other ways. For example, all else being equal, does the presence of a safety countermeasure correspond to a decrease in stress for the pedestrian? The objective of this study was to determine how safety countermeasures affect the pedestrian QOS of roadway crossings, based on physiological measurements of pedestrians performing normal walking activities in varied traffic contexts. This study was part of a larger National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 17-87, the objective of which was the determine the effect of specific safety countermeasures on pedestrian satisfaction. The larger study followed a three-pronged approach to evaluating pedestrian crossing satisfaction and included the naturalistic walking study, which is the focus of this paper. The naturalistic walking study recruited 15 pedestrians in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and asked each to wear an instrumented wristband and GPS recorder on all walking trips for one week. Physiological measurements, including heart rate (HR) and electrodermal activity (EDA) were collected to record indicators of actual pedestrian stress levels, which are a proxy of pedestrian QOS. During their normal walking trips, participants encountered a variety of environments, from high traffic roadways with signalized intersections to tree-lined paths in pedestrian dominated areas. This provided a variety of contexts from which to compare pedestrian stress levels. This approach is novel in the study of pedestrian satisfaction. The findings from this study demonstrated no correlation between participants’ stress levels and individual crossing locations. Instead, stress was associated with roadway conditions with higher levels of stress being generally associated with walking in proximity to collector and arterial streets and in areas with industrial and mixed (e.g., offices, retail, residential) land uses. Stress levels were tempered in lower-density residential land uses, as well as in forest, park, and university campus environments. The paper is laid out as follows. The background section provides a summary of related work on pedestrian QOS. The methods section is next, followed by results and conclusions

Additional file 1: of Awareness of Vision Zero among United States’ road safety professionals

2017 Roadway Safety Practitioner Survey. (PDF 25 kb