Patterning Demographic and Socioeconomic Characteristics Affecting Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Frequency

The objective of this study was to investigate factors influencing occurrence of pedestrian and bicycle crashes in Tennessee. Of interest were demographic and socio-economic, roadway geometry, traffic, and land use factors that could influence pedestrian crash rates on specific infrastructure. Geographic Information System (GIS) and statistical modeling were applied to study the crash patterns with respect to these factors. GIS was used to geo-locate and cluster the crash locations onto the roadway network, joined with background data of the crash locations. Negative Binomial (NB) regression was used to model the relationship between contributing factors and the crashes to detect any positive or negative correlations with the crashes. The following factors were found to have significant correlation with pedestrian and bicycle crash occurrences; percentage distribution of population by race, age groups, mean household income, percentage in the labor force, poverty level, and vehicle ownership. Land use, number of lanes crossed by pedestrians or bicyclists, posted speed limit and the presence of special speed zones, all were found to influence the occurrence of these crashes significantly. The findings were used to identify patterns of pedestrian and bicycle high crash locations in Tennessee and flagged combination of demographic, socioeconomic and geometry variables which if present are good indicators to Tennesee Department of Transportation (TDOT) as areas likely to experience pedestrian and bicycle crashes.

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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF20(2) Bicycle Research.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Chimba, Deo
  • Emaasit, Daniel
  • Cherry, Christopher R
  • Pannell, Zane
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC
  • Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
• Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 11p
• Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bicycle crashes; Crash causes; Crash risk forecasting; Demographics; Geographic information systems; Highway design; Land use; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Regression analysis; Socioeconomic factors
• Uncontrolled Terms: Negative binomial regression
• Geographic Terms: Tennessee
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; I81: Accident Statistics; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01506398
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-0600
• Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 3 2014 9:18AM