Program evaluation of FHWA pedestrian and bicycle safety activities.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-03-01

"Introduction : FHWAs Office of Highway Safety (HSA) initiated a program evaluation by Booz Allen Hamilton to assess the overall effectiveness of the Agencys Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Program. The evaluation covers pedestrian and bicycle sa...

Elderly Pedestrian Safety and Driver Distractions

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-12-16

About two-thirds of pedestrian fatalities in Maine involve people crossing urban streets or rural roads. Therefore, providing safe sidewalks is not a cure-all even if that is what many pedestrians ask for. We also need to improve safety at crosswalks...

Research, development, and implementation of pedestrian safety facilities in the United Kingdom

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-12-01

This report is one in a series of pedestrian safety synthesis reports prepared for the Federal Highway Administration to document pedestrian safety in other countries. This report reviews recent research on pedestrian safety carried out in the United...

Safety Action; Traffic and Pedestrian Safety. A Guide for Teachers in the Elementary Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Transportation, Washington, DC.

GRADES OR AGES: Elementary, grades 1-6. SUBJECT MATTER: Safety action, traffic and pedestrian safety. ORGANIZATION AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: After introductory material explaining the philosophy of the guide, the elementary school child, characteristics of children as related to safety, and the responsibility of the safety team, the guide has…

Teach Children Pedestrian Safety.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Faber, Marilyn M.

1997-01-01

Provides advice on teaching children safe pedestrian and bicycling skills to reduce accidents caused by mistakes made in crossing streets. Provides an interactive safe-walker's story, tips for walking safely, step-by-step instructions for safe street crossing, bicycle safety information, a quiz for safe biking, and guidelines to ensure a proper…

Zone guide for pedestrian safety

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-12-01

Just as communities can efficiently mount crime prevention programs by focusing them in high-crime areas, they can also efficiently concentrate pedestrian safety improvements by carefully selecting where they are applied. To do this, they need to be ...

Validity of instruments to assess students' travel and pedestrian safety.

PubMed

Mendoza, Jason A; Watson, Kathy; Baranowski, Tom; Nicklas, Theresa A; Uscanga, Doris K; Hanfling, Marcus J

2010-05-18

Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs are designed to make walking and bicycling to school safe and accessible for children. Despite their growing popularity, few validated measures exist for assessing important outcomes such as type of student transport or pedestrian safety behaviors. This research validated the SRTS school travel survey and a pedestrian safety behavior checklist. Fourth grade students completed a brief written survey on how they got to school that day with set responses. Test-retest reliability was obtained 3-4 hours apart. Convergent validity of the SRTS travel survey was assessed by comparison to parents' report. For the measure of pedestrian safety behavior, 10 research assistants observed 29 students at a school intersection for completion of 8 selected pedestrian safety behaviors. Reliability was determined in two ways: correlations between the research assistants' ratings to that of the Principal Investigator (PI) and intraclass correlations (ICC) across research assistant ratings. The SRTS travel survey had high test-retest reliability (kappa = 0.97, n = 96, p < 0.001) and convergent validity (kappa = 0.87, n = 81, p < 0.001). The pedestrian safety behavior checklist had moderate reliability across research assistants' ratings (ICC = 0.48) and moderate correlation with the PI (r = 0.55, p = < 0.01). When two raters simultaneously used the instrument, the ICC increased to 0.65. Overall percent agreement (91%), sensitivity (85%) and specificity (83%) were acceptable. These validated instruments can be used to assess SRTS programs. The pedestrian safety behavior checklist may benefit from further formative work.

Validity of instruments to assess students' travel and pedestrian safety

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs are designed to make walking and bicycling to school safe and accessible for children. Despite their growing popularity, few validated measures exist for assessing important outcomes such as type of student transport or pedestrian safety behaviors. This research validated the SRTS school travel survey and a pedestrian safety behavior checklist. Methods Fourth grade students completed a brief written survey on how they got to school that day with set responses. Test-retest reliability was obtained 3-4 hours apart. Convergent validity of the SRTS travel survey was assessed by comparison to parents' report. For the measure of pedestrian safety behavior, 10 research assistants observed 29 students at a school intersection for completion of 8 selected pedestrian safety behaviors. Reliability was determined in two ways: correlations between the research assistants' ratings to that of the Principal Investigator (PI) and intraclass correlations (ICC) across research assistant ratings. Results The SRTS travel survey had high test-retest reliability (κ = 0.97, n = 96, p < 0.001) and convergent validity (κ = 0.87, n = 81, p < 0.001). The pedestrian safety behavior checklist had moderate reliability across research assistants' ratings (ICC = 0.48) and moderate correlation with the PI (r = 0.55, p =< 0.01). When two raters simultaneously used the instrument, the ICC increased to 0.65. Overall percent agreement (91%), sensitivity (85%) and specificity (83%) were acceptable. Conclusions These validated instruments can be used to assess SRTS programs. The pedestrian safety behavior checklist may benefit from further formative work. PMID:20482778

Evaluation of pedestrian safety at intersections: A theoretical framework based on pedestrian-vehicle interaction patterns.

PubMed

Ni, Ying; Wang, Menglong; Sun, Jian; Li, Keping

2016-11-01

Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users, and pedestrian safety has become a major research focus in recent years. Regarding the quality and quantity issues with collision data, conflict analysis using surrogate safety measures has become a useful method to study pedestrian safety. However, given the inequality between pedestrians and vehicles in encounters and the multiple interactions between pedestrians and vehicles, it is insufficient to simply use the same indicator(s) or the same way to aggregate indicators for all conditions. In addition, behavioral factors cannot be neglected. To better use information extracted from trajectories for safety evaluation and pay more attention on effects of behavioral factors, this paper develops a more sophisticated framework for pedestrian conflict analysis that takes pedestrian-vehicle interactions into consideration. A concept of three interaction patterns has been proposed for the first time, namely "hard interaction," "no interaction," and "soft-interaction." Interactions have been categorized under one of these patterns by analyzing profiles of speed and conflict indicators during the whole interactive processes. In this paper, a support vector machine (SVM) approach has been adopted to classify severity levels for a dataset including 1144 events extracted from three intersections in Shanghai, China, followed by an analysis of variable importance. The results revealed that different conflict indicators have different contributions to indicating the severity level under various interaction patterns. Therefore, it is recommended either to use specific conflict indicators or to use weighted indicator aggregation for each interaction pattern when evaluating pedestrian safety. The implementation has been carried out at the fourth crosswalk, and the results indicate that the proposed method can achieve a higher accuracy and better robustness than conventional methods. Furthermore, the method is helpful for better

Macro-level safety analysis of pedestrian crashes in Shanghai, China.

PubMed

Wang, Xuesong; Yang, Junguang; Lee, Chris; Ji, Zhuoran; You, Shikai

2016-11-01

Pedestrian safety has become one of the most important issues in the field of traffic safety. This study aims at investigating the association between pedestrian crash frequency and various predictor variables including roadway, socio-economic, and land-use features. The relationships were modeled using the data from 263 Traffic Analysis Zones (TAZs) within the urban area of Shanghai - the largest city in China. Since spatial correlation exists among the zonal-level data, Bayesian Conditional Autoregressive (CAR) models with seven different spatial weight features (i.e. (a) 0-1 first order, adjacency-based, (b) common boundary-length-based, (c) geometric centroid-distance-based, (d) crash-weighted centroid-distance-based, (e) land use type, adjacency-based, (f) land use intensity, adjacency-based, and (g) geometric centroid-distance-order) were developed to characterize the spatial correlations among TAZs. Model results indicated that the geometric centroid-distance-order spatial weight feature, which was introduced in macro-level safety analysis for the first time, outperformed all the other spatial weight features. Population was used as the surrogate for pedestrian exposure, and had a positive effect on pedestrian crashes. Other significant factors included length of major arterials, length of minor arterials, road density, average intersection spacing, percentage of 3-legged intersections, and area of TAZ. Pedestrian crashes were higher in TAZs with medium land use intensity than in TAZs with low and high land use intensity. Thus, higher priority should be given to TAZs with medium land use intensity to improve pedestrian safety. Overall, these findings can help transportation planners and managers understand the characteristics of pedestrian crashes and improve pedestrian safety. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of Transit Stop Location on Pedestrian Safety [Summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-11-01

Pedestrians can be vulnerable in many roadway situations so pedestrian safety and reducing pedestrian collisions are always a high priority for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). As more people use public transportation to get from home...

The Safety of Older Pedestrians at Signal-Controlled Crossings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrell, W. Andrew

1996-01-01

Observes the extent to which pedestrians checked for oncoming traffic before crossing signal-controlled intersections on busy city streets. Pedestrians over the age of 50 were the most cautious, especially under dangerous traffic conditions. Older pedestrians were least likely to use other pedestrians as "guides" to safety, instead…

Pedestrian Safety in Road Traffic in Poland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Budzynski, Marcin; Jamroz, Kazimierz; Mackun, Tomasz

2017-10-01

Every third road accident in Poland involves a pedestrian as a participant or, most of the time, a casualty. Pedestrian accidents are usually the result of complex situations and the outcome of a number of factors related to driver and pedestrian behaviour and road infrastructure. Safety depends largely on how well the traffic condition is perceived and on visibility in traffic. The paper presents the results of analyses of methodologies for systematic studies of pedestrian behaviour and pedestrian-driver relations. The effects of the location of the site, type of cross-section and other selected parameters on pedestrian and driver behaviour are demonstrated. The analyses showed that pedestrians are most often put at risk by too long pedestrian crossings, vehicles going too fast around pedestrian crossings, lack of proper sight distance and poorly lit or unlit pedestrian crossings. The reason for such defective infrastructure is that planners, designers, contractors and maintenance services are not receiving any support from design, marking and maintenance regulations for pedestrian traffic. In addition, the Road Traffic Law is not restrictive enough when it comes to drivers’ obligations towards pedestrian safety. Polish design regulations allow long pedestrian crossings up to four lanes in one direction or three lanes in two directions irrespective of traffic control and speed limits. Pedestrian crossings should be kept at a maximum of three lanes. There is nothing in the design regulations about the required driver-pedestrian sight distance. Neither does the Road Traffic Law help engineers with that. It is legal to park vehicles within 10 m of a pedestrian crossing which does not guarantee the necessary sight distance. Drivers must be able to see a pedestrian waiting or stepping onto the crossing from a distance that will help them come to a stop safely. It is safer to follow the principle of providing adequate pedestrian sight distance. Recommendations for

High visibility safety apparel and nighttime conspicuity of pedestrians in work zones.

PubMed

Sayer, James R; Mefford, Mary Lynn

2004-01-01

Every year numerous occupational fatalities result from pedestrians being struck by motor vehicles intruding into work zones. Attributes of retroreflective personal safety garments on pedestrian conspicuity at night were assessed in a field study. Using instrumented vehicles on a closed track, participants drove through simulated work zones attempting to detect pedestrians located in the work zones. Configuration of the retroreflective trim, trim color, placement in the work zone, and driver age significantly affected pedestrian conspicuity. Intensity and the amount of retroreflective trim did not. Personal safety garments incorporating retroreflective trim significantly improve pedestrian conspicuity in work zones. The results emphasize the importance of retroreflective trim on personal safety garments, particularly if the trim is located on garment sleeves. We examine the design attributes that contribute to making a personal safety garment conspicuous. The results have implications regarding preferred garment designs, industry standards, and service life of personal safety garments.

Development and test of rural pedestrian safety countermeasures

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1983-12-01

Prior to any promulgation by NHTSA of four model traffic regulations for rural pedestrian safety it was the objective of this study to assess, where feasible, the potential effectiveness of these regulations to prevent pedestrian accidents. The model...

Pedestrian facilities users guide : providing safety and mobility

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2002-03-01

The Guide provides information on how to identify safety and mobility needs of pedestrians within roadway rights-of-way. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the creation of a walkable environment. Chepter 2 describes basic pedestrian crash trends and t...

Quantitative analysis of pedestrian safety at uncontrolled multi-lane mid-block crosswalks in China.

PubMed

Zhang, Cunbao; Zhou, Bin; Chen, Guojun; Chen, Feng

2017-11-01

A lot of pedestrian-vehicle crashes at mid-block crosswalks severely threaten pedestrian's safety around the world. The situations are even worse in China due to low yielding rate of vehicles at crosswalks. In order to quantitatively analyze pedestrian's safety at multi-lane mid-block crosswalks, the number of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts was utilized to evaluate pedestrian's accident risk. Five mid-block crosswalks (Wuhan, China) were videoed to collect data of traffic situation and pedestrian-vehicle conflicts, and the quantity and spatial distribution of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts at multi-lane mid-block crosswalk were analyzed according to lane-based post-encroachment time(LPET). Statistical results indicate that conflicts are mainly concentrated in lane3 and lane6. Percentage of conflict of each lane numbered from 1 to 6 respectively are 4.1%, 13.1%, 19.8%, 8.4%, 19.0%, 28.1%. Conflict rate under different crossing strategies are also counted. Moreover, an order probit (OP) model of pedestrian-vehicle conflict analysis (PVCA) was built to find out the contributions corresponding to those factors (such as traffic volume, vehicle speed, pedestrian crossing behavior, pedestrian refuge, etc.) to pedestrian-vehicle conflicts. The results show that: pedestrian refuge have positive effects on pedestrian safety; on the other hand, high vehicle speed, high traffic volume, rolling gap crossing pattern, and larger pedestrian platoon have negative effects on pedestrian safety. Based on our field observation and PVCA model, the number of conflicts will rise by 2% while the traffic volume increases 200 pcu/h; similarly, if the vehicle speed increases 5km/h, the number of conflicts will rise by 12% accordingly. The research results could be used to evaluate pedestrian safety at multi-lane mid-block crosswalks, and useful to improve pedestrian safety by means of pedestrian safety education, pedestrian refuge setting, vehicle speed limiting, and so on. Copyright © 2017

Application of demographic analysis to pedestrian safety : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-04-01

In recent years, many departments of transportation in the US have invested additional resources to enhance : pedestrian safety. However, there is still a need to effectively and systematically address the pedestrian experience : in low-income areas....

Safety assessment on pedestrian crossing environments using MLS data.

PubMed

Soilán, Mario; Riveiro, Belén; Sánchez-Rodríguez, Ana; Arias, Pedro

2018-02-01

In the framework of infrastructure analysis and maintenance in an urban environment, it is important to address the safety of every road user. This paper presents a methodology for the evaluation of several safety indicators on pedestrian crossing environments using geometric and radiometric information extracted from 3D point clouds collected by a Mobile Mapping System (MMS). The methodology is divided in four main modules which analyze the accessibility of the crossing area, the presence of traffic lights and traffic signs, and the visibility between a driver and a pedestrian on the proximities of a pedestrian crossing. The outputs of the analysis are exported to a Geographic Information System (GIS) where they are visualized and can be further processed in the context of city management. The methodology has been tested on approximately 30 pedestrian crossings in cluttered urban environments of two different cities. Results show that MMS are a valid mean to assess the safety of a specific urban environment, regarding its geometric conditions. Remarkable results are presented on traffic light classification, with a global F-score close to 95%. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Community-based pedestrian safety training in virtual reality: A pragmatic trial.

PubMed

Schwebel, David C; Combs, Tabitha; Rodriguez, Daniel; Severson, Joan; Sisiopiku, Virginia

2016-01-01

Child pedestrian injuries are a leading cause of mortality and morbidity across the United States and the world. Repeated practice at the cognitive-perceptual task of crossing a street may lead to safer pedestrian behavior. Virtual reality offers a unique opportunity for repeated practice without the risk of actual injury. This study conducted a pre-post within-subjects trial of training children in pedestrian safety using a semi-mobile, semi-immersive virtual pedestrian environment placed at schools and community centers. Pedestrian safety skills among a group of 44 seven- and eight-year-old children were assessed in a laboratory, and then children completed six 15-minute training sessions in the virtual pedestrian environment at their school or community center following pragmatic trial strategies over the course of three weeks. Following training, pedestrian safety skills were re-assessed. Results indicate improvement in delay entering traffic following training. Safe crossings did not demonstrate change. Attention to traffic and time to contact with oncoming vehicles both decreased somewhat, perhaps an indication that training was incomplete and children were in the process of actively learning to be safer pedestrians. The findings suggest virtual reality environments placed in community centers hold promise for teaching children to be safer pedestrians, but future research is needed to determine the optimal training dosage. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Does Excessive Daytime Sleepiness Affect Children's Pedestrian Safety?

PubMed Central

Avis, Kristin T.; Gamble, Karen L.; Schwebel, David C.

2014-01-01

Study Objectives: Many cognitive factors contribute to unintentional pedestrian injury, including reaction time, impulsivity, risk-taking, attention, and decision-making. These same factors are negatively influenced by excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), which may place children with EDS at greater risk for pedestrian injury. Design, Participants, and Methods: Using a case-control design, 33 children age 8 to 16 y with EDS from an established diagnosis of narcolepsy or idiopathic hypersomnia (IHS) engaged in a virtual reality pedestrian environment while unmedicated. Thirty-three healthy children matched by age, race, sex, and household income served as controls. Results: Children with EDS were riskier pedestrians than healthy children. They were twice as likely to be struck by a virtual vehicle in the virtual pedestrian environment than healthy controls. Attentional skills of looking at oncoming traffic were not impaired among children with EDS, but decision-making for when to cross the street safely was significantly impaired. Conclusions: Results suggest excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) from the clinical sleep disorders known as the hypersomnias of central origin may have significant consequences on children's daytime functioning in a critical domain of personal safety, pedestrian skills. Cognitive processes involved in safe pedestrian crossings may be impaired in children with EDS. In the pedestrian simulation, children with EDS appeared to show a pattern consistent with inattentional blindness, in that they “looked but did not process” information in their pedestrian environment. Results highlight the need for heightened awareness of potentially irreversible consequences of untreated sleep disorders and identify a possible target for pediatric injury prevention. Citation: Avis KT; Gamble KL; Schwebel DC. Does excessive daytime sleepiness affect children's pedestrian safety? SLEEP 2014;37(2):283-287. PMID:24497656

Framework for selection and evaluation of bicycle and pedestrian safety projects in Virginia.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-01-01

The Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT) Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety (BPS) Program provides funds for implementing short-term, low-cost bicycle and pedestrian safety projects in Virginia. This initiative is administered by evaluating each...

Training Children in Pedestrian Safety: Distinguishing Gains in Knowledge from Gains in Safe Behavior

PubMed Central

McClure, Leslie A.

