Pedestrian Injury and Human Behaviour: Observing Road-Rule Violations at High-Incident Intersections

Abstract

BackgroundHuman behaviour is an obvious, yet under-studied factor in pedestrian injury. Behavioural interventions that address rule violations by pedestrians and motorists could potentially reduce the frequency of pedestrian injury. In this study, a method was developed to examine road-rule non-compliance by pedestrians and motorists. The purpose of the study was to examine the potential association between violations made by pedestrians and motorists at signalized intersections, and collisions between pedestrians and motor-vehicles. The underlying hypothesis is that high-incident pedestrian intersections are likely to vary with respect to their aetiology, and thus are likely to require individualized interventions – based on the type and rate of pedestrian and motorist violation.MethodsHigh-incident pedestrian injury intersections in Vancouver, Canada were identified using geographic information systems. Road-rule violations by pedestrians and motorists were documented at each incident hotspot by a team of observers at several different time periods during the day.ResultsApproximately 9,000 pedestrians and 18,000 vehicles were observed in total. In total for all observed intersections, over 2000 (21%) pedestrians committed one of the observed pedestrian road-crossing violations, while approximately 1000 (5.9%) drivers committed one of the observed motorist violations. Great variability in road-rule violations was observed between intersections, and also within intersections at different observation periods.ConclusionsBoth motorists and pedestrians were frequently observed committing road-rule violations at signalized intersections, suggesting a potential human behavioural contribution to pedestrian injury at the study sites. These results suggest that each intersection may have unique mechanisms that contribute to pedestrian injury, and may require targeted behavioural interventions. The method described in this study provides the basis for understanding the relationship between violations and pedestrian injury risk at urban intersections. Findings could be applied to targeted prevention campaigns designed to reduce the number of pedestrian injuries at signalized intersections.

Epidemiology and Outcome Determinants of Pedestrian Injuries in a Level I Trauma Center in Southern Iran; A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The highest pedestrians death proportion occurred in Pedestrians, as one of the most vulnerable road users, have a very high proportion of fatalities related to road accidents in the world [6]. Nowadays, traffic accidents are the 9th cause of mortality [7] and are expected to be the fifth leading cause of mortality in the world by 2030 [8] and the fourth cause of Years of Life Lost (YLL) [9,10].…”

Built Environmental Designs in Promoting Pedestrian Safety

“…Accumulating evidence recognized three domains of determinants-individual characteristics, road environments, and neighborhood environments [14][15][16][17].…”

Red light violations by adult pedestrians and other safety-related behaviors at signalized crosswalks

“…Red light violations are frequently associated with road and traffic characteristics, such as vehicular traffic conditions (Wang, Guo, Gao, & Bubb, 2011;Yagil, 2000;Yang, Deng, Wang, Li, & Wang, 2005), waiting time (Brosseau, Zangenehpour, Saunier, & MirandaMoreno, 2013;Li & Fernie, 2010;Tiwari, Bangdiwala, Saraswat, & Gauray., 2007;Van Houten, Ellis, & Kim, 2007), or length of the crossing (Cambon de Lavalette, Tijus, Poitrenaud, Leproux, Bergeron, & Thouez, 2009;Cinnamon, Schuurman, & Hameed, 2011).…”

“…Most of the existing research employs methodology such as video analyses (Brosseau et al, 2013;Hamed, 2001;Tiwari et al, 2007;Zhuang & Whu, 2011, observation grids (Cinnamon et al, 2011;Rosembloom, 2009) or questionnaires alone (Moyano Diaz, 2002;Yagil, 2000) to study crossing behaviors. Sisiopiku and Aking (2003) did use video analyses as well as questionnaires, but to study the reasons behind a pedestrian's choice to cross at a specific location.…”