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Suggested Citation:"Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2006. Research on Women's Issues in Transportation, Volume 1: Conference Overview and Plenary Papers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23274.
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Page 1
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Suggested Citation:"Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2006. Research on Women's Issues in Transportation, Volume 1: Conference Overview and Plenary Papers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23274.
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Page 2
Page 3
Suggested Citation:"Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2006. Research on Women's Issues in Transportation, Volume 1: Conference Overview and Plenary Papers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23274.
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Page 3
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Suggested Citation:"Overview." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2006. Research on Women's Issues in Transportation, Volume 1: Conference Overview and Plenary Papers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23274.
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1Transportation systems are shaped by system usersand their everyday lives; however, the reverse isalso true—system policy and design can also dra- matically affect people’s lives. Thus, it is relevant to ask whose views and preferences are taken into account dur- ing planning and policy making, construction, and design and management of the transport system. This deliberation applies to roadways, transit, vehicles, and policies that affect user behavior and the environment as a whole. Gender is an important factor and should be explic- itly integrated into transport research, practice, and pol- icy. A better understanding and definition of gender equity in transportation are needed to determine what gender equity means and how such equity can be accom- plished. Achieving a better understanding of gender equity is a significant challenge for future research. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The TRB Standing Committee on Women’s Issues in Transportation championed this conference from its inception to the completion of the two volumes of the conference proceedings. The committee had three main goals for the conference: • Research. The conference was designed to provide a forum for sharing existing research and data, stimulate new research, and identify future research needs including a focus on ethnic and racial differences as well as cohort and period effects in the study of gender issues in transportation. • Improved awareness. The committee wanted to raise awareness in the transportation community and the public of the importance of research on women’s trans- portation issues. The committee also wanted to provide a focus on actions and policies related to women’s trans- portation issues. • Community building. The committee wanted to reach out to the next generation of researchers, acade- mics, and program managers. Further, the committee was interested in creating opportunities for public and private partnerships. A specific objective of the conference was to identify and catalogue current knowledge so as to set the stage for identifying cross-cutting issues and gaps in the litera- ture and research programs. That is, what is known and what needs to be determined to improve women’s mobil- ity, safety, security, and access? Discussions took place at standing committee annual and midyear meetings and other venues to narrow the plethora of questions of inter- est. The following questions provided the basis for deci- sions on conference content and process. Research • What are the data needs in studying women’s trans- portation issues? Overview

• What analytic techniques are available for studying women’s issues from the National Household Travel Sur- vey and what changes need to be made to the survey to understand women’s issues better? • How can the crash investigation process be improved to understand better the safety issues relevant to women? Mobility • What are the mobility issues for older women in urban and rural areas? • To what extent does concern for personal safety guide a woman’s decisions regarding transportation options? • What are the linkages between mobility and qual- ity of life, especially for women in developing nations? • What is the impact of trip chaining on mode choice and alternative modes? • What are the interrelationships among mobility, poverty (access to jobs and social services), ethnicity, and religion? Safety and Health • What are the linkages between transportation and health? • What variables should be included in research models for examining women’s crash and injury risk (transportation mode and purpose, types of crashes, types of vehicles driven, etc.)? • What is the interrelationship between vehicle design (crashworthiness) and injury patterns for women? • How do pedestrian safety issues differ for women? • What is known about ergonomic issues related to women’s use of vehicles as a function of their work, espe- cially truck and bus drivers? Policy • To what extent are women involved in the trans- portation decision-making process? • Does involvement by women in transportation decision making result in different outcomes? Other Strong interest was expressed in two other areas that could not be accommodated by the research agenda: career development and methods for networking, infor- mation sharing, and outreach. These topics will be fur- ther explored at the TRB annual meetings and midyear meetings, conferences, and other venues. CONTENT OVERVIEW AND RESEARCH NEEDS The following are brief summaries of the discussion that took place during each plenary session and its accompa- nying breakout sessions. Understanding Women’s Travel Issues The first plenary session was led by Sandra Rosenbloom of the University of Arizona. The authors in this session focused their research on understanding such women’s travel issues as what is known about differences in women’s and men’s travel, how major societal trends are related to differences in travel by gender, and what the research, policy, and planning implications are. Three breakout sessions followed the plenary session on the topics of • Disadvantaged and elderly women in the United States and internationally, • Women’s complicated activity patterns, and • Time, travel, and activity in women’s lives. Gender differences in women’s travel experience are found on the basis of miles or kilometers of travel, number of trips, trip purposes, types and distribution of trips, trip complexity, licensing rates, crash rates, and crash severity. Some differences, such as the physi- cal impact of a crash on the body, are inherent. Other differences narrow when socioeconomic factors such as income and age are held constant. Some are related to socially constructed artifacts, such as household role, which may change over time. However, simply under- standing these differences, which are large and persis- tent, is not sufficient, especially when gender disparity arises because women are a substantial majority of the group in question, such as the poor, single parents, and those primarily responsible for household chores and management. In the discussion of future research needs, mobility issues were frequently mentioned. The mobility subjects of special interest include racial and ethnic differences, cohort and period effects, the differential impact of household responsibilities on travel, the impact of family travel on women’s mobility patterns, and the differential impact of employment patterns on women’s daily travel experience. 2 RESEARCH ON WOMEN’S ISSUES IN TRANSPORTATION

