Pedestrian Risk and Social Equity: The Spatial Distribution of Roadway Environment Features in Toronto, Canada

Transport planners continue to make efforts to ensure that walking is a safe, convenient, and comfortable mode of transport. Investments in traffic calming infrastructure and other street design features can help to improve safety as well as work towards neighborhood livability goals and complete streets policies. However, pedestrian motor vehicle collisions (PMVC) in urban areas remain common, occurring at a higher frequency in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods. This spatial distribution of the risk of PMVC is an important transport equity issue. This research examines the location of protective traffic calming measures and other elements associated with pedestrian risk in Toronto, Canada. A database containing information on 2185 PMVCs involving children between the ages of 5-14 is mapped and analysed along with the locations and densities of speed humps, crossing guards, and one-way streets. The authors' analysis shows clear correlations between clusters of low income census tracts and higher densities of crashes, fewer traffic calming measures, and more crossing guards per length of streets. The authors discuss these findings in the context of pedestrian safety policy.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF00 Section - Pedestrians and Cycles. Alternate title: Pedestrian Risk and Social Equity: The Spatial Distribution of Roadway Built Environment Features in Toronto, Canada
• Authors:
  • Rothman, Linda
  • Cloutier, Marie-Soleil
  • Manaugh, Kevin
  • Howard, Andrew
  • Macpherson, Alison
  • Macarthur, Colin
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2018-1-7 to 2018-1-11
• Date: 2018

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 10p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Built environment; Children; Equity; Low income groups; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Risk taking; Traffic calming; Traffic distribution; Urban areas
• Uncontrolled Terms: Predictive control
• Geographic Terms: Toronto (Canada)
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01657980
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 18-05294
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 25 2018 9:34AM