2014-01-01

Pedestrian injuries contribute greatly to child morbidity and mortality. Recent evidence suggests that training within virtual pedestrian environments may improve children’s street crossing skills, but may not convey knowledge about safety in street environments. We hypothesized that (a) children will gain pedestrian safety knowledge via videos/software/internet websites, but not when trained by virtual pedestrian environment or other strategies; (b) pedestrian safety knowledge will be associated with safe pedestrian behavior both before and after training; and (c) increases in knowledge will be associated with increases in safe behavior among children trained individually at streetside locations, but not those trained by means of other strategies. We analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial evaluating pedestrian safety training. We randomly assigned 240 children ages 7–8 to one of four training conditions: videos/software/internet, virtual reality (VR), individualized streetside instruction, or a no-contact control. Both virtual and field simulations of street crossing at 2-lane bi-directional mid-block locations assessed pedestrian behavior at baseline, post-training, and 6-month follow-up. Pedestrian knowledge was assessed orally on all three occasions. Children trained by videos/software/internet, and those trained individually, showed increased knowledge following training relative to children in the other groups (ps < 0.01). Correlations between pedestrian safety knowledge and pedestrian behavior were mostly non-significant. Correlations between change in knowledge and change in behavior from pre- to post-intervention also were non-significant, both for the full sample and within conditions. Children trained using videos/software/internet gained knowledge but did not change their behavior. Children trained individually gained in both knowledge and safer behavior. Children trained virtually gained in safer behavior but not knowledge. If VR is used

Effect of electronic device use on pedestrian safety : a literature review.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-04-01

This literature review on the effect of electronic device use on pedestrian safety is part of a research project sponsored by the Office of Behavioral Safety Research in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). An extensive literat...

Experimental field test of proposed pedestrian safety messages. Volume 3

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1983-11-01

Author's abstract: A detailed re-analysis of available pedestrian accident data was utilized to define three sets of pedestrian safety public information and education (PI&E) Messages. These messages were then produced and field tested. The objective...

Evaluation of pedestrian safety campaigns : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-02-01

The objective of the study was to determine the efficacy and success of SHAs public service campaign : regarding pedestrian safety. Data collection issues forced a change in this focus as the project progressed. : The study contains two issues tha...

Quieter Cars and the Safety of Blind Pedestrians: Phase 1.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-04-01

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recognizes that quieter cars such as hybrid-electric vehicles in low-speed operation using their : electric motors, may introduce a safety issue for pedestrians who are blind. This study documents th...

A review of pedestrian safety research in the United States and abroad

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-11-01

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of research studies on pedestrian safety in the United States; some foreign research also is included. Readers will find details of pedestrian crash characteristics, measures of pedestrian exposure...

Estimation of potential safety benefits for pedestrian crash avoidance/mitigation systems.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-04-01

This report presents and exercises a methodology to estimate the effectiveness and potential safety benefits of production pedestrian crash avoidance/mitigation systems. The analysis focuses on light vehicles moving forward and striking a pedestrian ...

Assessment of sidewalk/bicycle-lane gaps with safety and developing statewide pedestrian crash rates.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-05-31

Pedestrian and bicycle safety have emerged to be of major concern to federal and selected states in the U.S. With the : increased emphasis on the multimodal transportation, pedestrian and bicycle safety has become more common for : governmental agenc...

Development, implementation and evaluation of a pedestrian safety zone for elderly pedestrians

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-02-01

The objectives of this study were to develop and apply procedures for defining pedestrian safety zones for the older (age 65+) adult and to develop, implement and evaluate a countermeasure program in the defined zones. Zone definition procedures were...

The development and test of urban and rural pedestrian safety messages

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1985-01-01

The objective of this project was to identify, develop and produce public education messages for pedestrian safety. Pedestrian accident types and situations which had not been previously addressed through public education were selected. These include...

Study design and analysis of automobile bumper for pedestrian safety

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kulkarni, Akash; Vora, Rushabh; Ravi, K.

2017-11-01

This paper aims to design and analyse the bumper beam structure, in order to ensure the protection of the pedestrians along with the occupants inside the vehicle. The concern shown towards the pedestrian safety is because, each year about 2,70,000 pedestrians are killed in road accidents that accounts to 22% of the total deaths. From the literature review, it was inferred that the mounting position of bumper and material selection play a crucial role in maximising the pedestrian safety. Hence in this paper, the effects of bumper mounting position and the bumper beam material have been studied, with reference to an explicit dynamic collision involving with a dummy human lower leg set-up. The acceptance of a particular mounting position/material was based on the fact that the maximum stress and deformation induced were less than the yield limits of the human leg form structure (representing the skin, femur and tibia).

Safety effectiveness of pedestrian crossing enhancements : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-02-01

Over the last decade, the Oregon DOT and other agencies have systematically implemented many pedestrian crossing enhancements (PCEs) across the state. This study explored the safety performance of these enhanced crossing in Oregon. Detailed data were...

Sharing the road : optimizing pedestrian and bicycle safety and vehicle mobility.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-04-01

Reducing crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists continues to be a major concern in the design of Michigan roads. In seeking to improve the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists on Michigan roads, it is important to balance the needs ...

Development of safety information materials and media plans for elderly pedestrians

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1993-06-01

The objectives of this study were to: 1) develop pedestrian safety messages which will have a countermeasure effect on the specific types of accidents occurring to elderly pedestrians and 2) develop media plans for use by NHTSA in disseminating the i...

Is "Safety-in-numbers" theory applies to the pattern of pedestrian accidents in Seoul, South Korea.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Y.; Yoon, H.

2016-12-01

Every year, about 1.25 million people die of vehicle-related accidents, among which half are pedestrians with higher vulnerability: pedestrian, cyclists and motorcyclist (World Health Organization, 2016). This urges city governments in the world to strive for pedestrian safety and to apply diverse theories to transportation planning and design. The common belief is that the number of pedestrian accidents is directly and positively associated with the volume of pedestrian, however, another hypothesis, called "safety-in-numbers" effect, tells an opposite story in that accident rates declines with increase of the volume of pedestrian. In this study, we examine first, whether the safety-in-numbers theory applies to the pattern of pedestrian accidents in Seoul, and second, further investigate environmental factors that are associated with the pedestrian safety. On the first count, we use geospatial statistical analyses of the multi-year pedestrian accident data collected by Korea Road Traffic Authority (KoRoad) and the pedestrian volume data collected by SK Telecom (SKT). With Kernel Density Estimation and Bivariate Local Moran's I, we identify spatial clustering of pedestrian accidents in the city, and examine whether those locations match with concentrations of pedestrian volume. On the second count, we use statistical analysis, tobit, poisson and negative binomial regression to investigate relationships between pedestrian volume and number of pedestrian accident for the two types of geographic areas by the results of the aforementioned analysis; Area 1- locations of high volume of pedestrian with high number of accident, Area 2- locations of high volume of pedestrian with low number of accident. For environmental factors potentially explaining pedestrian accidents, we include land use composition, number of traffic lanes, crosswalk presence, pedestrian signal, traffic island and sidewalk width in our analysis. This research will be valuable in city governments

A novel framework to evaluate pedestrian safety at non-signalized locations.

PubMed

Fu, Ting; Miranda-Moreno, Luis; Saunier, Nicolas

2018-02-01

This paper proposes a new framework to evaluate pedestrian safety at non-signalized crosswalk locations. In the proposed framework, the yielding maneuver of a driver in response to a pedestrian is split into the reaction and braking time. Hence, the relationship of the distance required for a yielding maneuver and the approaching vehicle speed depends on the reaction time of the driver and deceleration rate that the vehicle can achieve. The proposed framework is represented in the distance-velocity (DV) diagram and referred as the DV model. The interactions between approaching vehicles and pedestrians showing the intention to cross are divided in three categories: i) situations where the vehicle cannot make a complete stop, ii) situations where the vehicle's ability to stop depends on the driver reaction time, and iii) situations where the vehicle can make a complete stop. Based on these classifications, non-yielding maneuvers are classified as "non-infraction non-yielding" maneuvers, "uncertain non-yielding" maneuvers and "non-yielding" violations, respectively. From the pedestrian perspective, crossing decisions are classified as dangerous crossings, risky crossings and safe crossings accordingly. The yielding compliance and yielding rate, as measures of the yielding behavior, are redefined based on these categories. Time to crossing and deceleration rate required for the vehicle to stop are used to measure the probability of collision. Finally, the framework is demonstrated through a case study in evaluating pedestrian safety at three different types of non-signalized crossings: a painted crosswalk, an unprotected crosswalk, and a crosswalk controlled by stop signs. Results from the case study suggest that the proposed framework works well in describing pedestrian-vehicle interactions which helps in evaluating pedestrian safety at non-signalized crosswalk locations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Experimental field test of proposed pedestrian safety messages. Volume 2, Child messages

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1983-11-01

Author's abstract: A detailed re-analysis of available pedestrian accident data was utilized to define three sets of pedestrian safety public information and education (PI&E) messages. These messages were then produced and field tested. The objective...

Older Adults' Outdoor Walking: Inequalities in Neighbourhood Safety, Pedestrian Infrastructure and Aesthetics.

PubMed

Zandieh, Razieh; Martinez, Javier; Flacke, Johannes; Jones, Phil; van Maarseveen, Martin

2016-11-25

Older adults living in high-deprivation areas walk less than those living in low-deprivation areas. Previous research has shown that older adults' outdoor walking levels are related to the neighbourhood built environment. This study examines inequalities in perceived built environment attributes (i.e., safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetics) and their possible influences on disparities in older adults' outdoor walking levels in low- and high-deprivation areas of Birmingham, United Kingdom. It applied a mixed-method approach, included 173 participants (65 years and over), used GPS technology to measure outdoor walking levels, used questionnaires (for all participants) and conducted walking interviews (with a sub-sample) to collect data on perceived neighbourhood built environment attributes. The results show inequalities in perceived neighbourhood safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetics in high- versus low-deprivation areas and demonstrate that they may influence disparities in participants' outdoor walking levels. Improvements of perceived neighbourhood safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetic in high-deprivation areas are encouraged.

Older Adults’ Outdoor Walking: Inequalities in Neighbourhood Safety, Pedestrian Infrastructure and Aesthetics

PubMed Central

Zandieh, Razieh; Martinez, Javier; Flacke, Johannes; Jones, Phil; van Maarseveen, Martin

2016-01-01

Older adults living in high-deprivation areas walk less than those living in low-deprivation areas. Previous research has shown that older adults’ outdoor walking levels are related to the neighbourhood built environment. This study examines inequalities in perceived built environment attributes (i.e., safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetics) and their possible influences on disparities in older adults’ outdoor walking levels in low- and high-deprivation areas of Birmingham, United Kingdom. It applied a mixed-method approach, included 173 participants (65 years and over), used GPS technology to measure outdoor walking levels, used questionnaires (for all participants) and conducted walking interviews (with a sub-sample) to collect data on perceived neighbourhood built environment attributes. The results show inequalities in perceived neighbourhood safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetics in high- versus low-deprivation areas and demonstrate that they may influence disparities in participants’ outdoor walking levels. Improvements of perceived neighbourhood safety, pedestrian infrastructure and aesthetic in high-deprivation areas are encouraged. PMID:27898023

Research of Pedestrian Crossing Safety Facilities Based on the Video Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Sheng-Zhen; Xie, Quan-Long; Zang, Xiao-Dong; Tang, Guo-Jun

Since that the pedestrian crossing facilities at present is not perfect, pedestrian crossing is in chaos and pedestrians from opposite direction conflict and congest with each other, which severely affects the pedestrian traffic efficiency, obstructs the vehicle and bringing about some potential security problems. To solve these problems, based on video identification, a pedestrian crossing guidance system was researched and designed. It uses the camera to monitor the pedestrians in real time and sums up the number of pedestrians through video detection program, and a group of pedestrian's induction lamp array is installed at the interval of crosswalk, which adjusts color display according to the proportion of pedestrians from both sides to guide pedestrians from both opposite directions processing separately. The emulation analysis result from cellular automaton shows that the system reduces the pedestrian crossing conflict, shortens the time of pedestrian crossing and improves the safety of pedestrians crossing.

Investigating and improving pedestrian safety in an urban environment.

PubMed

Pollack, Keshia M; Gielen, Andrea C; Mohd Ismail, Mohd Nasir; Mitzner, Molly; Wu, Michael; Links, Jonathan M

2014-12-01

Prompted by a series of fatal and nonfatal pedestrian-vehicle collisions, university leadership from one urban institution collaborated with its academic injury research center to investigate traffic-related hazards facing pedestrians. This descriptive epidemiologic study used multiple data collection strategies to determine the burden of pedestrian injury in the target area. Data were collected in 2011 through a review of university crash reports from campus police; a systematic environmental audit and direct observations using a validated instrument and trained raters; and focus groups with faculty, students, and staff. Study findings were synthesized and evidence-informed recommendations were developed and disseminated to university leadership. Crash reports provided some indication of the risks on the streets adjacent to the campus. The environmental audit identified a lack of signage posting the speed limit, faded crosswalks, issues with traffic light and walk sign synchronization, and limited formal pedestrian crossings, which led to jaywalking. Focus groups participants described dangerous locations and times, signal controls and signage, enforcement of traffic laws, use of cell phones and iPods, and awareness of pedestrian safety. Recommendations to improve pedestrian safety were developed in accordance with the three E's of injury prevention (education, enforcement, and engineering), and along with plans for implementation and evaluation, were presented to university leadership. These results underscore the importance of using multiple methods to understand fully the problem, developing pragmatic recommendations that align with the three E's of injury prevention, and collaborating with leadership who have the authority to implement recommended injury countermeasures. These lessons are relevant for the many colleges and universities in urban settings where a majority of travel to offices, classrooms, and surrounding amenities are by foot.

Evaluation of the focused approach to pedestrian safety program

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-02-02

This report summarizes the results of an evaluation of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Focused Approach to Pedestrian Safety Program. The study was done by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center at the request of the FHWA Office o...

Child pedestrian safety knowledge, behaviour and road injury in Cape Town, South Africa.

PubMed

Koekemoer, Karin; Van Gesselleen, Megan; Van Niekerk, Ashley; Govender, Rajen; Van As, Arjan Bastiaan

2017-02-01

Pedestrian injuries are a leading cause of death among South African children, and young children residing in low-income communities are more at risk, due to various factors such as inadequate road infrastructure, exposure to traffic due to reliance on walking as a means of transport, and lack of supervision. This study used a cross-sectional, non-randomized self-report survey to assess pedestrian safety knowledge, road-crossing behaviour and pedestrian injuries of primary school children in selected low-income settings in Cape Town. The survey focused on three primary schools that had joined the Safe Kids Worldwide Model School Zone Project and was administered to 536 children aged 6-15 years, in their home language of isiXhosa. Descriptive and bivariate analyses as well as multivariate regression analyses were conducted to investigate potential predictor variables for pedestrian collision severity and unsafe road-crossing behaviour. Walking was the sole form of travel for 81% of the children, with a large proportion regularly walking unsupervised. Children who walk to or from school alone were younger and reported riskier road-crossing behaviour, although children who walk accompanied tended to have higher pedestrian collision severity. "Negligent Behaviour" related to road-crossing was significantly associated with higher pedestrian collision severity, with predictors of "Negligent Behaviour" including the lack of pedestrian safety knowledge and greater exposure to traffic in terms of time spent walking. More than half of the reported pedestrian collisions involved a bicycle, and older boys (10-15 years) were most at risk of experiencing a severe pedestrian injury. The findings substantiate emerging evidence that children in low-income settings are at greater risk for child pedestrian injury, and emphasise the need for evidence-based safety promotion and injury prevention interventions in these settings. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Evaluation of surrogate measures for pedestrian safety in various road and roadside environments.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-10-01

This report presents an investigation of pedestrian conflicts and crash count models to learn which exposure measures and roadway or roadside characteristics significantly influence pedestrian safety at road crossings. Negative binomial models were e...

How do children learn to cross the street? The process of pedestrian safety training

PubMed Central

Schwebel, David C.; Shen, Jiabin; McClure, Leslie A.

2016-01-01

Objective Pedestrian injuries are a leading cause of child death, and may be reduced by training children to cross streets more safely. Such training is most effective when children receive repeated practice at the complex cognitive-perceptual task of judging moving traffic and selecting safe crossing gaps, but there is limited data on how much practice is required for children to reach adult levels of functioning. Using existing data, we examined how children’s pedestrian skill changed over the course of six pedestrian safety training sessions, each comprised of 45 crossings within a virtual pedestrian environment. Methods As part of a randomized controlled trial on pedestrian safety training, 59 children ages 7-8 crossed the street within a semi-immersive virtual pedestrian environment 270 times over a 3-week period (6 sessions of 45 crossings each). Feedback was provided after each crossing, and traffic speed and density was advanced as children’s skill improved. Post-intervention pedestrian behavior was assessed a week later in the virtual environment and compared to adult behavior with identical traffic patterns. Results Over the course of training, children entered traffic gaps more quickly and chose tighter gaps to cross within; their crossing efficiency appeared to increase. By the end of training, some aspects of children’s pedestrian behavior was comparable to adult behavior but other aspects were not, indicating the training was worthwhile but insufficient for most children to achieve adult levels of functioning. Conclusions Repeated practice in a simulated pedestrian environment helps children learn aspects of safe and efficient pedestrian behavior. Six twice-weekly training sessions of 45 crossings each were insufficient for children to reach adult pedestrian functioning, however, and future research should continue to study the trajectory and quantity of child pedestrian safety training needed for children to become competent pedestrians. PMID

Does excessive daytime sleepiness affect children's pedestrian safety?

PubMed

Avis, Kristin T; Gamble, Karen L; Schwebel, David C

2014-02-01

Many cognitive factors contribute to unintentional pedestrian injury, including reaction time, impulsivity, risk-taking, attention, and decision-making. These same factors are negatively influenced by excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), which may place children with EDS at greater risk for pedestrian injury. Using a case-control design, 33 children age 8 to 16 y with EDS from an established diagnosis of narcolepsy or idiopathic hypersomnia (IHS) engaged in a virtual reality pedestrian environment while unmedicated. Thirty-three healthy children matched by age, race, sex, and household income served as controls. Children with EDS were riskier pedestrians than healthy children. They were twice as likely to be struck by a virtual vehicle in the virtual pedestrian environment than healthy controls. Attentional skills of looking at oncoming traffic were not impaired among children with EDS, but decision-making for when to cross the street safely was significantly impaired. Results suggest excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) from the clinical sleep disorders known as the hypersomnias of central origin may have significant consequences on children's daytime functioning in a critical domain of personal safety, pedestrian skills. Cognitive processes involved in safe pedestrian crossings may be impaired in children with EDS. In the pedestrian simulation, children with EDS appeared to show a pattern consistent with inattentional blindness, in that they "looked but did not process" information in their pedestrian environment. Results highlight the need for heightened awareness of potentially irreversible consequences of untreated sleep disorders and identify a possible target for pediatric injury prevention.

Review of Studies on Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety, 1991-2007

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-06-01

This report reviews the pedestrian and bicyclist safety research literature in print as of 2007. It summarizes and synthesizes the key studies, evaluates existing knowledge and identifies research gaps and provides recommendations for future directio...

