CAEM Assistant Professor Aims to Reform Inequities in Traffic Safety

Alyssa Ryan, an assistant professor of civil and architectural engineering and mechanics in the University of Arizona College of Engineering, is leading a national study to identify disparities in traffic safety for all transportation users, including drivers, bicyclists and walkers.

"Transportation engineering is very focused on people and impacting society and how people interact with the world," said Ryan. "If you don't have transportation, you can't do anything."

With a $467,000 award from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and building on Ryan's previous research, the project aims to identify populations most at risk for crash injuries given factors such as location, race, sex, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. National resources, such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in 2021, are providing billions of dollars to states for equitable transportation improvements, and the researchers plan to take their findings and recommendations to officials in every state.

"We're really looking for trends, what is happening across the United States and who is getting into these crashes," said Ryan, also assistant director at the Center for Applied Transportation Sciences in the College of Engineering.

Read more about Ryan's work in promoting equity in traffic safety here.