TRANSPORTATION ISSUES: PEDESTRIAN SAFETY

This report uses economic analyses and presents relevant information to help policymakers determine why pedestrian fatality rates in Florida exceed those in the rest of the country. Section I introduces the study. Section II summarizes several federal and state laws and policies that have directly affected the Florida Department of Transportation's funding decisions on pedestrian safety measures. Section III briefly critiques and ultimately rejects the pedestrian exposure measure used in "Mean Streets 2002", with an eye to preparing the reader for both the theoretical model of section IV and the empirical analysis of Section V. Section IV presents a theoretical model of public investment in pedestrian safety capital, a model that relates pedestrian fatalities to safety capital; risk factors such as climate, sunlight and age; pedestrian exposure; and the value of statistical life. Section V is an empirical analysis of pedestrian fatalities. Using multivariate regression, the authors investigate six factors that could plausible explain Florida's higher pedestrian fatality rate. The following factors are indicators of exposure, the conditions under which pedestrians and drivers interact, and the characteristics of individual pedestrians: the average low January temperature, hours of sunlight, age index, interstate highway lane miles per resident, land area per resident, and the poverty rate. Section VI presents and interprets tables containing data useful for explaining differences in pedestrian fatality rates. Section VII briefly discusses the implications of the authors' findings and suggests possibilities for further research.

• Record URL:
  https://fdotwww.blob.core.windows.net/sitefinity/docs/default-source/research/reports/fdot-bc354-44-ped-rpt.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Florida, Gainesville

  Bureau of Economic and Business Research, P.O. Box 117150
  Gainesville, FL  United States  32611-7150

  Florida Department of Transportation

  Haydon Burns Building, 605 Suwanee Street
  Tallahassee, FL  United States  32301
• Authors:
  • Dewey, J F
  • Denslow, D
  • Lenze, D
  • Holt, L
  • Lotfinia, B
• Publication Date: 2003-10-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Tables;
• Pagination: 35 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Age; Capital investments; Climate; Crash data; Crash exposure; Economic analysis; Empirical methods; Fatalities; Federal laws; Financing; Multivariate analysis; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Pedestrians; Policy; Risk analysis; State laws; Statistics; Sunlight; Value of life
• Geographic Terms: Florida
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Economics; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Policy; Safety and Human Factors; Society; I10: Economics and Administration; I84: Personal Injuries;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00965924
• Record Type: Publication
• Contract Numbers: BC-354-44, PART B
• Files: TRIS, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Nov 20 2003 12:00AM