An Evaluation of a Parent Implemented in Situ Pedestrian Safety Skills Intervention for Individuals with Autism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harriage, Bethany; Blair, Kwang-Sun Cho; Miltenberger, Raymond

2016-01-01

This study evaluated an in situ pedestrian safety skills intervention for three individuals with autism, as implemented by their parents. Specifically, this study examined the utility of behavioral skills training (BST) in helping parents implement most-to-least prompting procedures in training their children to use pedestrian safety skills in…

Raised crosswalks on entrance to the roundabout-a case study on effectiveness of treatment on pedestrian safety and convenience.

PubMed

Candappa, Nimmi; Stephan, Karen; Fotheringham, Nicola; Lenné, Michael G; Corben, Bruce

2014-01-01

A common concern in the use of a roundabout is providing adequately for the pedestrian. This unique roundabout layout, which introduces raised crosswalks directly at the roundabout entrance, as opposed to at a car length back, aims at improving safety and convenience for pedestrians at roundabouts. A preliminary evaluation of the layout was undertaken to establish its effectiveness in meeting study objectives. A quasi-experimental before-and-after study design was used to compare speeds on approach and immediately prior to the crossing to ascertain potential impact speed and implications for pedestrian safety. Compliance to crossing and crossing time were also compared in relation to safety and convenience outcomes. A questionnaire assessed pedestrian perception of the safety and convenience at the roundabout before and after treatment. Results from this case study indicate that mean approach speeds (free speeds 30 m from crossing) reduced from 32.7 to 30.7 km/h and immediately prior to crossing, mean speeds reduced from 19.1 to 16.3 km/h. There was also a marked reduction in proportions of vehicles traveling at speeds that could elevate risk to pedestrians. Total crossing time after treatment reduced by around 4 s, and crossing compliance increased from approximately half to approximately 90 percent. Survey of pedestrians indicated positive response to the perceived safety and convenience posttreatment. Preliminary results of the case study suggest positive safety and convenience outcomes. Implications for pedestrian safety include less exposure to traffic and lower risk of serious injury, particularly for elderly pedestrians; convenience outcomes include shorter waiting times to cross and greater compliance to the crossing. A larger study is required to substantiate the findings.

17. View of masonry gatehouse, safety gates and pedestrian waiting ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

17. View of masonry gatehouse, safety gates and pedestrian waiting shelter with ripped copper roofing and missing columns. (Nov. 30, 1988) - University Heights Bridge, Spanning Harlem River at 207th Street & West Harlem Road, New York County, NY

Predictors of road crossing safety in pedestrians with Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Lin, Chin-Hsien; Ou, Yang-Kun; Wu, Ruey-Meei; Liu, Yung-Ching

2013-03-01

Road-crossing safety is an important issue in an aging society. Information regarding the risk of crossing the street to pedestrians with Parkinson's disease (PD) is limited. To assess the risk and predictors of unsafe crossing behaviors in patients with PD, we compared 31 pedestrians with mild-to-moderate PD to 50 age/gender/education-matched controls using a battery of cognitive, visual, and motor tests. With a simulated simple street-crossing situation, we determined the remaining time and safety margin for each participant in different traffic situations, including variable motor vehicle speed, time gap, and time of the day. Odds ratios (ORs) were estimated by logistic regression models. We found that pedestrians with PD were more vulnerable to traffic accidents than controls (OR 1.61 [1.28-2.02], P=0.01). The risk of crossing road correlated in a dose-dependent manner with the severity of PD, based on both Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) stages and unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS) motor scores (OR 1.13 for each increasing point of UPDSR, P<0.01). Among PD patients, scores of clock drawing test (OR 0.8 [0.74-0.88], P<0.01) and visual form discrimination (OR 1.14 [1.07-1.22], P<0.01) predicted worsening of safety errors, rather than executive function. Environmental factors, such as fast approaching motor vehicle speed (OR 4.50 [2.92-6.95], P<0.01), short time gap (OR 45.98 [27.04-78.18], P<0.01), and time of day (OR 4.45 [3.11-6.36], P<0.01) also affected road-crossing safety. Future large sample studies are needed to confirm our findings. Training programs or portable stimulator devices that compensate for the visual-spatial disabilities of PD patients are required to improve road safety for PD patients. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessment of the safety-relevance of pedestrian and bicyclist programs. Volume 1, Conduct and results

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1983-04-01

This document (Volume One of a Two Volume Report) describes the development of a paper-and-pencil instrument for assessing the safety relevance of pedestrian and bicyclist safety education programs. The safety relevance of the program is the extent t...

Experimental field test of proposed pedestrian safety messages. Volume 1, Methods and materials development

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1983-11-01

Author's abstract: A detailed re-analysis of available pedestrian accident data was utilized to define three sets of pedestrian safety public information and education (PI&E) messages. These messages were then produced and field tested. The objective...

Development and evaluation of a pedestrian safety training program for elementary school bus riders

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1994-12-01

The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a comprehensive pedestrian safety program for elementary (kindergarten through grade 6) school bus riders. Existing materials, crash data and state laws/regulations on school bus pedestrian safe...

Distraction and pedestrian safety: how talking on the phone, texting, and listening to music impact crossing the street.

PubMed

Schwebel, David C; Stavrinos, Despina; Byington, Katherine W; Davis, Tiffany; O'Neal, Elizabeth E; de Jong, Desiree

2012-03-01

As use of handheld multimedia devices has exploded globally, safety experts have begun to consider the impact of distraction while talking, text-messaging, or listening to music on traffic safety. This study was designed to test how talking on the phone, texting, and listening to music may influence pedestrian safety. 138 college students crossed an interactive, semi-immersive virtual pedestrian street. They were randomly assigned to one of four groups: crossing while talking on the phone, crossing while texting, crossing while listening to a personal music device, or crossing while undistracted. Participants distracted by music or texting were more likely to be hit by a vehicle in the virtual pedestrian environment than were undistracted participants. Participants in all three distracted groups were more likely to look away from the street environment (and look toward other places, such as their telephone or music device) than were undistracted participants. Findings were maintained after controlling for demographics, walking frequency, and media use frequency. Distraction from multimedia devices has a small but meaningful impact on college students' pedestrian safety. Future research should consider the cognitive demands of pedestrian safety, and how those processes may be impacted by distraction. Policymakers might consider ways to protect distracted pedestrians from harm and to reduce the number of individuals crossing streets while distracted. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Distraction and Pedestrian Safety: How Talking on the Phone, Texting, and Listening to Music Impact Crossing the Street

PubMed Central

Schwebel, David C.; Stavrinos, Despina; Byington, Katherine W.; Davis, Tiffany; O’Neal, Elizabeth E.; de Jong, Desiree

2011-01-01

As use of handheld multimedia devices has exploded globally, safety experts have begun to consider the impact of distraction while talking, text-messaging, or listening to music on traffic safety. This study was designed to test how talking on the phone, texting, and listening to music may influence pedestrian safety. 138 college students crossed an interactive, semi-immersive virtual pedestrian street. They were randomly assigned to one of four groups: crossing while talking on the phone, crossing while texting, crossing while listening to a personal music device, or crossing while undistracted. Participants distracted by music or texting were more likely to be hit by a vehicle in the virtual pedestrian environment than were undistracted participants. Participants in all three distracted groups were more likely to look away from the street environment (and look toward other places, such as their telephone or music device) than were undistracted participants. Findings were maintained after controlling for demographics, walking frequency, and media use frequency. Distraction from multimedia devices has a small but meaningful impact on college students’ pedestrian safety. Future research should consider the cognitive demands of pedestrian safety, and how those processes may be impacted by distraction. Policymakers might consider ways to protect distracted pedestrians from harm and to reduce the number of individuals crossing streets while distracted. PMID:22269509

Safety-in-numbers: Estimates based on a sample of pedestrian crossings in Norway.

PubMed

Elvik, Rune

2016-06-01

Safety-in-numbers denotes the tendency for the risk of accident for each road user to decline as the number of road users increases. Safety-in-numbers implies that a doubling of the number of road users will be associated with less than a doubling of the number of accidents. This paper investigates safety-in-numbers in 239 pedestrian crossings in Oslo and its suburbs. Accident prediction models were fitted by means of negative binomial regression. The models indicate a very strong safety-in-numbers effect. In the final model, the coefficients for traffic volume were 0.05 for motor vehicles, 0.07 for pedestrians and 0.12 for cyclists. The coefficient for motor vehicles implies that the number of accidents is almost independent of the number of motor vehicles. The safety-in-numbers effect found in this paper is stronger than reported in any other study dealing with safety-in-numbers. It should be noted that the model explained only 21% of the systematic variation in the number of accidents. It therefore cannot be ruled out that the results are influenced by omitted variable bias. Any such bias would, however, have to be very large to eliminate the safety-in-numbers effect. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Validity of instruments to assess students' travel and pedestrian safety

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs are designed to make walking and bicycling to school,safe and accessible for children. Despite their growing popularity, few validated measures exist for assessing important outcomes such as type of student transport or pedestrian safety behaviors. This research...

Optimism about safety and group-serving interpretations of safety among pedestrians and cyclists in relation to road use in general and under low light conditions.

PubMed

King, M J; Wood, J M; Lacherez, P F; Marszalek, R P

2012-01-01

Drivers are known to be optimistic about their risk of crash involvement, believing that they are less likely to be involved in a crash than other drivers. However, little comparative research has been conducted among other road users. In addition, optimism about crash risk is conceptualised as applying only to an individual's assessment of his or her personal risk of crash involvement. The possibility that the self-serving nature of optimism about safety might be generalised to the group-level as a cyclist or a pedestrian, i.e., becoming group-serving rather than self-serving, has been overlooked in relation to road safety. This study analysed a subset of data collected as part of a larger research project on the visibility of pedestrians, cyclists and road workers, focusing on a set of questionnaire items administered to 406 pedestrians, 838 cyclists and 622 drivers. The items related to safety in various scenarios involving drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, allowing predictions to be derived about group differences in agreement with items based on the assumption that the results would exhibit group-serving bias. Analysis of the responses indicated that specific hypotheses about group-serving interpretations of safety and responsibility were supported in 22 of the 26 comparisons. When the nine comparisons relevant to low lighting conditions were considered separately, seven were found to be supported. The findings of the research have implications for public education and for the likely acceptance of messages which are inconsistent with current assumptions and expectations of pedestrians and cyclists. They also suggest that research into group-serving interpretations of safety, even for temporary roles rather than enduring groups, could be fruitful. Further, there is an implication that gains in safety can be made by better educating road users about the limitations of their visibility and the ramifications of this for their own road safety, particularly in low

Acoustic characteristics of hybrid electric vehicles and the safety of pedestrians who are blind

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-08-01

Quieter cars such as electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) may reduce auditory cues used by pedestrians to assess the state of nearby traffic and, as a result, their use may have an adverse impact on pedestrian safety. In order ...

California Guide for Pedestrian Safety Education. Volumes I-III.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

California State Dept. of Education, Sacramento.

This guide is designed to serve as the basis for a pedestrian safety education program for pupils in kindergarten through grade two. The basic printed materials for use in the program are provided in three volumes, each of which is intended for a different audience. Volume I, directed to school administrators and teachers, contains information for…

Trespassing on the tracks: a review of railway pedestrian safety research.

PubMed

Lobb, Brenda

2006-01-01

Train-pedestrian collisions have been shown to be the leading cause of fatality in train-related accidents worldwide, yet there is remarkably little research in this area. In this paper, the major types of railway transportation accident research are briefly highlighted to indicate the general context of research concerning train-pedestrian collisions, which are then reviewed. Themes emerging from the diverse research are identified, the various strategies that have been proposed for prevention of railway pedestrian accidents are discussed, and the empirical evidence for their efficacy examined in the light of the much more extensive literature on road pedestrian accidents. Finally, it is proposed that application of current theory in behavioral and cognitive psychology may usefully inform future research in transportation safety.

The Advocacy for Pedestrian Safety Study: Cluster Randomised Trial Evaluating a Political Advocacy Approach to Reduce Pedestrian Injuries in Deprived Communities

PubMed Central

Lyons, Ronan A.; Kendrick, Denise; Towner, Elizabeth M. L.; Coupland, Carol; Hayes, Mike; Christie, Nicola; Sleney, Judith; Jones, Sarah; Kimberlee, Richard; Rodgers, Sarah E.; Turner, Samantha; Brussoni, Mariana; Vinogradova, Yana; Sarvotham, Tinnu; Macey, Steven

2013-01-01

Objective To determine whether advocacy targeted at local politicians leads to action to reduce the risk of pedestrian injury in deprived areas. Design Cluster randomised controlled trial. Setting 239 electoral wards in 57 local authorities in England and Wales. Participants 617 elected local politicians. Interventions Intervention group politicians were provided with tailored information packs, including maps of casualty sites, numbers injured and a synopsis of effective interventions. Main outcome measures 25–30 months post intervention, primary outcomes included: electoral ward level: percentage of road traffic calmed; proportion with new interventions; school level: percentage with 20 mph zones, Safe Routes to School, pedestrian training or road safety education; politician level: percentage lobbying for safety measures. Secondary outcomes included politicians’ interest and involvement in injury prevention, and facilitators and barriers to implementation. Results Primary outcomes did not significantly differ: % difference in traffic calming (0.07, 95%CI: −0.07 to 0.20); proportion of schools with 20 mph zones (RR 1.47, 95%CI: 0.93 to 2.32), Safe Routes to School (RR 1.34, 95%CI: 0.83 to 2.17), pedestrian training (RR 1.23, 95%CI: 0.95 to 1.61) or other safety education (RR 1.16, 95%CI: 0.97 to 1.39). Intervention group politicians reported greater interest in child injury prevention (RR 1.09, 95%CI 1.03 to 1.16), belief in potential to help prevent injuries (RR 1.36, 95%CI 1.16 to 1.61), particularly pedestrian safety (RR 1.55, 95%CI 1.19 to 2.03). 63% of intervention politicians reported supporting new pedestrian safety schemes. The majority found the advocacy information surprising, interesting, effectively presented, and could identify suitable local interventions. Conclusions This study demonstrates the feasibility of an innovative approach to translational public health by targeting local politicians in a randomised controlled trial. The intervention

Pedestrians' perceptions of walkability and safety in relation to the built environment in Cali, Colombia, 2009-10.

PubMed

Villaveces, Andrés; Nieto, Luis Alfonso; Ortega, Delia; Ríos, José Fernando; Medina, John Jairo; Gutiérrez, María Isabel; Rodríguez, Daniel

2012-10-01

To assess pedestrians' perceptions of the walkability of the urban environment and pedestrian safety in Cali, Colombia. Standardised intercept interviews were conducted of 400 pedestrians walking in 20 randomly selected urban zones to ascertain frequency of walking, and perceptions of safety, the built environment and security. Four focus group meetings were held with community members and students addressing these issues in an open-ended forum. The study analysed quantitative data collected in street interviews and qualitative information from focus groups addressing respondents' views on problems for pedestrians, how the built environment affects walking and ideal walking conditions. Access to public transportation was deemed the most positive characteristic of the built environment and 61% of respondents liked walking in the street. When disaggregating street conditions, the majority of pedestrians were dissatisfied with their walking experiences. Pedestrians cited lack of respect for norms, personal safety and built environment characteristics as their main concerns. Among frequent walkers, residents tended to rate their neighbourhoods more negatively compared with non-residents. Through qualitative interviews it became apparent that narrow sidewalks that are frequently obstructed by motor vehicles are a key reason for pedestrian dissatisfaction. A perception of overall insecurity further determines how pedestrians assess or modulate their walking in this city. Overall, walking in Cali was perceived negatively by pedestrians because of built environment characteristics and perceptions of insecurity. Qualitative information used to complement intercept surveys can provide a better way to identify pedestrian-specific transport-related problems.

Development of decision support tools to assess pedestrian and bicycle safety : development of safety performance functions : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-11-15

While a number of studies have developed Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) for : motorized traffic, there has been a very limited focus on developing SPFs for non-motorized : traffic. Lack of exposure measures for pedestrians and bicyclists has bee...

Pedestrians' crossing behaviors and safety at unmarked roadway in China.

PubMed

Zhuang, Xiangling; Wu, Changxu

2011-11-01

Pedestrians' crossing out of crosswalks (unmarked roadway) contributed to many traffic accidents, but existing pedestrian studies mainly focus on crosswalk crossing in developed countries specifically. Field observation of 254 pedestrians at unmarked roadway in China showed that 65.7% of them did not look for vehicles after arriving at the curb. Those who did look and pay attention to the traffic did so for duration of time that followed an exponential distribution. Pedestrians preferred crossing actively in tentative ways rather than waiting passively. The waiting time at the curb, at the median, and at the roadway all followed exponential distributions. During crossing, all pedestrians looked at the oncoming vehicles. When interacting with these vehicles, 31.9% of them ran and 11.4% stepped backwards. Running pedestrians usually began running at the borderline rather than within the lanes. Pedestrians preferred safe to short paths and they crossed second half of the road with significantly higher speed. These behavioral patterns were rechecked at an additional site with 105 pedestrians and the results showed much accordance. In terms of safety, pedestrians who were middle aged, involved in bigger groups, looked at vehicles more often before crossing or interacted with buses rather than cars were safer while those running were more dangerous. Potential applications of these findings, including building accurate simulation models of pedestrians and education of drivers and pedestrians in developing countries were also discussed. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pedestrian Safety: Injury Control Curriculum Guide (For K - 3rd Grade). Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wooner, Rosestelle B., Ed.

This curriculum guide attempts to help the early childhood teacher show children how to incorporate safety precautions into daily life. Good safety practices can prevent the death or injury of young children by automobile, truck, bus, pedestrian, bicycle, and tricycle accidents. The guide focuses on student involvement in the learning process and…

Using Space Syntax to Assess Safety in Public Areas - Case Study of Tarbiat Pedestrian Area, Tabriz-Iran

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cihangir Çamur, Kübra; Roshani, Mehdi; Pirouzi, Sania

2017-10-01

In studying the urban complex issues, simulation and modelling of public space use considerably helps in determining and measuring factors such as urban safety. Depth map software for determining parameters of the spatial layout techniques; and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software for analysing and evaluating the views of the pedestrians on public safety were used in this study. Connectivity, integration, and depth of the area in the Tarbiat city blocks were measured using the Space Syntax Method, and these parameters are presented as graphical and mathematical data. The combination of the results obtained from the questionnaire and statistical analysis with the results of spatial arrangement technique represents the appropriate and inappropriate spaces for pedestrians. This method provides a useful and effective instrument for decision makers, planners, urban designers and programmers in order to evaluate public spaces in the city. Prior to physical modification of urban public spaces, space syntax simulates the pedestrian safety to be used as an analytical tool by the city management. Finally, regarding the modelled parameters and identification of different characteristics of the case, this study represents the strategies and policies in order to increase the safety of the pedestrians of Tarbiat in Tabriz.

The effect of road network patterns on pedestrian safety: A zone-based Bayesian spatial modeling approach.

