Right Turn on Red: Energy-Saving Measure or Unsafe Maneuver?

BRUCE APPLEYARD, PHD

Dr. Appleyard is a Professor in City & Regional Planning and Public Administration at San Diego State University (SDSU), with expertise in designing and creating livable streets and facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists, geo-spatial analysis, econometrics, and applied transportation and land use policy analysis. Dr. Appleyard is the Director of the Active Transportation Research Center and an Associate Director in the Human Dynamics in the Mobile Age (HDMA) research center, both based at SDSU. Dr. Appleyard recently authored Livable Streets 2.0 about the conflict, power, and promise of our streets, how to identify problems along streets and at intersections, and how to fix them efficiently and effectively. He has also led several research efforts examining the relationship between the built environment, transportation, land use and safety, and a variety of outcomes related to public health, safety, sustainability, economic vitality, livability, and social behaviors.

ANURAG PANDE, PHD

Dr. Pande is a Professor of Civil Engineering at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly). His research interests include traffic simulation, data mining applications, and observational data analysis, including in the areas of traffic safety and crashes, driver behavior, transportation resilience, and emergency evacuation. As the faculty liaison for community-based learning at Cal Poly, he has worked with Cal Poly faculty and local agencies to support projects of mutual benefits. He serves on two Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committees as a member: Safety Data, Analysis, and Evaluation (ANB 20) and Emergency Evacuation (ABR 30). He was recognized with the “Young Researcher Award” by the Safety Data, Analysis, and Evaluation committee in 2007. Dr. Pande has co-authored more than 30 manuscripts that have been either published or are forthcoming in peer-reviewed journals. He has worked on several sponsored projects, including a study on driver behavior funded by the National Science Foundation. He was also one of the invited speakers on “Changes in Traffic Safety Policies and Regulations in 7 Countries (1950– 2010)” at the 2012 International Workshop organized by IATSS (International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences) at the United Nations University in Tokyo. He is the editor of the recently released 7th edition of Traffic Engineering Handbook (TEH), published by ITE (Institute of Transportation Engineers). The TEH has been a widely recognized reference among traffic engineering practitioners since 1941, when the 1st edition of the Handbook was released. Dr. Pande received his B.Tech. in Civil Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in Mumbai (India); and M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from University of Central Florida (UCF). 

JOSEPH GIBBONS, PHD

Dr. Gibbons is a Professor of Sociology at SDSU. His research focuses on how neighborhood demographics influence residents' well-being, with a particular emphasis on the effects of broader structural forces like residential segregation and gentrification. Dr. Gibbons has published extensively in Urban Studies journals.

SHAMS TANVIR, PHD

Dr. Tanvir is an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at Cal Poly. Dr. Tanvir researches and teaches sustainable mobility, especially the development and characterization of transportation technologies that minimize energy consumption and emissions while enhancing mobility efficiency and equity. Dr. Tanvir has extensively published in leading transportation journals on modeling transportation-related emissions. As a lead modeler in a Department of Energy project, he estimated California-wide energy and GHG savings for connected and automated vehicles (CAV) deployment. Dr. Tanvir developed methods to estimate emissions from mesoscopic simulation models by creating synthetic vehicle trajectories. Dr. Tanvir is a member of the Transportation Research Board steering committees on Highway Capacity and Quality of Services (ACP40) and Transportation Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Mitigation (AMS10).

MEGAN HONEY, MCP

Megan Honey is a Master of City Planning graduate from SDSU. She supports all aspects of academic research including geospatial analysis and literature reviews. Megan’s research focus and interests include sustainable transportation programs and systems that promote public transportation and nonmotorized transportation. She holds a BA in Environmental Science and Policy from California State University, Long Beach.

NELL AHANGARFABRIK, MCP

Nell Ahangarfabrik is a Master of City Planning graduate from SDSU. As a graduate research assistant, she contributes to various projects on transportation and safety. She also works as a long-range planner at the County of San Diego. Nell has extensive experience in geospatial analysis and coding including GIS.

MARIO CARBAJAL

Mario Carbajal is a Master of City Planning student with a BS in Natural Resources with an emphasis in Policy from Oregon State University. Mario has volunteered and interned for numerous natural resource agencies including the Audubon Society and U.S. Fish and Wildlife and for the City of San Diego City Planning Department. Mario supports academic research focused on California’s active transportation and climate action goals. He hopes to bring an equity-focused and historically underrepresented perspective to the planning field. 

MADISON SWAYNE, PHD

Dr. Swayne is an Assistant Professor of City Planning in the School of Public Affairs at SDSU and is the associate director of the Center for Regional Sustainability at SDSU. She is a social science researcher who uses mixed-methods including geospatial tools and primary data sources to answer research questions at the intersection of environmental justice and land use. Additionally, as an urban planner, she has a commitment to creating community-partnered, actionable, and open-access scholarship. Her research examines how urban form, real estate development, and environmental policies continue to reproduce and exacerbate well-documented patterns of environmental injustice.