01551143

Component

Road crashes are considered as one of the main threats to human life around the world. Children pedestrians are most at risk to be seriously injured in road crashes, in particular, those from economically disadvantaged communities. Various factors contribute to their high involvement in road crashes. Some of these factors are related to the characteristics of the children and their parents, while others are related to the physical urban road environment. The share of Arab children in Israel (<15 years old) in pedestrians’ fatalities far exceeds their fraction in their age group. Therefore, effective and immediate measures to increase their safety are required. The present research, a part of a larger ongoing project, proposes a multifaceted approach and applies it to a real case study in the Arab local council of Jadeidi-Makr in Israel. The proposed approach is based on: (1) data collected by means of questionnaires posted to the children and their parents concerning the travel characteristics of the children to school; (2) objective data on the children walking routes collected by GPS-enabled watches; and (3) road safety auditing of the school environment and the main routes to the school. The results of this study found that children’s characteristics, their travel behavioral patterns, their parents' safety perceptions, and the road environment are all significant factors when considering children’s safety as pedestrians. Thus, improvements in the infrastructure, children and parents’ safety awareness, and police enforcement are essential to increase Arab children’s safety. The responsible authorities, decision and policy makers are called to join forces and take immediate actions to realize the suggested improvements in reality.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANB10 Transportation Safety Management. Alternate title: A Multi-Faceted Approach for Assessing the Safety of Israeli Arab Kids in their Travel to and from School.

01550057

15-1223

English

21p

2015

Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Maps; Photos; References; Tables

Case studies; Crash causes; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; School children; School trips; Travel behavior; Vulnerable road users

Arabs

Israel

Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; I80: Accident Studies

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2015 Paper #15-1223

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 30 2014 12:29PM