PubMed

Guo, Qiang; Xu, Pengpeng; Pei, Xin; Wong, S C; Yao, Danya

2017-02-01

Pedestrian safety is increasingly recognized as a major public health concern. Extensive safety studies have been conducted to examine the influence of multiple variables on the occurrence of pedestrian-vehicle crashes. However, the explicit relationship between pedestrian safety and road network characteristics remains unknown. This study particularly focused on the role of different road network patterns on the occurrence of crashes involving pedestrians. A global integration index via space syntax was introduced to quantify the topological structures of road networks. The Bayesian Poisson-lognormal (PLN) models with conditional autoregressive (CAR) prior were then developed via three different proximity structures: contiguity, geometry-centroid distance, and road network connectivity. The models were also compared with the PLN counterpart without spatial correlation effects. The analysis was based on a comprehensive crash dataset from 131 selected traffic analysis zones in Hong Kong. The results indicated that higher global integration was associated with more pedestrian-vehicle crashes; the irregular pattern network was proved to be safest in terms of pedestrian crash occurrences, whereas the grid pattern was the least safe; the CAR model with a neighborhood structure based on road network connectivity was found to outperform in model goodness-of-fit, implying the importance of accurately accounting for spatial correlation when modeling spatially aggregated crash data. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of the dismounted motorist and road-worker model pedestrian safety regulations

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1982-08-01

Two pedestrian model regulations previously developed by NHTSA were studied to determine their potential safety benefits. One regulation was concerned with the disabled-vehicle situation and called on motorists to position themselves and their vehicl...

Identification and feasibility test of specialized rural pedestrian safety training. Volume 1, Program development and evaluation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-03-01

This report describes the development and evaluation of a K-12 pedestrian safety curriculum for suburban and rural schools. The three program curriculum, called PEDSAFE, was developed to combat pedestrian accidents which victimize suburban/rural chil...

Development of a portable bicycle/pedestrian monitoring system for safety enhancement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Usher, Colin; Daley, W. D. R.

2015-03-01

Pedestrians involved in roadway accidents account for nearly 12 percent of all traffic fatalities and 59,000 injuries each year. Most injuries occur when pedestrians attempt to cross roads, and there have been noted differences in accident rates midblock vs. at intersections. Collecting data on pedestrian behavior is a time consuming manual process that is prone to error. This leads to a lack of quality information to guide the proper design of lane markings and traffic signals to enhance pedestrian safety. Researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute are developing and testing an automated system that can be rapidly deployed for data collection to support the analysis of pedestrian behavior at intersections and midblock crossings with and without traffic signals. This system will analyze the collected video data to automatically identify and characterize the number of pedestrians and their behavior. It consists of a mobile trailer with four high definition pan-tilt cameras for data collection. The software is custom designed and uses state of the art commercial pedestrian detection algorithms. We will be presenting the system hardware and software design, challenges, and results from the preliminary system testing. Preliminary results indicate the ability to provide representative quantitative data on pedestrian motion data more efficiently than current techniques.

Assessment of Integrated Pedestrian Protection Systems with Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) and Passive Safety Components.

PubMed

Edwards, Mervyn; Nathanson, Andrew; Carroll, Jolyon; Wisch, Marcus; Zander, Oliver; Lubbe, Nils

2015-01-01

Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems fitted to cars for pedestrians have been predicted to offer substantial benefit. On this basis, consumer rating programs-for example, the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP)-are developing rating schemes to encourage fitment of these systems. One of the questions that needs to be answered to do this fully is how the assessment of the speed reduction offered by the AEB is integrated with the current assessment of the passive safety for mitigation of pedestrian injury. Ideally, this should be done on a benefit-related basis. The objective of this research was to develop a benefit-based methodology for assessment of integrated pedestrian protection systems with AEB and passive safety components. The method should include weighting procedures to ensure that it represents injury patterns from accident data and replicates an independently estimated benefit of AEB. A methodology has been developed to calculate the expected societal cost of pedestrian injuries, assuming that all pedestrians in the target population (i.e., pedestrians impacted by the front of a passenger car) are impacted by the car being assessed, taking into account the impact speed reduction offered by the car's AEB (if fitted) and the passive safety protection offered by the car's frontal structure. For rating purposes, the cost for the assessed car is normalized by comparing it to the cost calculated for a reference car. The speed reductions measured in AEB tests are used to determine the speed at which each pedestrian in the target population will be impacted. Injury probabilities for each impact are then calculated using the results from Euro NCAP pedestrian impactor tests and injury risk curves. These injury probabilities are converted into cost using "harm"-type costs for the body regions tested. These costs are weighted and summed. Weighting factors were determined using accident data from Germany and Great Britain and an independently

The Effects of Acute Sleep Restriction on Adolescents' Pedestrian Safety in a Virtual Environment

PubMed Central

Davis, Aaron L.; Avis, Kristin T.; Schwebel, David C.

2013-01-01

Purpose Over 8,000 American adolescents ages 14-15 require medical attention due to pedestrian injury annually. Cognitive factors contributing to pedestrian safety include reaction time, impulsivity, risk-taking, attention, and decision-making. These characteristics are also influenced by sleep restriction. Experts recommend adolescents obtain 8.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night, but most American adolescents do not. Inadequate sleep may place adolescents at risk for pedestrian injury. Method Using a within-subjects design, fifty-five 14- and 15-year-olds engaged in a virtual reality pedestrian environment in two conditions, scheduled a week apart: sleep-restricted (4 hours sleep previous night) and adequate sleep (8.5 hours). Sleep was assessed using actigraphy and pedestrian behavior via four outcome measures: time to initiate crossing, time before contact with vehicle while crossing, virtual hits/close calls and attention to traffic (looks left and right). Results While acutely sleep restricted, adolescents took more time to initiate pedestrian crossings, crossed with less time before contact with vehicles, experienced more virtual hits/close calls and looked left and right more often compared to when adequately rested. Results were maintained after controlling for age, gender, ethnicity and average total sleep duration prior to each condition. Discussion Adolescent pedestrian behavior in the simulated virtual environment was markedly different, and generally more risky, when acutely sleep restricted compared to adequately rested. Inadequate sleep may influence cognitive functioning to the extent that pedestrian safety is jeopardized among adolescents capable of crossing streets safely when rested. Policy decisions might be educated by these results. PMID:24012066

Transit vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) applications : near term research and development transit bus stop pedestrian safety application : operational concept.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-12-01

This document serves as an Operational Concept for the Transit Bus Stop Pedestrian Safety application. The purpose of this document is to communicate user needs and desired capabilities for and expectations of the Transit Bus Stop Pedestrian Safety a...

Safety Education. A Guide To Help Prevent Accidents Associated with the Home, Student Transportation, Disasters, Pedestrians, Passengers, Fires, Consumerism, Recreation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas Education Agency, Austin.

This teacher's guide presents 10 instructional units for one portion of the Texas-approved course in driver and safety education. The units cover the following topics: what is safety?; accident causation and prevention; home safety; student transportation safety; disasters; pedestrian safety; passenger safety; fire safety; consumer safety; and…

A comparison of safety benefits of pedestrian countdown signals with and without pushbuttons in Michigan.

PubMed

Boateng, Richard Atta; Kwigizile, Valerian; Oh, Jun-Seok

2018-04-11

This study evaluated the safety impacts of PCSs with and without pushbuttons based on pedestrian crashes and pedestrian injuries in Michigan. This study used ten years of intersection data: five years before PCSs were installed and five years after they were installed, along with a comparison group, to evaluate the crash impacts of PCSs: at 107 intersections the PCS had a pushbutton and at 96 it did not. At these intersections, and at their comparison sites (where no PCS was installed), crash data (from 2004-2016) were examined, along with traffic and geometric characteristics, population, education and poverty levels data. Intersections where PCSs with pushbuttons have been installed showed a 29 percent reduction in total pedestrian crashes and a 30 percent reduction in fatal/injury pedestrian crashes. Further, when considering only pedestrians age 65 and below, these respective reductions are 33 and 35 percent. Intersections with PCSs but without pushbuttons did not show any significant change in any type of pedestrian crash. Although the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (FHWA, 2009) requires the use of PCSs at new traffic signal installations, this study suggests a safety benefit of installing PCSs with pushbutton at signals where a PCS without a pushbutton is present.

Target crashes and safety benefits estimation methodology for pedestrian crash avoidance/mitigation systems

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-04-01

Through the analysis of national crash databases from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, pre-crash scenarios are identified, prioritized, and described for the development of objective tests for pedestrian crash avoidance/mitigation ...

Transit vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) applications : near term research and development. Transit bus-pedestrian/cyclist crossing safety application : operational concept.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-11-01

This document serves as an Operational Concept for the Transit Bus-Pedestrian/Cyclist Crossing Safety application. The purpose of this document is to provide an operational description of how the Transit Bus-Pedestrian/Cyclist Crossing Safety W...

The effects of acute sleep restriction on adolescents' pedestrian safety in a virtual environment.

PubMed

Davis, Aaron L; Avis, Kristin T; Schwebel, David C

2013-12-01

Over 8,000 American adolescents ages 14-15 years require medical attention owing to pedestrian injury annually. Cognitive factors contributing to pedestrian safety include reaction time, impulsivity, risk taking, attention, and decision making. These characteristics are also influenced by sleep restriction. Experts recommend that adolescents obtain 8.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night, but most American adolescents do not. Inadequate sleep may place adolescents at risk for pedestrian injury. Using a within-subjects design, 55 14- and 15-year-olds engaged in a virtual reality pedestrian environment under two conditions, scheduled a week apart: sleep-restricted (4 hours' sleep the previous night) and adequate sleep (8.5 hours). Sleep was assessed using actigraphy and pedestrian behavior via four outcome measures: time to initiate crossing, time before contact with vehicle while crossing, virtual hits or close calls and attention to traffic (looks left and right). While acutely sleep restricted, adolescents took more time to initiate pedestrian crossings, crossed with less time before contact with vehicles, experienced more virtual hits or close calls, and looked left and right more often compared with when adequately rested. Results were maintained after controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, and average total sleep duration before each condition. Adolescent pedestrian behavior in the simulated virtual environment was markedly different, and generally more risky, when acutely sleep restricted compared with adequately rested. Inadequate sleep may influence cognitive functioning to the extent that pedestrian safety is jeopardized among adolescents capable of crossing streets safely when rested. Policy decisions might be educated by these results. Copyright © 2013 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Workshop to review problem-behavior research programs : pedestrian, bicycle, and pupil transportation safety

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-09-01

This report presents the proceedings of a workshop on pedestrian, bicycle, and pupil transportation safety. The purpose of this workshop was to develop specific recommendations for the planning and implementation of NHTSA research, development, and d...

Featured Article: Evaluating Smartphone-Based Virtual Reality to Improve Chinese Schoolchildren's Pedestrian Safety: A Nonrandomized Trial.

PubMed

Schwebel, David C; Wu, Yue; Li, Peng; Severson, Joan; He, Yefei; Xiang, Henry; Hu, Guoqing

2018-06-01

This nonrandomized trial evaluated whether classroom-based training in a smartphone-based virtual reality (VR) pedestrian environment (a) teaches schoolchildren to cross streets safely, and (b) increases their self-efficacy for street-crossing. Fifty-six children, aged 8-10 years, attending primary school in Changsha, China participated. Baseline pedestrian safety assessment occurred in the VR environment and through unobtrusive observation of a subsample crossing a street for 11 days outside school. Self-efficacy was assessed through both self-report and observation. Following baseline, children engaged in the VR for 12 days in their classrooms, honing complex cognitive-perceptual skills required to engage safely in traffic. Follow-up assessment replicated baseline. Probability of crash in the VR decreased posttraining (0.40 vs. 0.09), and observational data found the odds of looking at oncoming traffic while crossing the first lane of traffic increased (odds ratio [OR] = 2.4). Self-efficacy increases occurred in self-report (proportional OR = 4.7 crossing busy streets) and observation of following crossing-guard signals (OR = 0.2, first lane). Pedestrian safety training via smartphone-based VR provides children the repeated practice needed to learn the complex skills required to cross streets safely, and also helps them improve self-efficacy to cross streets. Given rapid motorization and global smartphone penetration, plus epidemiological findings that about 75,000 children die annually worldwide in pedestrian crashes, smartphone-based VR could supplement existing policy and prevention efforts to improve global child pedestrian safety.

Pedestrian and traffic safety in parking lots at SNL/NM : audit background report.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sanchez, Paul Ernest

2009-03-01

This report supplements audit 2008-E-0009, conducted by the ES&H, Quality, Safeguards & Security Audits Department, 12870, during fall and winter of FY 2008. The study evaluates slips, trips and falls, the leading cause of reportable injuries at Sandia. In 2007, almost half of over 100 of such incidents occurred in parking lots. During the course of the audit, over 5000 observations were collected in 10 parking lots across SNL/NM. Based on benchmarks and trends of pedestrian behavior, the report proposes pedestrian-friendly features and attributes to improve pedestrian safety in parking lots. Less safe pedestrian behavior is associated with older parkingmore » lots lacking pedestrian-friendly features and attributes, like those for buildings 823, 887 and 811. Conversely, safer pedestrian behavior is associated with newer parking lots that have designated walkways, intra-lot walkways and sidewalks. Observations also revealed that motorists are in widespread noncompliance with parking lot speed limits and stop signs and markers.« less

Design of a Conceptual Bumper Energy Absorber Coupling Pedestrian Safety and Low-Speed Impact Requirements

PubMed Central

Mo, Fuhao; Zhao, Siqi; Yu, Chuanhui; Duan, Shuyong

2018-01-01

The car front bumper system needs to meet the requirements of both pedestrian safety and low-speed impact which are somewhat contradicting. This study aims to design a new kind of modular self-adaptive energy absorber of the front bumper system which can balance the two performances. The X-shaped energy-absorbing structure was proposed which can enhance the energy absorption capacity during impact by changing its deformation mode based on the amount of external collision energy. Then, finite element simulations with a realistic vehicle bumper system are performed to demonstrate its crashworthiness in comparison with the traditional foam energy absorber, which presents a significant improvement of the two performances. Furthermore, the structural parameters of the X-shaped energy-absorbing structure including thickness (t u), side arc radius (R), and clamping boost beam thickness (t b) are analyzed using a full factorial method, and a multiobjective optimization is implemented regarding evaluation indexes of both pedestrian safety and low-speed impact. The optimal parameters are then verified, and the feasibility of the optimal results is confirmed. In conclusion, the new X-shaped energy absorber can meet both pedestrian safety and low-speed impact requirements well by altering the main deformation modes according to different impact energy levels. PMID:29581728

Design of a Conceptual Bumper Energy Absorber Coupling Pedestrian Safety and Low-Speed Impact Requirements.

PubMed

Mo, Fuhao; Zhao, Siqi; Yu, Chuanhui; Xiao, Zhi; Duan, Shuyong

2018-01-01

The car front bumper system needs to meet the requirements of both pedestrian safety and low-speed impact which are somewhat contradicting. This study aims to design a new kind of modular self-adaptive energy absorber of the front bumper system which can balance the two performances. The X-shaped energy-absorbing structure was proposed which can enhance the energy absorption capacity during impact by changing its deformation mode based on the amount of external collision energy. Then, finite element simulations with a realistic vehicle bumper system are performed to demonstrate its crashworthiness in comparison with the traditional foam energy absorber, which presents a significant improvement of the two performances. Furthermore, the structural parameters of the X-shaped energy-absorbing structure including thickness ( t u ), side arc radius ( R ), and clamping boost beam thickness ( t b ) are analyzed using a full factorial method, and a multiobjective optimization is implemented regarding evaluation indexes of both pedestrian safety and low-speed impact. The optimal parameters are then verified, and the feasibility of the optimal results is confirmed. In conclusion, the new X-shaped energy absorber can meet both pedestrian safety and low-speed impact requirements well by altering the main deformation modes according to different impact energy levels.

Safety and Guidelines for Marked and Unmarked Pedestrian Crosswalks at Unsignalized Intersections in Nevada

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-09-01

This report examines two aspects of marked and unmarked crosswalks at unsignalized intersections. Firstly, the report assesses the safety performance of marked/unmarked crosswalks in Nevada through comparing pedestrian-related crash rates. In which, ...

Classroom Activities in School Bus and Pedestrian Safety Education. Bulletin No. 93138.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wisconsin State Dept. of Transportation, Madison.

School bus and related pedestrian safety education is prevention-oriented so that students will learn how to avoid bus-related accidents. This manual provides lesson plans emphasizing the school bus stop, loading and unloading zones, emergency evacuation drills, and appropriate behavior on the school bus. The guide also recognizes demographic…

Pedestrian safety action plan.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-06-01

In 2005, Arizona ranked 5th among states in pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 residents, with 164 : pedestrian fatalities on Arizonas roadwaysa nearly 30 percent increase from 2003 levels. To reduce : the number of pedestrian crashes in Arizona...

Application of Mls Data to the Assessment of Safety-Related Features in the Surrounding Area of Automatically Detected Pedestrian Crossings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soilán, M.; Riveiro, B.; Sánchez-Rodríguez, A.; González-deSantos, L. M.

2018-05-01

During the last few years, there has been a huge methodological development regarding the automatic processing of 3D point cloud data acquired by both terrestrial and aerial mobile mapping systems, motivated by the improvement of surveying technologies and hardware performance. This paper presents a methodology that, in a first place, extracts geometric and semantic information regarding the road markings within the surveyed area from Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS) data, and then employs it to isolate street areas where pedestrian crossings are found and, therefore, pedestrians are more likely to cross the road. Then, different safety-related features can be extracted in order to offer information about the adequacy of the pedestrian crossing regarding its safety, which can be displayed in a Geographical Information System (GIS) layer. These features are defined in four different processing modules: Accessibility analysis, traffic lights classification, traffic signs classification, and visibility analysis. The validation of the proposed methodology has been carried out in two different cities in the northwest of Spain, obtaining both quantitative and qualitative results for pedestrian crossing classification and for each processing module of the safety assessment on pedestrian crossing environments.

Traveling by Bus Instead of Car on Urban Major Roads: Safety Benefits for Vehicle Occupants, Pedestrians, and Cyclists.

