Spatial Factors Affecting the Frequency of Pedestrian Traffic Crashes: A Systematic Review

Abstract

ContextConsidering the importance of pedestrian traffic crashes and the role of environmental factors in the frequency of crashes, this paper aimed to review the published evidence and synthesize the results of related studies for the associations between environmental factors and distribution of pedestrian-vehicular traffic crashes.Evidence AcquisitionWe searched all epidemiological studies from 1966 to 2015 in electronic databases. We found 2,828 studies. Only 15 observational studies out of these studies met the inclusion criteria of the study. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology (STROBE) checklist.ResultsA review of the studies showed significant correlations between a large number of spatial variables including student population and the number of schools, population density, traffic volume, roadway density, socio-economic status, number of intersections, and the pedestrian volume and the dependent variable of the frequency of pedestrian traffic crashes. In the studies, some spatial factors that play an important role in determining the frequency of pedestrian traffic crashes, such as facilities for increasing the pedestrians’ safety were ignored.ConclusionsIt is proposed that the needed research be conducted at national and regional levels in coordination and cooperation with international organizations active in the field of traffic crashes in various parts of the world, especially in Asian, African and Latin American developing countries, where a greater proportion of pedestrian traffic crashes occur.

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“…In fact, low-income areas with high illiteracy rates, high population density and a small proportion of public open spaces face a high risk of potential PTAs, a finding consistent with previous research on the impact of the neighbourhood's socioeconomic characteristics on PTA risk [75,101,102]. For example, Chakravarthy et al [101] found that PTAs are four times more common in underprivileged areas [101], and Moradi et al [103] showed that the frequency of PTAs decreased when cities' socioeconomic conditions improved. Our findings also show that certain areas of the study city have a higher accident risk than others, which is associated with the built environment characteristics, particularly in areas with main road intersections, mixed land use and zones with pavement dis-connectivity (Figure 2).…”

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“…ccording to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), for more than two decades, speeding has been involved in approximately one-third of all motor vehicle fatalities. Speeding is a longstanding and critical concern in the realm of road safety [1,2]. It has consistently been a leading contributor to traffic fatalities, prompting transportation agencies to explore innovative speed management solutions.…”

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