Crosswalk Safety Evaluation Using a Pedestrian Risk Index as Traffic Conflict Measure

More than 14% of the approximately 25,000 people killed each year in traffic accidents in Europe are pedestrians. This high proportion of pedestrian fatalities led transportation researchers to make the improvement of pedestrian safety a priority. Few performance models based on crash data for pedestrian crashes exist. This is due to the spread distribution of the data that make difficult identifying statistical correlations. Traditional reactive strategies based on crash history analysis depend greatly on the quality and availability of the crash data. Consequently surrogate safety measures were developed as an efficient preventive approach. The Traffic Conflict Technique (TCT) was developed as “surrogate measure of road safety” by using near-accident indicators based on the measurement of the spatial and temporal proximity of road users. In this paper, a new conflict indicator, named Pedestrian Risk Index (PRI), is proposed, linking both the probability of collision between vehicle and pedestrian and the severity of the consequences. A before-after evaluation was carried out as a case study in Spain using PRI as a surrogate measure of safety in order to evaluate the safety performance of new traffic calming devices that replace zebra marked crosswalks. This paper shows that PRI is an effective measure of modifications in drivers’ behavior due to the installation of different safety countermeasures at a crosswalk. The PRI shows a reduction in severity of conflicts with an expected propensity to improve pedestrian safety.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/conferences/2011/RSS/2/Cafiso,S.pdf
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• Supplemental Notes:
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  Transportation Research Board

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• Authors:
  • Cafiso, Salvatore
  • García, Alfredo García
  • Cavarra, Rosario
  • Rojas, Mario Alfonso Romero
• Conference:
  • 3rd International Conference on Road Safety and Simulation
  • Location: Indianapolis Indiana, United States
  • Date: 2011-9-14 to 2011-9-16
• Publication Date: 2011

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 15p
• Monograph Title: 3rd International Conference on Road Safety and Simulation

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash data; Crosswalks; Fatalities; Pedestrian safety; Safety; Traffic calming; Traffic conflicts; Traffic crashes
• Geographic Terms: Europe; Spain
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01504443
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 24 2014 2:29PM