PubMed

Morency, Patrick; Strauss, Jillian; Pépin, Félix; Tessier, François; Grondines, Jocelyn

2018-04-01

Some studies have estimated fatality and injury rates for bus occupants, but data was aggregated at the country level and made no distinction between bus types. Also, injured pedestrians and cyclists, as a result of bus travel, were overlooked. We compared injury rates for car and city bus occupants on specific urban major roads, as well as the cyclist and pedestrian injuries associated with car and bus travel. We selected ten bus routes along major urban arterials (in Montreal, Canada). Passenger-kilometers traveled were estimated from vehicle counts at intersections (2002-2010) and from bus passenger counts (2008). Police accident reports (2001-2010) provided injury data for all modes. Injury rates associated with car and bus travel were calculated for vehicle occupants, pedestrians, and cyclists. Injury rate ratios were also computed. The safety benefits of bus travel, defined as the number of vehicle occupant, cyclist, and pedestrian injuries saved, were estimated for each route. Overall, for all ten routes, the ratio between car and bus occupant injury rates is 3.7 (95% CI [3.4, 4.0]). The rates of pedestrian and cyclist injuries per hundred million passenger-kilometers are also significantly greater for car travel than that for bus travel: 4.1 (95% CI [3.5, 4.9]) times greater for pedestrian injuries; 5.3 (95% CI [3.8, 7.6]) times greater for cyclist injuries. Similar results were observed for fatally and severely injured vehicle occupants, cyclists, and pedestrians. At the route level, the safety benefits of bus travel increase with the difference in injury rate associated with car and bus travel but also with the amount of passenger-kilometers by bus. Results show that city bus is a safer mode than car, for vehicle occupants but also for cyclists and pedestrians traveling along these bus routes. The safety benefits of bus travel greatly vary across urban routes; this spatial variation is most likely linked to environmental factors. Understanding the

Older People's Perceptions of Pedestrian Friendliness and Traffic Safety: An Experiment Using Computer-Simulated Walking Environments.

PubMed

Kahlert, Daniela; Schlicht, Wolfgang

2015-08-21

Traffic safety and pedestrian friendliness are considered to be important conditions for older people's motivation to walk through their environment. This study uses an experimental study design with computer-simulated living environments to investigate the effect of micro-scale environmental factors (parking spaces and green verges with trees) on older people's perceptions of both motivational antecedents (dependent variables). Seventy-four consecutively recruited older people were randomly assigned watching one of two scenarios (independent variable) on a computer screen. The scenarios simulated a stroll on a sidewalk, as it is 'typical' for a German city. In version 'A,' the subjects take a fictive walk on a sidewalk where a number of cars are parked partially on it. In version 'B', cars are in parking spaces separated from the sidewalk by grass verges and trees. Subjects assessed their impressions of both dependent variables. A multivariate analysis of covariance showed that subjects' ratings on perceived traffic safety and pedestrian friendliness were higher for Version 'B' compared to version 'A'. Cohen's d indicates medium (d = 0.73) and large (d = 1.23) effect sizes for traffic safety and pedestrian friendliness, respectively. The study suggests that elements of the built environment might affect motivational antecedents of older people's walking behavior.

Issues and challenges for pedestrian active safety systems based on real world accidents.

PubMed

Hamdane, Hédi; Serre, Thierry; Masson, Catherine; Anderson, Robert

2015-09-01

The purpose of this study was to analyze real crashes involving pedestrians in order to evaluate the potential effectiveness of autonomous emergency braking systems (AEB) in pedestrian protection. A sample of 100 real accident cases were reconstructed providing a comprehensive set of data describing the interaction between the vehicle, the environment and the pedestrian all along the scenario of the accident. A generic AEB system based on a camera sensor for pedestrian detection was modeled in order to identify the functionality of its different attributes in the timeline of each crash scenario. These attributes were assessed to determine their impact on pedestrian safety. The influence of the detection and the activation of the AEB system were explored by varying the field of view (FOV) of the sensor and the level of deceleration. A FOV of 35° was estimated to be required to detect and react to the majority of crash scenarios. For the reaction of a system (from hazard detection to triggering the brakes), between 0.5 and 1s appears necessary. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Traffic safety facts 1998 : pedestrians

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-01-01

In 1998, 5,220 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the United States - a decrease of 24 percent from the 6,870 pedestrians killed in 1988. On average, a pedestrian is killed in a traffic crash every 101 minutes. There were 69,000 pedestrian...

Traffic safety facts 1999 : pedestrians

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-01-01

In 1999, 4,906 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the United States - a decrease of 25 percent from the 6,556 pedestrians killed in 1989. On average, a pedestrian is killed in a traffic crash every 107 minutes. There were 85,000 pedestrian...

Traffic safety facts 2000 : pedestrians

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-01-01

In 2000, 4,739 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the United States - a decrease of 27 percent from the 6,482 pedestrians killed in 1990. On average, a pedestrian is killed in a traffic crash every 111 minutes. There were 78,000 pedestrian...

Traffic safety facts 1998 : pedestrian

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-01-01

In 1998, 5,220 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the United States - a decrease of 24% from the 6,870 pedestrians killed in 1988. On average, a pedestrian is killed in a traffic crash every 101 minutes. There were 69,000 pedestrians injur...

An Analysis of the Safety Issues Involving Local School Children as Pedestrians. Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ducote, Kenneth J.

The New Orleans Public Schools' Department of Planning has been concerned with school children as pedestrians for the past five years. The safety issues include the streets, the drivers, and the children. First, the streets contribute to the hazard because many major streets traverse residential areas; many streets serve as major commuter…

Pedestrians. Traffic Safety Facts, 2000.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (DOT), Washington, DC.

This document provides statistical information on U.S. traffic accidents involving pedestrians. Data tables include: (1) trends in pedestrian and total traffic fatalities, 1990-2000; (2) pedestrians killed and injured, by age group, 2000; (3) non-occupant traffic fatalities, 1990-2000; (4) pedestrian fatalities, by time of day and day of week,…

Traffic Safety Facts, 2001: Pedestrians.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (DOT), Washington, DC.

This document provides statistical information on U.S. traffic accidents involving pedestrians. Data tables include: (1) trends in pedestrian and total traffic fatalities, 1991-2001; (2) pedestrians killed and injured, by age group, 2001; (3) non-occupant traffic fatalities, 1991-2001; (4) pedestrian fatalities, by time of day and day of week,…

Pedestrian safety engineering and intelligent transportation system-based countermeasures program for reduced pedestrian fatalities, injuries, conflicts and other surrogate measures : Miami-Dade site.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-08-25

This report presents the methods and key findings from the Miami-Dade comprehensive pedestrian safety planning and engineering project. It is one of three such projects in the nation funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to evaluate: In...

Traffic safety facts 1994 : pedestrians

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-01-01

In 1994, 5,472 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the United States. Figure 1 shows trends in pedestrian and total traffic fatalities, 1984-1994; and Figure 2, pedestrian fatalities by time of day and day of week, 1994. Of the tables, Tabl...

Traffic safety facts 1995 : pedestrians

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-01-01

In 1995, 5,585 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the United States. Figure 1 shows trends in pedestrian and total traffic fatalities, 1985-1995; and Figure 2, pedestrian fatalities by time of day and day of week, 1995. Of the tables, Tabl...

Traffic safety facts 1996 : pedestrians

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-01

In 1996, 5,412 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the United States. Figure 1 shows trends in pedestrian and total traffic fatalities, 1986-1996; and Figure 2, pedestrian fatalities by time of day and day of week, 1996. Of the tables, Tabl...

Traffic safety facts 1993 : pedestrians

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1994-01-01

In 1993, 5,638 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the United States. Figure 1 shows trends in pedestrian and total traffic fatalities, 1983-1993; and Figure 2, pedestrian fatalities by time of day and day of week, 1993. Of the tables, Tabl...

Older People’s Perceptions of Pedestrian Friendliness and Traffic Safety: An Experiment Using Computer-Simulated Walking Environments

PubMed Central

Kahlert, Daniela; Schlicht, Wolfgang

2015-01-01

Traffic safety and pedestrian friendliness are considered to be important conditions for older people’s motivation to walk through their environment. This study uses an experimental study design with computer-simulated living environments to investigate the effect of micro-scale environmental factors (parking spaces and green verges with trees) on older people’s perceptions of both motivational antecedents (dependent variables). Seventy-four consecutively recruited older people were randomly assigned watching one of two scenarios (independent variable) on a computer screen. The scenarios simulated a stroll on a sidewalk, as it is ‘typical’ for a German city. In version ‘A,’ the subjects take a fictive walk on a sidewalk where a number of cars are parked partially on it. In version ‘B’, cars are in parking spaces separated from the sidewalk by grass verges and trees. Subjects assessed their impressions of both dependent variables. A multivariate analysis of covariance showed that subjects’ ratings on perceived traffic safety and pedestrian friendliness were higher for Version ‘B’ compared to version ‘A’. Cohen’s d indicates medium (d = 0.73) and large (d = 1.23) effect sizes for traffic safety and pedestrian friendliness, respectively. The study suggests that elements of the built environment might affect motivational antecedents of older people’s walking behavior. PMID:26308026

Traffic signal phasing at intersections to improve safety for alcohol-affected pedestrians.

PubMed

Lenné, Michael G; Corben, Bruce F; Stephan, Karen

2007-07-01

Alcohol-affected pedestrians are among the highest-risk groups involved in pedestrian casualty crashes. This paper investigates the opportunities to use a modified form of traffic signal operation during high-risk periods and at high-risk locations to reduce alcohol-affected pedestrian crashes and the severity of injuries that might otherwise occur. The 'Dwell-on-Red' treatment involves displaying a red traffic signal to all vehicle directions during periods when no vehicular traffic is detected, so that drivers approach high-risk intersections at a lower speed than if a green signal were displayed. Vehicle speed data were collected before and after treatment activation at both a control and treatment site. Speed data were collected both 30 m prior to and at the intersection stop line. The treatment was associated with a reduction in mean vehicle speeds of 3.9 kph (9%) and 11.0 kph (28%) at 30 m and stop line collection points, respectively, and substantial reductions in the proportion of vehicles travelling at threatening speeds with regard to the severity of pedestrian injury. Other important road safety concerns may also benefit from this form of traffic signal modification, and it is recommended that other areas of application be explored, including the other severe trauma categories typically concentrated around signalised intersections.

Pedestrian traffic safety and outdoor active play among 10-13 year olds living in a mid-sized city.

PubMed

Nguyen, Andrew; Borghese, Michael M; Janssen, Ian

2018-06-01

This cross-sectional study examined the independent and interactive associations between objective and perceived measures of neighborhood pedestrian traffic safety and outdoor active play. A total of 458 children aged 10-13 years from Kingston, Canada were studied in 2015-2016. Outdoor active play was measured over 7 days using data from activity logs, accelerometers, and Global Positioning System loggers. Geographic Information System data were collected within 1 km of participants' homes and used to create traffic volume, traffic calming, traffic speed, and pedestrian infrastructure indexes. Parents' perceptions of these pedestrian safety domains were obtained by questionnaire. Most of the pedestrian safety measures were not significantly associated with outdoor active play, and there were no interactions between the objective and perceived measures ( p  > 0.3). The significant relationships are listed here. Children whose parents perceived moderate or high traffic speeds in their neighborhood had outdoor active play values that were 0.35 (SE = 0.10, p  = 0.021) and 0.20 (SE = 0.15, p  = 0.048) SD units higher, respectively, then children whose parents perceived low traffic speed. By comparison to children from neighborhoods in the lowest tertile, children from the highest traffic volume tertile had higher outdoor active play levels (0.26, SE = 0.12, p  = 0.029), while children from neighborhoods in the moderate traffic calming tertile (-0.28, SE = 0.11, p  = 0.008) and the moderate pedestrian infrastructure tertile (-0.25, SE = 0.11, p  = 0.023) had lower outdoor active play levels.

Improving Pedestrian Safety at Signalized Intersections

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-06-01

Our research investigated methods and technologies to make signalized intersections safer for pedestrians using the capabilities : of accessible pedestrian systems. Our research focused on three technologies: acoustic beaconing, passive pedestrian de...

Automated Pedestrian Detection, Count and Analysis System

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-04-15

Pedestrian and bicycle count data is necessary for transportation planning, implementing safety countermeasures, and traffic management. This data is critical when evaluating the pedestrian level of service of safety (LOSS) and pedestrian safety perf...

Impact of a pilot walking school bus intervention on children's pedestrian safety behaviors: a pilot study

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Walking school buses (WSB) increased children's physical activity, but impact on pedestrian safety behaviors (PSB) is unknown. We tested the feasibility of a protocol evaluating changes to PSB during a WSB program. Outcomes were school-level street crossing PSB prior to (Time 1) and during weeks 4–5...

Integrated assessment of pedestrian head impact protection in testing secondary safety and autonomous emergency braking.

PubMed

Searson, D J; Anderson, R W G; Hutchinson, T P

2014-02-01

Pedestrian impact testing is used to provide information to the public about the relative level of protection provided by different vehicles to a struck pedestrian. Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) is a relatively new technology that aims to reduce the impact speed of such crashes. It is expected that vehicles with AEB will pose less harm to pedestrians, and that the benefit will come about through reductions in the number of collisions and a change in the severity of impacts that will still occur. In this paper, an integration of the assessment of AEB performance and impact performance is proposed based on average injury risk. Average injury risk is calculated using the result of an impact test and a previously published distribution of real world crash speeds. A second published speed distribution is used that accounts for the effects of AEB, and reduced average risks are implied. This principle allows the effects of AEB systems and secondary safety performance to be integrated into a single measure of safety. The results are used to examine the effect of AEB on Euro NCAP and ANCAP assessments using previously published results on the likely effect of AEB. The results show that, given certain assumptions about AEB performance, the addition of AEB is approximately the equivalent of increasing Euro NCAP test performance by one band, which corresponds to an increase in the score of 25% of the maximum. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Expanding pedestrian injury risk to the body region level: how to model passive safety systems in pedestrian injury risk functions.

PubMed

Niebuhr, Tobias; Junge, Mirko; Achmus, Stefanie

2015-01-01

decomposable into the 3 body regions and so are the risk functions as body region-specific risk functions. The risk functions for each body region are stated explicitly for different injury severity levels and compared to the real-world accident data. The body region-specific risk functions can then be used to model the effect of improved passive safety systems. These modified body region-specific injury risk functions are aggregated to a new pedestrian injury risk function. Passive safety systems can therefore be modeled in injury risk functions for the first time. A short example on how the results can be used for assessing the effectiveness of new driver assistance systems concludes the article.

Exploring factors influencing the strength of the safety-in-numbers effect.

PubMed

Elvik, Rune

2017-03-01

Several studies have found a so-called safety-in-numbers effect for vulnerable road users. This means that when the number of pedestrians or cyclists increases, the number of accidents involving these road users and motor vehicles increases less than in proportion to the number of pedestrians or cyclists. In other words, travel becomes safer for each pedestrian or cyclist the more pedestrians or cyclists there are. This finding is highly consistent, but estimates of the strength of the safety-in-numbers effect vary considerably. This paper shows that the strength of the safety-in-numbers effect is inversely related to the number of pedestrians and cyclists. A stronger safety-in-numbers is found when there are few pedestrians or cyclists than when there are many. This finding is counterintuitive and one would expect the opposite relationship. The relationship between the ratio of the number of motor vehicles to the number of pedestrians or cyclists and the strength of the safety-in-numbers effect is ambiguous. Possible explanations of these tendencies are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modeling pedestrian crossing speed profiles considering speed change behavior for the safety assessment of signalized intersections.

PubMed

Iryo-Asano, Miho; Alhajyaseen, Wael K M

2017-11-01

Pedestrian safety is one of the most challenging issues in road networks. Understanding how pedestrians maneuver across an intersection is the key to applying countermeasures against traffic crashes. It is known that the behaviors of pedestrians at signalized crosswalks are significantly different from those in ordinary walking spaces, and they are highly influenced by signal indication, potential conflicts with vehicles, and intersection geometries. One of the most important characteristics of pedestrian behavior at crosswalks is the possible sudden speed change while crossing. Such sudden behavioral change may not be expected by conflicting vehicles, which may lead to hazardous situations. This study aims to quantitatively model the sudden speed changes of pedestrians as they cross signalized crosswalks under uncongested conditions. Pedestrian speed profiles are collected from empirical data and speed change events are extracted assuming that the speed profiles are stepwise functions. The occurrence of speed change events is described by a discrete choice model as a function of the necessary walking speed to complete crossing before the red interval ends, current speed, and the presence of turning vehicles in the conflict area. The amount of speed change before and after the event is modeled using regression analysis. A Monte Carlo simulation is applied for the entire speed profile of the pedestrians. The results show that the model can represent the pedestrian travel time distribution more accurately than the constant speed model. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

76 FR 40860 - Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment for Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-12

... 49 CFR part 520. I. Background A. 2008 NHTSA Public Meeting On May 30, 2008, NHTSA published a notice.... This study documented the overall sound levels and general spectral content (i.e., the characteristics...., Quieter Cars and the Safety of Blind Pedestrians: Phase I, John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems...

Testing and evaluation of pedestrian sensors

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-09-01

The foundation for several pedestrian safety measures is reliable and accurate detection of pedestrians. The main objective of this study was to evaluate sensors for use in a pedestrian safety test bed in College Station, TX. The following sensors we...

Interdisciplinary Traffic Safety Instructional System: Series VI.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maryland State Dept. of Education, Baltimore.

Approximately 120 lessons for increasing sixth grade students' safety knowledge and skills as pedestrians in traffic and at school, as auto and school bus passengers, and as operators of bicycles are provided in this traffic curriculum. One third of the curriculum focuses on perceptual safety activities for young pedestrians, including lessons on…

76 FR 72888 - Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Small Business Impacts of Motor Vehicle Safety

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-28

... pedestrian safety devices. 571.217 Bus emergency exits and window retention and release. 571.220 School bus... DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 49 CFR Part 571 [Docket No. NHTSA-2011-0160] Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Small Business Impacts of Motor...

Automated and connected vehicle (AV/CV) test bed to improve transit, bicycle, and pedestrian safety : concept of operations plan.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-02-01

This document presents the Concept of Operations (ConOps) Plan for the Automated and Connected Vehicle (AV/CV) Test Bed to Improve Transit, Bicycle, and Pedestrian Safety. As illustrated in Figure 1, the plan presents the overarching vision and goals...

Visually Impaired Pedestrian Safety at Roundabout Crossings

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-11-01

Pedestrians are some of the most vulnerable road users. This becomes more apparent : at intersections, where pedestrians are unprotected and interacting with vehicles. While : pedestrian phases that are commonplace at most signalized intersections fa...

Effectiveness and efficiencies in pedestrian safety.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1982-03-01

Pedestrian fatalities constitute 16 percent of total highway - related fatalities. Excluding motor vehicle occupants, pedestrians comprise the target single category of fatalities on the nation's streets and highways. A total of 85 percent of ! all p...

A primer for highway safety professionals : advancing pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-04-01

Communities across the county are encouraging walking and biking to meet safety, health, livability, equity, and mobility goals. This primer is intended for highway safety professionals, including State Highway Safety Officials, as well as their part...

45 CFR 1310.21 - Safety education.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Safety education. 1310.21 Section 1310.21 Public... PROGRAM HEAD START TRANSPORTATION Special Requirements § 1310.21 Safety education. (a) Each agency must... children. The required transportation and pedestrian safety education of children and parents, except for...

45 CFR 1310.21 - Safety education.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Safety education. 1310.21 Section 1310.21 Public... PROGRAM HEAD START TRANSPORTATION Special Requirements § 1310.21 Safety education. (a) Each agency must... children. The required transportation and pedestrian safety education of children and parents, except for...

