01698195

Component

Active modes of transportation (i.e., walking and cycling) have been promoted as they are sustainable and improve public health. However, pedestrians and bicyclists are more exposed to traffic fatalities and injuries, and their higher crash risk has prevented people to choose such active modes. In the previous studies, the safety-in-numbers (SIN) effect have been found, which is a phenomenon that when the number of pedestrians or cyclists increase, their crash rates decrease. The previous studies used data from highly populated areas. It is questionable that the SIN is still valid in areas with a low population density and small number of pedestrians. Thus, this study aims at analyzing pedestrian crashes in a suburban area in Central Florida and exploring if the SIN effect is also observed. The authors employ a Bayesian random-parameter Poisson-lognormal model. The results show that the SIN effects were found only at 32 intersections out of 219. The intersections with the SIN have relatively larger pedestrian activities whereas those without the SIN have extremely small pedestrian activities. It implies that just encouraging walking might result in serious pedestrian safety issues in a suburban area without sufficient pedestrian activities. Therefore, on one hand, it is required to encourage more people to walk. On the other hand, it is also required to establish and implement an effective plan to minimize traffic crashes involving pedestrians, especially in areas with small number of pedestrians.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF10 Standing Committee on Pedestrians.

19-00133

English

7p

2019

Transportation Research Board 98th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References (29)

Crash risk forecasting; Intersections; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrians; Risk assessment; Suburbs; Traffic density

Central Florida

Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2019 Paper #19-00133

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 7 2018 9:48AM