United States Department of Transportation
i
Application of demographic analysis to pedestrian safety : final report.
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2017-04-01
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[PDF-10.50 MB]
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Abstract:In recent years, many departments of transportation in the US have invested additional resources to enhance
pedestrian safety. However, there is still a need to effectively and systematically address the pedestrian experience
in low-income areas. A Governing analysis of pedestrian crashes found that pedestrians are fatally injured at
disproportionately higher rates in the nation’s poorer neighborhoods, and in metro areas, low-income tracts record
pedestrian fatality rates approximately twice those of more affluent neighborhoods. Low-income areas often are
sectioned by high volume/high speed arterials, which compounds the problem. This research developed a
demographics-based methodology that identifies the quantitative relationships between dependent variables such as
pedestrian crashes and severe injury crashes and independent variables including demographic and social factors,
road environmental factors, neighborhood land use attributes, and individual characteristics in low-income areas.
For demographic and social factors, major influential variables include proportions of older adults, commuters using
public transit or biking, people with a low education level, and zero-car ownership. For road environmental factors,
major influential variables include number of traffic signals per census block group, number of bus stops per mile,
and proportion of higher-speed roads in a census block group. For neighborhood land use attributes, major
influential variables include densities of discount stores, convenience stores, and fast-food restaurants. Additionally,
dark–not lighted condition is the most influential variable for severe injury in pedestrian crashes. The number of
impaired pedestrians and aggressive drivers also greatly increases the probability of severe injury. Based on the
demographics-based analysis and results, this study makes specific recommendations for both engineering
countermeasures and pedestrian safety education/outreach plans that resonate with a given area’s demographics to
effectively improve pedestrian safety in low-income areas.
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