45 CFR 1310.21 - Safety education.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Safety education. 1310.21 Section 1310.21 Public... PROGRAM HEAD START TRANSPORTATION Special Requirements § 1310.21 Safety education. (a) Each agency must... children. The required transportation and pedestrian safety education of children and parents, except for...

45 CFR 1310.21 - Safety education.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Safety education. 1310.21 Section 1310.21 Public... PROGRAM HEAD START TRANSPORTATION Special Requirements § 1310.21 Safety education. (a) Each agency must... children. The required transportation and pedestrian safety education of children and parents, except for...

45 CFR 1310.21 - Safety education.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Safety education. 1310.21 Section 1310.21 Public... PROGRAM HEAD START TRANSPORTATION Special Requirements § 1310.21 Safety education. (a) Each agency must... children. The required transportation and pedestrian safety education of children and parents, except for...

Influence of pedestrian age and gender on spatial and temporal distribution of pedestrian crashes.

PubMed

Toran Pour, Alireza; Moridpour, Sara; Tay, Richard; Rajabifard, Abbas

2018-01-02

Every year, about 1.24 million people are killed in traffic crashes worldwide and more than 22% of these deaths are pedestrians. Therefore, pedestrian safety has become a significant traffic safety issue worldwide. In order to develop effective and targeted safety programs, the location- and time-specific influences on vehicle-pedestrian crashes must be assessed. The main purpose of this research is to explore the influence of pedestrian age and gender on the temporal and spatial distribution of vehicle-pedestrian crashes to identify the hotspots and hot times. Data for all vehicle-pedestrian crashes on public roadways in the Melbourne metropolitan area from 2004 to 2013 are used in this research. Spatial autocorrelation is applied in examining the vehicle-pedestrian crashes in geographic information systems (GIS) to identify any dependency between time and location of these crashes. Spider plots and kernel density estimation (KDE) are then used to determine the temporal and spatial patterns of vehicle-pedestrian crashes for different age groups and genders. Temporal analysis shows that pedestrian age has a significant influence on the temporal distribution of vehicle-pedestrian crashes. Furthermore, men and women have different crash patterns. In addition, results of the spatial analysis shows that areas with high risk of vehicle-pedestrian crashes can vary during different times of the day for different age groups and genders. For example, for those between ages 18 and 65, most vehicle-pedestrian crashes occur in the central business district (CBD) during the day, but between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., crashes among this age group occur mostly around hotels, clubs, and bars. This research reveals that temporal and spatial distributions of vehicle-pedestrian crashes vary for different pedestrian age groups and genders. Therefore, specific safety measures should be in place during high crash times at different locations for different age groups and genders to

Situations of car-to-pedestrian contact.

PubMed

Matsui, Yasuhiro; Hitosugi, Masahito; Takahashi, Kunio; Doi, Tsutomu

2013-01-01

To reduce the severity of injuries and the number of pedestrian deaths in traffic accidents, active safety devices providing pedestrian detection are considered effective countermeasures. The features of car-to-pedestrian collisions need to be known in detail to develop such safety devices. Because information on real-world accidents is limited, this study investigated near-miss situations captured by drive recorders installed in passenger cars. We showed similarities of the contact situation between near-miss incidents and real-world fatal pedestrian accidents in Japan. We analyzed the near-miss incident data via video capturing pedestrians crossing the road in front of forward-moving cars. Using a video frame captured by a drive recorder, the time to collision (TTC) was calculated from the car velocity and the distance between the car and pedestrian at the moment that the pedestrian initially appeared. The average TTC in the cases where pedestrians were not using a pedestrian crossing was shorter than that in the cases where pedestrians were using a pedestrian crossing. The average TTC in the cases where pedestrians emerged from behind obstructions was shorter than that in the cases where drivers had unobstructed views of the pedestrians. We propose that the specifications of the safety device for pedestrian detection and automatic braking should reflect the severe approach situation for a pedestrian and car including the TTC observed for near-miss incidents.

Comprehensive study to reduce pedestrian crashes in Florida : [summary].

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-12-01

Pedestrian crashes are a major safety : concern in Florida, with about one in : every ve traf c fatalities involving a : pedestrian. Recently, researchers at : Florida International University studied : ways to improve pedestrian safety on : F...

Vehicular camera pedestrian detection research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Jiahui

2018-03-01

With the rapid development of science and technology, it has made great development, but at the same time of highway traffic more convenient in highway traffic and transportation. However, in the meantime, traffic safety accidents occur more and more frequently in China. In order to deal with the increasingly heavy traffic safety. So, protecting the safety of people's personal property and facilitating travel has become a top priority. The real-time accurate pedestrian and driving environment are obtained through a vehicular camera which are used to detection and track the preceding moving targets. It is popular in the domain of intelligent vehicle safety driving, autonomous navigation and traffic system research. Based on the pedestrian video obtained by the Vehicular Camera, this paper studies the trajectory of pedestrian detection and its algorithm.

Analyzing fault in pedestrian-motor vehicle crashes in North Carolina.

PubMed

Ulfarsson, Gudmundur F; Kim, Sungyop; Booth, Kathleen M

2010-11-01

Crashes between pedestrians and motor vehicles are an important traffic safety concern. This paper explores the assignment of fault in such crashes, where observed factors are associated with pedestrian at fault, driver at fault, or both at fault. The analysis is based on police reported crash data for 1997 through 2000 in North Carolina, U.S.A. The results show that pedestrians are found at fault in 59% of the crashes, drivers in 32%, and both are found at fault in 9%. The results indicate drivers need to take greater notice of pedestrians when drivers are turning, merging, and backing up as these are some of the prime factors associated with the driver being found at fault in a crash. Pedestrians must apply greater caution when crossing streets, waiting to cross, and when walking along roads, as these are correlated with pedestrians being found at fault. The results suggest a need for campaigns focused on positively affecting pedestrian street-crossing behavior in combination with added jaywalking enforcement. The results also indicate that campaigns to increase the use of pedestrian visibility improvements at night can have a significant positive impact on traffic safety. Intoxication is a concern and the results show that it is not only driver intoxication that is affecting safety, but also pedestrian intoxication. The findings show in combination with other research in the field, that results from traffic safety studies are not necessarily transferable between distant geographic locations, and that location-specific safety research needs to take place. It is also important to further study the specific effects of the design of the pedestrian environment on safety, e.g. crosswalk spacing, signal timings, etc., which together may affect pedestrian safety and pedestrian behavior. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding interactions between drivers and pedestrian features at signalized intersections.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-10-01

Florida experienced serious pedestrian safety problems and had the highest pedestrian fatality rate in the U.S. from : 20082011. Pedestrian safety at signalized intersections is the most serious concern due to frequent and severe : conflicts betwe...

Connected vehicle applications : safety.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-01-01

Connected vehicle safety applications are designed to increase situational awareness : and reduce or eliminate crashes through vehicle-to-infrastructure, vehicle-to-vehicle, : and vehicle-to-pedestrian data transmissions. Applications support advisor...

Connected vehicle applications : safety.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-01-01

Connected vehicle safety applications are designed to increase situational awareness and reduce or eliminate crashes through vehicle-to-infrastructure, vehicle-to-vehicle, and vehicle-to-pedestrian data transmissions. Applications support advisories ...

PHOTOVOICE: Reducing pedestrian injuries in children.

PubMed

Van Oss, Tracy; Quinn, Danielle; Viscosi, Pauline; Bretscher, Kristen

2013-01-01

Pedestrian injury is the second leading cause of injury related death for children. The purpose of this research project was to determine the effectiveness of pedestrian and road traffic safety education with children, as part of the Walk This Way program through Safe Kids USA. Through the implementation of PHOTOVOICE, a project that captured children's narratives coinciding with a photograph, children engaged in community exploration to identify pedestrian hazards in their communities and explore possible solutions utilizing their photography and narrations. Children participated in an engaging educational session, a community fieldtrip, and reflection. Results concluded that, despite a small increase in post test scores, an increase in awareness of hazards in the community and successful identification of community hazards was achieved. The goal of this research project was determine the effectiveness of a hands-on pedestrian and road traffic safety educational program with children. The results of this research project will be integrated with similar projects completed across the country through the program Walk This Way with Safe Kids USA. Both this research project and the Walk This Way program aim to promote behavior change in children and create safer communities to reduce pedestrian related injury. The overall goal of this research project andthe Walk This Way program is to increase education on a national level in regards to pedestrian safety for children and provide a basis for lobbying for public policy changes pertaining to road and pedestrian safety.

Comprehensive study to reduce pedestrian crashes in Florida.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-12-01

Pedestrian crashes are a major traffic safety concern in Florida. This project aims to improve pedestrian safety on : Floridas state roads by identifying crash patterns and contributing factors at both the statewide and site-specific : level and p...

Coupling lateral bending and shearing mechanisms to define knee injury criteria for pedestrian safety.

PubMed

Mo, Fuhao; Masson, Catherine; Cesari, Dominique; Arnoux, Pierre Jean

2013-01-01

tests and FE simulations conducted with a biofidelic lower limb model. This provides a valuable way of predicting the risk of knee injury associated with vehicle-pedestrian crashes and thereby represents a further step to promote the design of vehicle countermeasures for pedestrian safety.

Evaluating Countermeasures to Improve Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2018-11-01

Pedestrian crashes have reached an alarming level in the U.S. Different factors could contribute to the occurrence of these crashes at an intersection, including driver errors, the type of maneuver, and pedestrian behaviors. All these factors highlig...

Have pedestrian subsystem tests improved passenger car front shape?

PubMed

Li, Guibing; Wang, Fang; Otte, Dietmar; Cai, Zhihua; Simms, Ciaran

2018-06-01

Subsystem impactor tests are the main approaches for evaluation of safety performance of vehicle front design for pedestrian protection in legislative regulations. However, the main aspects of vehicle safety for pedestrians are shape and stiffness, and though it is clear that subsystem impact tests encourage lower vehicle front stiffness, it is unclear whether they promote improved vehicle front shapes for pedestrian protection. The purpose of this paper is therefore to investigate the effects of European pedestrian safety regulations on passenger car front shape and pedestrian injury risk using recent German In-Depth Accident Study (GIDAS) pedestrian collision data and numerical simulations. Firstly, a sample of 579 pedestrian collision cases involving 190 different car models between 2000-2015 extracted from the GIDAS was used to compare front-end shapes of passenger cars manufactured before and after the legislative pedestrian safety regulations were introduced in Europe. The focus was on changes in passenger car front shape and differences in pedestrian AIS2+ (Abbreviated Injury Scale at least level 2) leg, pelvis/femur and head injury risk observed in collisions. Multi-body simulations were also used to assess changes in vehicle aggressivity due to the observed changes in vehicle shape. The results show that newer passenger cars tend to have a flatter and wider bumper, higher bonnet leading edge, shorter and steeper bonnet and a shallower windscreen. Both the collision data and the numerical simulations indicate that newer passenger car front bumper designs are significantly safer for pedestrians' legs. However, the results also show that the higher bonnet leading edge in newer passenger cars is poor for pedestrian pelvis/femur protection, even though newer cars show an obviously lower AIS2+ injury risk to younger pedestrians in collisions. Newer cars have a lower AIS2+ head injury risk for pedestrians in collisions, but the numerical analysis indicate that

Connected vehicle application : safety.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-01-01

Connected vehicle safety applications are designed to increase situational awareness : and reduce or eliminate crashes through vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), and vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) data transmissions. Applications...

Pedestrian signalization and the risk of pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions in Lima, Peru

PubMed Central

Quistberg, D. Alex; Koepsell, Thomas D.; Boyle, Linda Ng; Miranda, J. Jaime; Johnston, Brian D.; Ebel, Beth E.

2014-01-01

Safe walking environments are essential for protecting pedestrians and promoting physical activity. In Peru, pedestrians comprise of over three-quarters of road fatality victims. Pedestrian signalization plays an important role managing pedestrian and vehicle traffic and may help improve pedestrian safety. We examined the relationship between pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions and the presence of visible traffic signals, pedestrian signals, and signal timing to determine whether these countermeasures improved pedestrian safety. A matched case-control design was used where the units of study were crossing locations. We randomly sampled 97 control-matched collisions (weighted N=1134) at intersections occurring from October, 2010 to January, 2011 in Lima. Each case-control pair was matched on proximity, street classification, and number of lanes. Sites were visited between February, 2011 and September, 2011. Each analysis accounted for sampling weight and matching and was adjusted for vehicle and pedestrian traffic flow, crossing width, and mean vehicle speed. Collisions were more common where a phased pedestrian signal (green or red-lit signal) was present compared to no signalization (odds ratio [OR] 8.88, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.32–59.6). A longer pedestrian-specific signal duration was associated with collision risk (OR 5.31, 95% CI 1.02–9.60 per 15-second interval). Collisions occurred more commonly in the presence of any signalization visible to pedestrians or pedestrian-specific signalization, though these associations were not statistically significant. Signalization efforts were not associated with lower risk for pedestrians; rather, they were associated with an increased risk of pedestrian-vehicle collisions. PMID:24821630

Pedestrian signalization and the risk of pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions in Lima, Peru.

PubMed

Quistberg, D Alex; Koepsell, Thomas D; Boyle, Linda Ng; Miranda, J Jaime; Johnston, Brian D; Ebel, Beth E

2014-09-01

Safe walking environments are essential for protecting pedestrians and promoting physical activity. In Peru, pedestrians comprise over three-quarters of road fatality victims. Pedestrian signalization plays an important role managing pedestrian and vehicle traffic and may help improve pedestrian safety. We examined the relationship between pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions and the presence of visible traffic signals, pedestrian signals, and signal timing to determine whether these countermeasures improved pedestrian safety. A matched case-control design was used where the units of study were crossing locations. We randomly sampled 97 control-matched collisions (weighted N=1134) at intersections occurring from October, 2010 to January, 2011 in Lima. Each case-control pair was matched on proximity, street classification, and number of lanes. Sites were visited between February, 2011 and September, 2011. Each analysis accounted for sampling weight and matching and was adjusted for vehicle and pedestrian traffic flow, crossing width, and mean vehicle speed. Collisions were more common where a phased pedestrian signal (green or red-light signal) was present compared to no signalization (odds ratio [OR] 8.88, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.32-59.6). A longer pedestrian-specific signal duration was associated with collision risk (OR 5.31, 95% CI 1.02-9.60 per 15-s interval). Collisions occurred more commonly in the presence of any signalization visible to pedestrians or pedestrian-specific signalization, though these associations were not statistically significant. Signalization efforts were not associated with lower risk for pedestrians; rather, they were associated with an increased risk of pedestrian-vehicle collisions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Measuring pedestrian volumes and conflicts. Volume III, Measuring pedestrian volumes : a users manual

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1988-03-01

Users of the manual are expected to be in divisions responsible for pedestrian safety in cities, counties, and other jurisdictions. The users manual outlines a step-by-step procedure to measure pedestrian volumes using small count intervals. Appendix...

Kinematic responses and injuries of pedestrian in car-pedestrian collisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teng, T. L.; Liang, C. C.; Hsu, C. Y.; Tai, S. F.

2017-10-01

How to protect pedestrians and reduce the collision injury has gradually become the new field of automotive safety research and focus in the world. Many engineering studies have appeared and their purpose is trying to reduce the pedestrian injuries caused by traffic accident. The physical model involving impactor model and full scale pedestrian model are costly when taking the impact test. This study constructs a vehicle-pedestrian collision model by using the MADYMO. To verify the accuracy of the proposed vehicle-pedestrian collision model, the experimental data are used in the pedestrian model test. The proposed model also will be applied to analyze the kinematic responses and injuries of pedestrian in collisions in this study. The modeled results can help assess the pedestrian friendliness of vehicles and assist in the future development of pedestrian friendliness vehicle technologies.

Second generation accessible pedestrian systems.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-09-01

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 has had a great impact on the implementation of Accessible Pedestrian Systems that target accessible and safety : impediments faced by pedestrians with mobility and visual impairments. Intersection geometri...

Fatality rate of pedestrians and fatal crash involvement rate of drivers in pedestrian crashes: a case study of Iran.

PubMed

Kashani, Ali Tavakoli; Besharati, Mohammad Mehdi

2017-06-01

The aim of this study was to uncover patterns of pedestrian crashes. In the first stage, 34,178 pedestrian-involved crashes occurred in Iran during a four-year period were grouped into homogeneous clusters using a clustering analysis. Next, some in-cluster and inter-cluster crash patterns were analysed. The clustering analysis yielded six pedestrian crash groups. Car/van/pickup crashes on rural roads as well as heavy vehicle crashes were found to be less frequent but more likely to be fatal compared to other crash clusters. In addition, after controlling for crash frequency in each cluster, it was found that the fatality rate of each pedestrian age group as well as the fatal crash involvement rate of each driver age group varies across the six clusters. Results of present study has some policy implications including, promoting pedestrian safety training sessions for heavy vehicle drivers, imposing limitations over elderly heavy vehicle drivers, reinforcing penalties toward under 19 drivers and motorcyclists. In addition, road safety campaigns in rural areas may be promoted to inform people about the higher fatality rate of pedestrians on rural roads. The crash patterns uncovered in this study might also be useful for prioritizing future pedestrian safety research areas.

Analysis on influencing factors and decision-making of pedestrian crossing at intersections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Likun; Wang, Ziyang

2017-10-01

The city signal intersection always has complex traffic flow and many traffic accidents. As vulnerable participants, the proportion of traffic accidents involving pedestrians remain high. And a lot of insecure crossing behavior seriously reduce the safety of the intersection. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out in-depth study on the traversing characteristics of pedestrians, reveal the inherent laws of pedestrian crossing, and then put forward targeted measures to improve pedestrian traffic environment, protect pedestrian crossing safety and improve traffic efficiency.

Pedestrian Safety Treatments for Signalized Intersections : Training Course Development

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-11-01

When drivers make left turns during a permissive turn phase, they must yield to pedestrians as well as oncoming through vehicles. Left-turning drivers sometimes overlook pedestrians in the crosswalk while watching the opposing intersection approach. ...

Finding strategies to improve pedestrian safety in rural areas

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-10-11

This paper is based upon an analysis of collisions involving pedestrians in rural areas and proposes ways of preventing them. Pedestrian and vehicle volumes were counted and crash numbers predicted and compared to outcomes in varying environments. It...

Safety effects of exclusive and concurrent signal phasing for pedestrian crossing.

PubMed

Zhang, Yaohua; Mamun, Sha A; Ivan, John N; Ravishanker, Nalini; Haque, Khademul

2015-10-01

This paper describes the estimation of pedestrian crash count and vehicle interaction severity prediction models for a sample of signalized intersections in Connecticut with either concurrent or exclusive pedestrian phasing. With concurrent phasing, pedestrians cross at the same time as motor vehicle traffic in the same direction receives a green phase, while with exclusive phasing, pedestrians cross during their own phase when all motor vehicle traffic on all approaches is stopped. Pedestrians crossing at each intersection were observed and classified according to the severity of interactions with motor vehicles. Observation intersections were selected to represent both types of signal phasing while controlling for other physical characteristics. In the nonlinear mixed models for interaction severity, pedestrians crossing on the walk signal at an exclusive signal experienced lower interaction severity compared to those crossing on the green light with concurrent phasing; however, pedestrians crossing on a green light where an exclusive phase was available experienced higher interaction severity. Intersections with concurrent phasing have fewer total pedestrian crashes than those with exclusive phasing but more crashes at higher severity levels. It is recommended that exclusive pedestrian phasing only be used at locations where pedestrians are more likely to comply. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Is the relationship between the built environment and physical activity moderated by perceptions of crime and safety?