Transportation, Access, and Community Design The second plenary session, led by Susan Handy of the University of California, Davis, was followed by break- out sessions focusing on various aspects of community design: • Community design and mode choice—implications for women, • Community design and walking—how women are affected, and • Personal security in transportation—issues and solutions. The session began with a definition of community design and an examination of how it affects travel, par- ticularly for women. Access to transit, ability to walk and bike, and personal security were the dominant themes. The questions raised and examined included the following: • How and to what extent does community design affect women’s access to transit and other modes of transportation, such as walking and biking? • What effect does access have on women’s health and quality of life? • How do the personal security concerns of women differ from those of men when it comes to using transit? What kinds of technologies are being used to increase transit safety and to what degree do these technologies address the safety concerns of women? The authors and audience members identified several future research areas, beginning with the need to exam- ine how community design affects women’s travel behav- ior. Variables in need of study include density, land use mix, network characteristics, aesthetic qualities, regional structure, trip frequency, destination choice, mode choice, and total vehicle miles traveled. In addition, the methods used to study the interaction between community design and travel issues need to be expanded beyond cross-sectional survey designs and include quasi-experimental designs and intervention studies. Qualitative studies focused on women that examine family, health, and safety concerns could enhance the ability to clearly define the issues and seek appropriate solutions in design and policy. Injury Prevention and Ergonomics The third plenary session was led by Anne McCartt of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The overview paper was by Susan A. Ferguson and Keli A. Braitman. Three breakout sessions followed to delve further into the topic of injury prevention: • Pregnant women’s travel patterns and safety, • Injury and fatality among women of different ages, and • Perception and crash survivability. Many critical issues, including those discussed in the following paragraphs, were raised during this portion of the conference. Pregnancy and Motor Vehicle Safety As many as 370 traumatic fetal deaths may occur annu- ally in the United States, of which about 82% are related to motor vehicles. Placental abruption is the leading injury mechanism of fetal death, with crash severity being the strongest predictor of fetal outcome. Gender Differences in Crash Experience The number and rate of driver fatalities are increasing for women but decreasing for men. Driver fatal crash rates per mile have decreased about the same for men and women. The number of licensed drivers has been increasing at a faster rate for women than men, so that there are now as many women licensed as men. Fatal crash rates per licensed drivers are decreasing more slowly for women than men. Mileage is increasing faster for women, but men still drive more. Driver Crash and Injury Rates Among Men and Women Women are more likely than men to be injured in crashes of the same severity; however, men’s crashes are more likely to be fatal. Men have higher driver fatal crash rates per driver and per distance traveled in both the United States and Australia. Injury patterns in the same type of crash sometimes differ between men and women. Vehicle Safety Issues Frontal airbags reduce driver deaths by 12% for women but only 6% for men. Head protection side airbags reduce the risk of fatality among female and male drivers by 33% versus 44%. Torso-only airbags reduce the risk of fatality by 21% for men but do not significantly reduce women’s risk. Safety belt effectiveness is the same 3OVERVIEW

