Third of three parts
NEWS REPORTS about safety and transportation may conjure images of crumbling bridges or that Orange Line train that caught fire crossing the Mystic River. While the condition of the roads and rails are certainly a concern, the top reasons that Massachusetts residents feel unsafe getting around has more to do with the behavior of other travelers.
The safety results from this most recent poll hinge largely on where you draw the line in the sand. Excluding those who said they did not use certain modes (mostly transit and biking), majorities do feel at least “somewhat safe.” But a quarter or less feel “very safe” on the state’s highways, various forms of public transit, or riding a bike. Only 17 percent of bus riders, 16 percent of subway riders, and only 12 percent of cyclists feel “very safe.”
“Very” and “somewhat” responses are often grouped together, particularly when measuring support or opposition to a policy proposal or a public figure’s approval rating. But when it comes to safety, the question is whether feeling “somewhat safe” getting around is good enough? If not, these results suggest there is much more that could be done to make residents feel fully safe getting around.
And that starts with addressing other travelers’ behavior. Among those who feel unsafe driving, three of the top four reasons concerned other drivers: reckless or speeding drivers (82 percent), drivers distracted by their phones (77 percent), and road rage (61 percent). Two-thirds (66 percent) cited road conditions, so both infrastructure and how drivers are using it are concerns.
Transit riders who feel unsafe cite crime and violence as their top concern (71 percent), followed by overcrowding (54 percent), and old or broken transit vehicles or stations (43 percent each).
Pedestrians who feel unsafe are most concerned about crime (65 percent), followed by distracted (55 percent) and reckless drivers (54 percent).
We first observed this concern with crime in a series of focus groups about the MBTA from this summer. When we asked about safety, we expected to hear about old trains and stations, but instead heard harrowing stories about crime on buses or stalking or harassment from other riders.
Those who feel unsafe riding a bike are also worried about speeding and reckless drivers (72 percent) and distracted driving (69 percent). Safety is also a reason why 27 percent of residents report not riding a bike at all. The top reasons for not riding bikes was simply not having one (55 percent) or a lack of interest (35 percent). But 19 percent of non-cyclists said they did not feel safe riding, 13 percent worried about reckless or speeding drivers, and 6 percent were worried about drivers distracted by their phones. If these residents felt safer, some of them might be willing to give cycling a try.
Between 25 percent and 30 percent of residents are not riding transit, depending on the mode. Again safety is not the top reason why, but it is a factor. When asked why they don’t ride transit, 10 percent of non-riders cited crime, 8 percent the safety of vehicles or stations, and 8 percent the chance of catching COVID or another disease while riding. These are not the top reasons for not riding transit, but they do suggest that safety is an underlying concern that is keeping some fraction of residents off trains and buses.
We’ve asked about safety in prior polls and found similar levels of concerns. An August 2023 poll found that majorities of residents living in the 175 cities and towns served by the T have felt unsafe at least once or twice on transit due to the condition of the infrastructure (70 percent) or other reasons (67 percent). And a June 2022 poll found that less than 20 percent of residents statewide rated each type of infrastructure (highways, bridges, local roads, various types of transit, bike lanes, and sidewalks) as being in “very safe” condition.
Safety may not be residents top concern about transportation, but it is a threshold issue for any mode of travel. If travelers don’t feel safe enough on a bus, train, or road, they’ll avoid it, and getting them back will be that much harder. What this latest poll reveals is that it’s not just the condition of the roads and rails residents are worried about; it’s how other people are using them as well.
Richard Parr is the senior research director of the MassINC Policy Group. The first and second parts or this series are available here and here.
About the poll
These results are based on a survey of 1,390 Massachusetts residents. Oversamples were conducted to obtain a total of 204 Black, 197 Latino, and 151 Asian residents. Responses were collected by online survey and live interviews via landline and cell phones from October 23 to November 6, 2023. Results within race and ethnicity were weighted by age, gender, and education level. These were then combined and weighted by race, age, gender, education, geography, and political identification to reflect known and estimated population parameters for the adult population of Massachusetts. The credibility interval for this survey is +/- 3.0 percentage points for the entire sample, including the design effect. This project was conducted by The MassINC Polling Group and sponsored by The Barr Foundation.