PubMed

Bracy, Nicole L; Millstein, Rachel A; Carlson, Jordan A; Conway, Terry L; Sallis, James F; Saelens, Brian E; Kerr, Jacqueline; Cain, Kelli L; Frank, Lawrence D; King, Abby C

2014-02-24

Direct relationships between safety concerns and physical activity have been inconsistently patterned in the literature. To tease out these relationships, crime, pedestrian, and traffic safety were examined as moderators of built environment associations with physical activity. Exploratory analyses used two cross-sectional studies of 2068 adults ages 20-65 and 718 seniors ages 66+ with similar designs and measures. The studies were conducted in the Baltimore, Maryland-Washington, DC and Seattle-King County, Washington regions during 2001-2005 (adults) and 2005-2008 (seniors). Participants were recruited from areas selected to sample high- and low- income and walkability. Independent variables perceived crime, traffic, and pedestrian safety were measured using scales from validated instruments. A GIS-based walkability index was calculated for a street-network buffer around each participant's home address. Outcomes were total physical activity measured using accelerometers and transportation and leisure walking measured with validated self-reports (IPAQ-long). Mixed effects regression models were conducted separately for each sample. Of 36 interactions evaluated across both studies, only 5 were significant (p< .05). Significant interactions did not consistently support a pattern of highest physical activity when safety was rated high and environments were favorable. There was not consistent evidence that safety concerns reduced the beneficial effects of favorable environments on physical activity. Only pedestrian safety showed evidence of a consistent main effect with physical activity outcomes, possibly because pedestrian safety items (e.g., crosswalks, sidewalks) were not as subjective as those on the crime and traffic safety scales. Clear relationships between crime, pedestrian, and traffic safety with physical activity levels remain elusive. The development of more precise safety variables and the use of neighborhood-specific physical activity outcomes may help

Is the relationship between the built environment and physical activity moderated by perceptions of crime and safety?

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Direct relationships between safety concerns and physical activity have been inconsistently patterned in the literature. To tease out these relationships, crime, pedestrian, and traffic safety were examined as moderators of built environment associations with physical activity. Methods Exploratory analyses used two cross-sectional studies of 2068 adults ages 20–65 and 718 seniors ages 66+ with similar designs and measures. The studies were conducted in the Baltimore, Maryland-Washington, DC and Seattle-King County, Washington regions during 2001–2005 (adults) and 2005–2008 (seniors). Participants were recruited from areas selected to sample high- and low- income and walkability. Independent variables perceived crime, traffic, and pedestrian safety were measured using scales from validated instruments. A GIS-based walkability index was calculated for a street-network buffer around each participant’s home address. Outcomes were total physical activity measured using accelerometers and transportation and leisure walking measured with validated self-reports (IPAQ-long). Mixed effects regression models were conducted separately for each sample. Results Of 36 interactions evaluated across both studies, only 5 were significant (p < .05). Significant interactions did not consistently support a pattern of highest physical activity when safety was rated high and environments were favorable. There was not consistent evidence that safety concerns reduced the beneficial effects of favorable environments on physical activity. Only pedestrian safety showed evidence of a consistent main effect with physical activity outcomes, possibly because pedestrian safety items (e.g., crosswalks, sidewalks) were not as subjective as those on the crime and traffic safety scales. Conclusions Clear relationships between crime, pedestrian, and traffic safety with physical activity levels remain elusive. The development of more precise safety variables and the use of

K-9 Traffic Safety Resource Curriculum. Level C. Professional Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Governor's Highway Safety Program Office, Raleigh, NC.

One of four curriculum guides designed to aid teachers of grades K-9 in implementing a balanced, dynamic traffic safety program, this level C guide contains materials for teachers of grades 4-6. Four units in pedestrian, bicycle, school bus, and passenger safety are presented, and minicycle and optional farm vehicle safety units are introduced.…

Traffic safety facts 1998 : alcohol

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-01-01

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines a fatal traffic crash as being alcohol-related if either a driver or a nonoccupant (e.g., pedestrian) had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.01 grams per deciliter (g/dl) or gre...

Traffic safety facts 1995 : alcohol

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1995-01-01

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines a fatal traffic crash as being alcohol-related if either a driver or a nonoccupant (e.g., pedestrian) had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.01 grams per deciliter (g/dl) or gre...

Traffic safety facts 1993 : alcohol

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1994-01-01

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines a fatal traffic crash as being alcohol-related if either a driver or a nonoccupant (e.g., pedestrian) had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.01 grams per deciliter (g/dl) or gre...

Traffic safety facts 2000 : alcohol

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-01-01

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines a fatal traffic crash as being alcohol-related if either a driver or a nonoccupant (e.g., pedestrian) had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.01 grams per deciliter (g/dl) or gre...

Traffic safety facts 1994 : alcohol

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1994-01-01

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines a fatal traffic crash as being alcohol-related if either a driver or a nonoccupant (e.g., pedestrian) had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.01 grams per deciliter (g/dl) or gre...

Traffic safety facts 1999 : alcohol

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-01-01

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) defines a fatal traffic crash as being alcohol-related if either a driver or a nonoccupant (e.g., pedestrian) had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.01 grams per deciliter (g/dl) or gre...

Road safety issues for bus transport management.

PubMed

Cafiso, Salvatore; Di Graziano, Alessandro; Pappalardo, Giuseppina

2013-11-01

Because of the low percentage of crashes involving buses and the assumption that public transport improves road safety by reducing vehicular traffic, public interest in bus safety is not as great as that in the safety of other types of vehicles. It is possible that less attention is paid to the significance of crashes involving buses because the safety level of bus systems is considered to be adequate. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and perceptions of bus managers with respect to safety issues and the potential effectiveness of various technologies in achieving higher safety standards. Bus managers were asked to give their opinions on safety issues related to drivers (training, skills, performance evaluation and behaviour), vehicles (maintenance and advanced devices) and roads (road and traffic safety issues) in response to a research survey. Kendall's algorithm was used to evaluate the level of concordance. The results showed that the majority of the proposed items were considered to have great potential for improving bus safety. The data indicated that in the experience of the participants, passenger unloading and pedestrians crossing near bus stops are the most dangerous actions with respect to vulnerable users. The final results of the investigation showed that start inhibition, automatic door opening, and the materials and internal architecture of buses were considered the items most strongly related to bus passenger safety. Brake assistance and vehicle monitoring systems were also considered to be very effective. With the exception of driver assistance systems for passenger and pedestrian safety, the perceptions of the importance of other driver assistance systems for vehicle monitoring and bus safety were not unanimous among the bus company managers who participated in this survey. The study results showed that the introduction of new technologies is perceived as an important factor in improving bus safety, but a better understanding

Impact of a pilot walking school bus intervention on children's pedestrian safety behaviors: a pilot study.

PubMed

Mendoza, Jason A; Watson, Kathy; Chen, Tzu-An; Baranowski, Tom; Nicklas, Theresa A; Uscanga, Doris K; Hanfling, Marcus J

2012-01-01

Walking school buses (WSB) increased children's physical activity, but impact on pedestrian safety behaviors (PSB) is unknown. We tested the feasibility of a protocol evaluating changes to PSB during a WSB program. Outcomes were school-level street crossing PSB prior to (Time 1) and during weeks 4-5 (Time 2) of the WSB. The protocol collected 1252 observations at Time 1 and 2548 at Time 2. Mixed model analyses yielded: intervention schoolchildren had 5-fold higher odds (p<0.01) of crossing at the corner/crosswalk but 5-fold lower odds (p<0.01) of stopping at the curb. The protocol appears feasible for documenting changes to school-level PSB. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Car manufacturers and global road safety: a word frequency analysis of road safety documents.

PubMed

Roberts, I; Wentz, R; Edwards, P

2006-10-01

The World Bank believes that the car manufacturers can make a valuable contribution to road safety in poor countries and has established the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) for this purpose. However, some commentators are sceptical. The authors examined road safety policy documents to assess the extent of any bias. Word frequency analyses of road safety policy documents from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the GRSP. The relative occurrence of key road safety terms was quantified by calculating a word prevalence ratio with 95% confidence intervals. Terms for which there was a fourfold difference in prevalence between the documents were tabulated. Compared to WHO's World report on road traffic injury prevention, the GRSP road safety documents were substantially less likely to use the words speed, speed limits, child restraint, pedestrian, public transport, walking, and cycling, but substantially more likely to use the words school, campaign, driver training, and billboard. There are important differences in emphasis in road safety policy documents prepared by WHO and the GRSP. Vigilance is needed to ensure that the road safety interventions that the car industry supports are based on sound evidence of effectiveness.

Automated pedestrian counter : final report, February 2010.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-02-01

Emerging sensor technologies accelerated the shift toward automatic pedestrian counting methods to : acquire reliable long-term data for transportation design, planning, and safety studies. Although a : number of commercial pedestrian sensors are ava...

Efficacy of virtual reality in pedestrian safety research.

PubMed

Deb, Shuchisnigdha; Carruth, Daniel W; Sween, Richard; Strawderman, Lesley; Garrison, Teena M

2017-11-01

Advances in virtual reality technology present new opportunities for human factors research in areas that are dangerous, difficult, or expensive to study in the real world. The authors developed a new pedestrian simulator using the HTC Vive head mounted display and Unity software. Pedestrian head position and orientation were tracked as participants attempted to safely cross a virtual signalized intersection (5.5 m). In 10% of 60 trials, a vehicle violated the traffic signal and in 10.84% of these trials, a collision between the vehicle and the pedestrian was observed. Approximately 11% of the participants experienced simulator sickness and withdrew from the study. Objective measures, including the average walking speed, indicate that participant behavior in VR matches published real world norms. Subjective responses indicate that the virtual environment was realistic and engaging. Overall, the study results confirm the effectiveness of the new virtual reality technology for research on full motion tasks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The pedestrian in the transportation system : legislation for improved traffic safety : a report to the governor and General Assembly of Virginia in response to House Joint Resolution no. 419.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1990-01-01

During its 1989 session, the Virginia General Assembly passed House Joint Resolution No. 419. The Resolution requested that Virginia's pedestrian safety laws be studied and that recommendations for revisions of those laws be made to improve pedestria...

Public acceptability of highway safety countermeasures. Volume 3, Alcohol and drug research

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-06-01

This volume, part of a larger study on public attitudes towards proposed highway safety countermeasures for alcohol and drugs, unsafe driving behaviors, and pedestrian safety, discusses reactions to breath testers, drunk-driving deterrence techniques...

Road User Behaviors At Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-06-01

The pedestrian hybrid beacon (PHB) has shown great potential for improving pedestrian safety and driver yielding. However, questions remain regarding under what roadway conditions such as crossing distance (i.e., number of lanes) and posted speed ...

Exploring the impacts of safety culture on immigrants' vulnerability in non-motorized crashes: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Chen, Cynthia; Lin, Haiyun; Loo, Becky P Y

2012-02-01

Pedestrians and cyclists are a vulnerable group of road users. Immigrants are disproportionally represented in pedestrian and cyclist crashes. We postulate that the mismatch in safety culture between countries of their origin and the U.S.A. contribute to their vulnerability in pedestrian and cyclist crashes. Over time, the differences may disappear and immigrants' traffic behavior gravitates toward those of native-borns. We describe this process as safety assimilation. Using the pedestrian and cyclist crash database in New York City between 2001 and 2003, we examined the effects of foreign-born population, their countries of origin, and time of entry into the USA on census tract-level pedestrian and cyclist crashes. We find that neighborhoods with a higher concentration of immigrants, especially those from Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia, have more crashes. Our results also exhibit a pattern of the hypothesized safety assimilation process. The study suggests a higher level of vulnerability of immigrants to pedestrian and cyclist crashes. We propose that targeted policies and programs need to be developed for immigrants of different countries of origin.

Public acceptability of highway safety countermeasures. Volume 2, Safe driving conformance research

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-06-01

This volume is part of a larger study providing information about public attitudes towards proposed highway safety countermeasures in three program areas: alcohol and drugs, unsafe driving behaviors, and pedestrian safety. Topic areas discussed in th...

Public acceptability of highway safety countermeasures. Volume 1, Background of study and methodology

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-06-01

This study provides information about public attitudes towards proposed highway safety countermeasures in three program areas: alcohol and drugs, unsafe driving behaviors, and pedestrian safety. This volume describes the three research methodologies ...

Effects of Pedestrian Prompts on Motorist Yielding at Crosswalks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crowley-Koch, Brian J.; Van Houten, Ron; Lim, Eunyoung

2011-01-01

Pedestrian safety is a serious concern at busy intersections and pedestrian campuses across the nation. Although crosswalks and signs inform pedestrians where to cross, there is no standard protocol for pedestrians to signal drivers that they wish to use the crosswalks, except to stand in or at the crosswalk. We examined the effects of two…

Model regulations and public education for rural-suburban pedestrian safety

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1980-08-01

The objectives of this study were to review the rural-suburban pedestrian accident data (Knoblauch, 1977) and freeway pedestrian accident data (Knoblauch, Moore and Schmitz, 1976) and determine which accident types were amenable to countermeasures de...

The effects of mobile phone use on pedestrian crossing behaviour at signalized and unsignalized intersections.

PubMed

Hatfield, Julie; Murphy, Susanne

2007-01-01

Research amongst drivers suggests that pedestrians using mobile telephones may behave riskily while crossing the road, and casual observation suggests concerning levels of pedestrian mobile-use. An observational field survey of 270 females and 276 males was conducted to compare the safety of crossing behaviours for pedestrians using, versus not using, a mobile phone. Amongst females, pedestrians who crossed while talking on a mobile phone crossed more slowly, and were less likely to look at traffic before starting to cross, to wait for traffic to stop, or to look at traffic while crossing, compared to matched controls. For males, pedestrians who crossed while talking on a mobile phone crossed more slowly at unsignalized crossings. These effects suggest that talking on a mobile phone is associated with cognitive distraction that may undermine pedestrian safety. Messages explicitly suggesting techniques for avoiding mobile-use while road crossing may benefit pedestrian safety.

Development of guidelines for pedestrian safety treatments at signalized intersections.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-01-01

For intersections with a permissive or protected-permissive left-turn mode, pedestrians cross during the : permissive period. This operation requires the left-turn driver to yield to both opposing vehicles and : pedestrians, prior to accepting a gap ...

A study of fatal pedestrian crashes at rural low-volume road intersections in southwest China.

PubMed

Xie, Xiaoli; Nikitas, Alexandros; Liu, Hongqi

2018-04-03

Although intersections correspond to a small proportion of the entire roadway system, they account for a disproportionally high number of fatal pedestrian crashes, especially on rural roads situated in low- and middle-income countries. This article examines pedestrian safety at rural intersections and suggests applicable accident prevention treatments by providing an in-depth analysis of 28 fatal pedestrian crashes from 8 low-volume roads in southwest China. The driving reliability and error analysis method (DREAM) is a method to support a systematic classification of accident causation information and to facilitate aggregation of that information into patterns of contributing factors. This is the first time that DREAM was used to analyze pedestrian-vehicle crashes and provide suggestions for road improvements in China. The key issues adversely affecting pedestrian safety can be organized in 4 distinctive thematic categories, namely, deficient intersection safety infrastructure, lack of pedestrian safety education, inadequate driver training, and insufficient traffic law enforcement. Given that resources for traffic safety investments in rural areas are limited, it is determined that the potential countermeasures should focus on low-cost, easily implementable, and long-lasting measures increasing the visibility and predictability of pedestrian movement and reducing speeding and irresponsible driving among drivers and risk-taking behaviors among pedestrians. Accident prevention treatments are suggested based on their suitability for rural areas in southwest China. These countermeasures include introducing better access management and traffic calming treatments, providing more opportunities for pedestrian education, and enhancing the quality of driver training and traffic law enforcement.

Identifying countermeasure strategies to increase safety of older pedestrians.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-07-01

The increase in the older population as well as its increased frailty has led the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to conduct research initiatives examining the safety and mobility of older adults. Although older adults are stru...

Pedestrian and bicycle crash data analysis : 2005-2010.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-04-03

The safety of pedestrians and bicyclists using the roadway is an increasing concern for the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). This report summarizes data for motor vehicle crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists in Michigan from 2005...

Impact of Transit Stop Location on Pedestrian Safety [Final Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-10-30

This research involved a GIS analysis of pedestrian crashes that occurred within 100 feet of bus stops in Broward County and Palm Beach County, Florida between 2011 and 2014. There were 357 such pedestrian crashes in Broward County and 221 in Palm Be...

Pedestrian Detection by Laser Scanning and Depth Imagery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barsi, A.; Lovas, T.; Molnar, B.; Somogyi, A.; Igazvolgyi, Z.

2016-06-01

Pedestrian flow is much less regulated and controlled compared to vehicle traffic. Estimating flow parameters would support many safety, security or commercial applications. Current paper discusses a method that enables acquiring information on pedestrian movements without disturbing and changing their motion. Profile laser scanner and depth camera have been applied to capture the geometry of the moving people as time series. Procedures have been developed to derive complex flow parameters, such as count, volume, walking direction and velocity from laser scanned point clouds. Since no images are captured from the faces of pedestrians, no privacy issues raised. The paper includes accuracy analysis of the estimated parameters based on video footage as reference. Due to the dense point clouds, detailed geometry analysis has been conducted to obtain the height and shoulder width of pedestrians and to detect whether luggage has been carried or not. The derived parameters support safety (e.g. detecting critical pedestrian density in mass events), security (e.g. detecting prohibited baggage in endangered areas) and commercial applications (e.g. counting pedestrians at all entrances/exits of a shopping mall).

Examining the Characteristics of Fatal Pedestrian Crashes

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-11-01

Pedestrian safety has become a strategic priority for UDOT over the past two years. In Utah, pedestrians make up over 12% of total roadway fatalities while less than 2% of all trips are taken on foot. This over-representation of risk led to the creat...

Using Theory to Guide Practice in Children's Pedestrian Safety Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cross, Donna; Hall, Margaret; Howat, Peter

2003-01-01

Few pedestrian injury prevention programs appear to articulate the theory upon which their design and evaluation are based. This article describes how theory was used to plan, develop, implement, and evaluate the educational component of a comprehensive child pedestrian intervention. Organizational and planning theories were used to guide the…

Evaluation of the efficacy of simulation games in traffic safety education of kindergarten children.