for men and women (45% for cars and about 60% for light trucks). Other Issues The conference attendees discussed additional research needs in this session. Several participants mentioned the need for more research on occupant protection for women in general, especially pregnant women. Participants also mentioned the need for more information on factors beyond increased exposure that account for the increase in women’s crashes as well as the injury variance among women and men under similar crash circumstances. It might be fruitful to develop, implement, and evaluate countermeasures focused on women drivers, passengers, and pedestrians. Since women are less likely to be involved in crashes due to poor driving behavior and more likely to wear safety belts, deterrent strategies based on understanding the crash expe- rience of women and men might be more successful. Policy and Planning Michael D. Meyer, Georgia Institute of Technology, led the fourth session, which was followed by three panels: • What are the implications of women’s trip behav- ior for planning practice? • What are the implications of women’s transporta- tion issues for policy? • What has been the international experience in planning and policy development based on gender? The authors and the subsequent discussions focused on planning and policy. There was considerable discus- sion about the implications of gender in a range of trans- portation policy areas and in broader policy areas. Also explored were the supporting roles that transportation policies can play in meeting other societal goals impor- tant to women. The experience of women’s engagement or participation in the planning and policy-making processes was also discussed, in particular barriers to and opportunities for women’s participation. Within this plenary session and its breakout sessions the discussion on future research needs fell into three areas: research focus, data, and analysis tools and methods. Research Focus Much of the conference focused on increasing the understanding of women’s transportation issues, but the real challenge may be in understanding future issues not necessarily as a projection of the past, but rather as the dynamics of future population demographics and the potential impact of technology and other behavior- forming influences. Hence, one of the next great chal- lenges to the policy and planning research associated with women’s transportation should be to focus not only on what is happening but also on why these events and circumstances are occurring. Data Many authors found access to data one of the largest challenges. The data issues involved quantity, quality, definition and interpretation, and collection methods. Often it is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish clear gender differences by examining a particular data set either because of the way the data are collected or because of how they are arrayed and managed in the database. Analysis Tools and Methods Analyses carried out in the late 1960s and early 1970s focused on the substance and form of transportation demand models and examined them for questioned modal bias. Increasingly, research is focusing on how gender and demographics affect transportation demand behavior theories, databases, and model constructs. Current approaches to evaluation and presentation of information to decision makers seldom examine distri- butional (or equity) impacts of plans, strategies, or investment actions, not only for women but also for other groups. In many ways, exploration of differential impacts is a key precursor to changing policies and plans. Little advancement has been made in terms of modeling joint household allocation decisions that result in trip differentials between members within a household. Activity-based models seem most promising for captur- ing household activity decisions and subsequent travel choices. 4 RESEARCH ON WOMEN’S ISSUES IN TRANSPORTATION

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TRB's Conference Proceedings 35, Research on Women's Issues in Transportation, Volume 1: Conference Overview and Plenary Papers contains the conference summary, the four peer-reviewed overview papers presented by the topic leaders, and a list of conference participants from a November 18-20, 2004, conference held in Chicago, Illinois. The conference was designed to identify and explore additional research and data needed to inform transportation policy decisions that address women's mobility, safety, and security needs and to encourage research by young researchers. Volume 2 contains 22 full papers from the breakout and poster sessions and 9 abstracts of papers on subjects of particular interest to the committee that were selected for publication through the committee's peer review process.

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