PubMed Central

Renaud, L; Suissa, S

1989-01-01

Using a simulation game designed to teach children to obey certain traffic safety rules, an experimental study was conducted with 136 five-year-old children in four Quebec schools. Within each classroom, subjects were randomly divided into four groups: three intervention groups and one control group. Each of the experimental groups was subjected to a different intervention with outcome measured using three instruments related to attitudes, behavior, and transfer of learning of pedestrian traffic safety. Results suggest that simulation games including role-playing/group dynamics and modeling/training can change attitudes and modify behavior in the area of pedestrian traffic safety in children of this age. PMID:2916716

Evaluation of the efficacy of simulation games in traffic safety education of kindergarten children.

PubMed

Renaud, L; Suissa, S

1989-03-01

Using a simulation game designed to teach children to obey certain traffic safety rules, an experimental study was conducted with 136 five-year-old children in four Quebec schools. Within each classroom, subjects were randomly divided into four groups: three intervention groups and one control group. Each of the experimental groups was subjected to a different intervention with outcome measured using three instruments related to attitudes, behavior, and transfer of learning of pedestrian traffic safety. Results suggest that simulation games including role-playing/group dynamics and modeling/training can change attitudes and modify behavior in the area of pedestrian traffic safety in children of this age.

Pedestrian Crossings. USMES Teacher Resource Book.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brady, Ray, Jr., Ed.; Arbetter, Carolyn Clinton, Ed.

This USMES unit challenges students to recommend and try to have a change made which would improve the safety and convenience of a pedestrian crossing near the school. The teacher resource book for the Pedestrian Crossings unit contains five sections. The first section describes the USMES approach to student-initiated investigations of real…

The Washington State Task Force on Student Transportation Safety. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Washington State Legislature, Olympia.

Findings of a study conducted by the Washington State Task Force on Student Transportation Safety are presented in this report. The data-collection process involved four phases: meetings with experts in student transportation and pedestrian safety; public meetings, informational work sessions, and tours of problems areas; task force meetings; and…

Assessing contextual factors that influence acceptance of pedestrian alerts by a night vision system.

PubMed

Källhammer, Jan-Erik; Smith, Kip

2012-08-01

We investigated five contextual variables that we hypothesized would influence driver acceptance of alerts to pedestrians issued by a night vision active safety system to inform the specification of the system's alerting strategies. Driver acceptance of automotive active safety systems is a key factor to promote their use and implies a need to assess factors influencing driver acceptance. In a field operational test, 10 drivers drove instrumented vehicles equipped with a preproduction night vision system with pedestrian detection software. In a follow-up experiment, the 10 drivers and 25 additional volunteers without experience with the system watched 57 clips with pedestrian encounters gathered during the field operational test. They rated the acceptance of an alert to each pedestrian encounter. Levels of rating concordance were significant between drivers who experienced the encounters and participants who did not. Two contextual variables, pedestrian location and motion, were found to influence ratings. Alerts were more accepted when pedestrians were close to or moving toward the vehicle's path. The study demonstrates the utility of using subjective driver acceptance ratings to inform the design of active safety systems and to leverage expensive field operational test data within the confines of the laboratory. The design of alerting strategies for active safety systems needs to heed the driver's contextual sensitivity to issued alerts.

Safety Grooving

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1985-01-01

Safety grooving, the cutting of grooves in concrete to increase traction and prevent injury, was first developed to reduce aircraft accidents on wet runways. Represented by the International Grooving and Grinding Association (IG&GA), the industry expanded into highway and pedestrian applications. The technique originated at Langley, which assisted in testing the grooving at airports and on highways. Skidding was reduced, stopping distance decreased, and a vehicle's cornering ability on curves was increased. The process has been extended to animal holding pens, steps, parking lots and other potentially slippery surfaces.

Thirty Year Review of Safety Skill Instruction for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mechling, Linda C.

2008-01-01

This review synthesizes the empirical literature (1976-2006) focusing on teaching personal safety skills to persons with intellectual disabilities. Thirty-six investigations were identified which provided information on six areas of instruction: (a) pedestrian/street crossing safety; (b) home accident prevention; (c) application of first aid…

Modeling pedestrian violation behavior at signalized crosswalks in China: a hazards-based duration approach.

PubMed

Guo, Hongwei; Gao, Ziyou; Yang, Xiaobao; Jiang, Xiaobei

2011-02-01

Pedestrian violation is a major cause of traffic accidents involving pedestrians. The research objectives were to investigate the relationship between waiting duration and pedestrian violation and to provide a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the effects of human factors and external environmental factors on street-crossing behavior. Pedestrians' street-crossing behavior was examined by modeling the waiting duration at signalized crosswalk. Pedestrian waiting duration was collected by video cameras and it was assigned as censored and uncensored data to distinguish between normal crossing and violating crossing. A nonparametric baseline duration model was introduced, and variables revealing personal characteristics, traffic conditions, and trip features were defined as covariates to describe the effects of internal and external factors. Pedestrians' crossing behaviors represented positive duration dependence that the longer the waiting time elapsed the more likely pedestrians would end the wait soon. The violation inclination of most pedestrians increased with the increasing waiting duration, but about 10 percent of pedestrians were at high risk of violation to cross the street. About half of pedestrians would still obey the traffic rules even after waiting for 50 s by the street. Human factors and the external environment played an important role in street-crossing behavior, especially for factors that involved pedestrians' subjective willingness. The street-crossing behavior of pedestrians was time dependent. Pedestrians behave differently under the effects of various factors. Pedestrian safety interventions that aim at reducing pedestrian injuries may need to consider these effects. The pedestrians' behavioral modifications, such as enhancing the safety awareness, might be the most efficient means to reducing the likelihood of pedestrian violation, though environmental modifications also worked well in improving pedestrian safety.

Designing with Traffic Safety in Mind.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matthews, John

1998-01-01

Provides an example of how one county public school system was able to minimize traffic accidents and increase safety around its schools. Illustrations are provided of safer bus loading zones, pedestrian walkways and sidewalks, staff parking, and acceptable methods for staging buses. A checklist for school driveway design concludes the article.…

Community-based pedestrian safety training in virtual reality : a pragmatic trial.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-06-01

Child pedestrian injuries are a leading cause of mortality and morbidity across the United States : and the world. Repeated practice at the cognitive-perceptual task of crossing a street may lead to : safer pedestrian behavior. Virtual reality offers...

Pedestrian safety, the identification of precipitating factors and possible countermeasures : appendices.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1971-01-01

The study objective was to identify causes and countermeasures : re levant to pedestrian accidents. Behaviora 1 and descriptive data were : collected by interviews and on-scene observations for over 2,000 pedestrian : iccidents in 13 major cities. Su...

25 CFR 170.144 - What are eligible highway safety projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Highway Safety Functions...) Pedestrian paths/sidewalks and bus shelters; (d) Installation and replacement of signs when designated as, or...

25 CFR 170.144 - What are eligible highway safety projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Highway Safety Functions...) Pedestrian paths/sidewalks and bus shelters; (d) Installation and replacement of signs when designated as, or...

25 CFR 170.144 - What are eligible highway safety projects?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Indian Reservation Roads Program Policy and Eligibility Highway Safety Functions...) Pedestrian paths/sidewalks and bus shelters; (d) Installation and replacement of signs when designated as, or...

Pedestrian and motorists' actions at pedestrian hybrid beacon sites: findings from a pilot study.

PubMed

Pulugurtha, Srinivas S; Self, Debbie R

2015-01-01

This paper focuses on an analysis of pedestrian and motorists' actions at sites with pedestrian hybrid beacons and assesses their effectiveness in improving the safety of pedestrians. Descriptive and statistical analyses (one-tail two-sample T-test and two-proportion Z-test) were conducted using field data collected during morning and evening peak hours at three study sites in the city of Charlotte, NC, before and after the installation of pedestrian hybrid beacons. Further, an analysis was conducted to assess the change in pedestrian and motorists' actions over time (before the installation; 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months after the installation). Results showed an increase in average traffic speed at one of the pedestrian hybrid beacon sites while no specific trends were observed at the other two pedestrian hybrid beacon sites. A decrease in the number of motorists not yielding to pedestrians, pedestrians trapped in the middle of the street, and pedestrian-vehicle conflicts were observed at all the three pedestrian hybrid beacon sites. The installation of pedestrian hybrid beacons did not have a negative effect on pedestrian actions at two out of the three sites. Improvements seem to be relatively more consistent 3 months after the installation of the pedestrian hybrid beacon.

Traffic signal design and simulation for vulnerable road users safety and bus preemption

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lo, Shih-Ching; Huang, Hsieh-Chu

Mostly, pedestrian car accidents occurred at a signalized interaction is because pedestrians cannot across the intersection safely within the green light. From the viewpoint of pedestrian, there might have two reasons. The first one is pedestrians cannot speed up to across the intersection, such as the elders. The other reason is pedestrians do not sense that the signal phase is going to change and their right-of-way is going to be lost. Developing signal logic to protect pedestrian, who is crossing an intersection is the first purpose of this study. In addition, to improve the reliability and reduce delay of publicmore » transportation service is the second purpose. Therefore, bus preemption is also considered in the designed signal logic. In this study, the traffic data of the intersection of Chong-Qing North Road and Min-Zu West Road, Taipei, Taiwan, is employed to calibrate and validate the signal logic by simulation. VISSIM 5.20, which is a microscopic traffic simulation software, is employed to simulate the signal logic. From the simulated results, the signal logic presented in this study can protect pedestrians crossing the intersection successfully. The design of bus preemption can reduce the average delay. However, the pedestrian safety and bus preemption signal will influence the average delay of cars largely. Thus, whether applying the pedestrian safety and bus preemption signal logic to an intersection or not should be evaluated carefully.« less

Investigation of pedestrian crashes on two-way two-lane rural roads in Ethiopia.

PubMed

Tulu, Getu Segni; Washington, Simon; Haque, Md Mazharul; King, Mark J

2015-05-01

Understanding pedestrian crash causes and contributing factors in developing countries is critically important as they account for about 55% of all traffic crashes. Not surprisingly, considerable attention in the literature has been paid to road traffic crash prediction models and methodologies in developing countries of late. Despite this interest, there are significant challenges confronting safety managers in developing countries. For example, in spite of the prominence of pedestrian crashes occurring on two-way two-lane rural roads, it has proven difficult to develop pedestrian crash prediction models due to a lack of both traffic and pedestrian exposure data. This general lack of available data has further hampered identification of pedestrian crash causes and subsequent estimation of pedestrian safety performance functions. The challenges are similar across developing nations, where little is known about the relationship between pedestrian crashes, traffic flow, and road environment variables on rural two-way roads, and where unique predictor variables may be needed to capture the unique crash risk circumstances. This paper describes pedestrian crash safety performance functions for two-way two-lane rural roads in Ethiopia as a function of traffic flow, pedestrian flows, and road geometry characteristics. In particular, random parameter negative binomial model was used to investigate pedestrian crashes. The models and their interpretations make important contributions to road crash analysis and prevention in developing countries. They also assist in the identification of the contributing factors to pedestrian crashes, with the intent to identify potential design and operational improvements. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Identification and test of pedestrian safety messages for public education programs

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1975-03-01

A review of the literature and data from pedestrian accident research was used as input to an analysis which developed 14 message contents. Each of these is directed at a specific aspect of the identified pedestrian accident problem. Seven of the mes...

Identifying countermeasure strategies to increase safety of older pedestrians : traffic tech.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-07-01

Pedestrian deaths accounted for 13% of all traffic fatalities : in 2010. While adults 65 and older made up 13% of the U.S. : population, they accounted for 19% of all pedestrian fatalities : in 2010. This age group is rapidly expanding in size : and ...

New York City pedestrian safety study & action plan

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-08-01

This landmark study is the most statistically ambitious of its kind ever undertaken by a US city. : The researchers worked to identify the causes, common factors, and geographic distribution of : over 7,000 pedestrian crashes in New York City. These ...

A sustainable city environment through child safety and mobility-a challenge based on ITS?

PubMed

Leden, Lars; Gårder, Per; Schirokoff, Anna; Monterde-i-Bort, Hector; Johansson, Charlotta; Basbas, Socrates

2014-01-01

Our cities should be designed to accommodate everybody, including children. We will not move toward a more sustainable society unless we accept that children are people with transportation needs, and 'bussing' them around, or providing parental limousine services at all times, will not lead to sustainability. Rather, we will need to make our cities walkable for children, at least those above a certain age. Safety has two main aspects, traffic safety and personal safety (risk of assault). Besides being safe, children will also need an urban environment with reasonable mobility, where they themselves can reach destinations with reasonable effort; else they will still need to be driven. This paper presents the results of two expert questionnaires focusing on the potential safety and mobility benefits to child pedestrians of targeted types of intelligent transportation systems (ITS). Five different types of functional requests for children were identified based on previous work. The first expert questionnaire was structured to collect expert opinions on which ITS solutions or devices would be, and why, the most relevant ones to satisfy the five different functional requests of child pedestrians. Based on the first questionnaire, fifteen problem areas were defined. In the second questionnaire, the experts ranked the fifteen areas, and prioritized related ITS services, according to their potential for developing ITS services beneficial to children. Several ITS systems for improving pedestrian quality are discussed. ITS services can be used when a pedestrian route takes them to a dangerous street, dangerous crossing point or through a dangerous neighborhood. An improvement of safety and other qualities would lead to increased mobility and a more sustainable way of living. Children would learn how to live to support their own health and a sustainable city environment. But it will be up to national, regional and local governments, through their ministries and agencies and

Operational and safety efficiency of traffic signal installations.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-05-01

The basic principle of signalization is the provision of a safe and effective means for time and space allocation at an intersection for both vehicular and pedestrian needs. The safety community concurs on the fact that there is the potential for saf...

Analyzing fault and severity in pedestrian-motor vehicle accidents in China.

PubMed

Zhang, Guangnan; Yau, Kelvin K W; Zhang, Xun

2014-12-01

The number of pedestrian-motor vehicle accidents and pedestrian deaths in China surged in recent years. However, a large scale empirical research on pedestrian traffic crashes in China is lacking. In this study, we identify significant risk factors associated with fault and severity in pedestrian-motor vehicle accidents. Risk factors in several different dimensions, including pedestrian, driver, vehicle, road and environmental factors, are considered. We analyze 6967 pedestrian traffic accident reports for the period 2006-2010 in Guangdong Province, China. These data, obtained from the Guangdong Provincial Security Department, are extracted from the Traffic Management Sector-Specific Incident Case Data Report. Pedestrian traffic crashes have a unique inevitability and particular high risk, due to pedestrians' fragility, slow movement and lack of lighting equipment. The empirical analysis of the present study has the following policy implications. First, traffic crashes in which pedestrians are at fault are more likely to cause serious injuries or death, suggesting that relevant agencies should pay attention to measures that prevent pedestrians from violating traffic rules. Second, both the attention to elderly pedestrians, male and experienced drivers, the penalty to drunk driving, speeding, driving without a driver's license and other violation behaviors should be strengthened. Third, vehicle safety inspections and safety training sessions for truck drivers should be reinforced. Fourth, improving the road conditions and road lighting at night are important measures in reducing the probability of accident casualties. Fifth, specific road safety campaigns in rural areas, and education programs especially for young children and teens should be developed and promoted. Moreover, we reveal a country-specific factor, hukou, which has significant effect on the severity in pedestrian accidents due to the discrepancy in the level of social insurance/security, suggesting

Truck side guard technical overview : safety and operational considerations

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-04-23

This technical overview provides safety and operational considerations for truck side guards. Truck side guards are designed to keep pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists - known as vulnerable road users (VRUs) from being run over by a large tru...

Investigating the risk factors associated with pedestrian injury severity in Illinois.

PubMed

Pour-Rouholamin, Mahdi; Zhou, Huaguo

2016-06-01

Pedestrians are known as the most vulnerable road users, which means their needs and safety require specific attention in strategic plans. Given the fact that pedestrians are more prone to higher injury severity levels compared to other road users, this study aims to investigate the risk factors associated with various levels of injury severity that pedestrians experience in Illinois. Ordered-response models are used to analyze single-vehicle, single-pedestrian crash data from 2010 to 2013 in Illinois. As a measure of net change in the effect of significant variables, average direct pseudo-elasticities are calculated that can be further used to prioritize safety countermeasures. A model comparison using AIC and BIC is also provided to compare the performance of the studied ordered-response models. The results recognized many variables associated with severe injuries: older pedestrians (more than 65years old), pedestrians not wearing contrasting clothing, adult drivers (16-24), drunk drivers, time of day (20:00 to 05:00), divided highways, multilane highways, darkness, and heavy vehicles. On the other hand, crossing the street at crosswalks, older drivers (more than 65years old), urban areas, and presence of traffic control devices (signal and sign) are associated with decreased probability of severe injuries. The comparison between three proposed ordered-response models shows that the partial proportional odds (PPO) model outperforms the conventional ordered (proportional odds-PO) model and generalized ordered logit model (GOLM). Based on the findings, stricter rules to address DUI driving is suggested. Educational programs need to focus on older pedestrians given the increasing number of older people in Illinois in the upcoming years. Pedestrians should be educated to use pedestrian crosswalks and contrasting clothing at night. In terms of engineering countermeasures, installation of crosswalks where pedestrian activity is high seems a promising practice

Improving pedestrian facilities in congested urban areas: a case study of Chennai city

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Subramanyam, B.; Prasanna Kumar, R.

2017-07-01

Traffic congestion and lack of public pedestrian space are some problems faced by most urban metropolises. Conventionally walking has been a mode of transportation in Indian cities. The percentage of pedestrians may vary from 16 to 57 depending upon the city. Encounters between vehicular traffic and pedestrian traffic are at its rise currently. Rapid industrialization and urbanization in India has resulted in neglecting of pedestrian facilities. Consequently pedestrian are at greater risk for their safety more especially in the commercial zones of large cities. A change in perspective spotlight will create a sense of awareness that the pedestrian traffic is also vital as the vehicular traffic. Soothing the traffic would moderately cut the driving expediency but the pedestrians will get a much safer and peaceful route to their terminuses. Safety and comfort are the two pans of a balance while considering the pedestrian traffic. Considering these aspects, this study deals a study in improving pedestrian facilities by analysing the existing skeleton of the selected locations. The adequacy of facility is checked based on IRC latest guidelines and counteractive measures are postulated.

Pedestrian safety in Virginia : accident characteristics and suggested revisions to Virginia's pedestrian laws.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-01-01

The purpose of the research reported here was to evaluate the nature, characteristics, and severity of accidents involving pedestrians in Virginia and to determine whether or not these data would suggest the need for changes in Virginia traffic laws ...

Parents' Self-Reported Behaviors Related to Health and Safety of Very Young Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hendricks, Charlotte M.; Reichert, Ann

1996-01-01

Reports a survey that documented the health and safety behaviors of parents of children in Head Start programs. Nearly all parents reported using car seats, teaching handwashing and pedestrian safety, and locking away medicine and alcohol. Sixty percent reported storing guns and bullets safely, possessing working fire extinguishers, and having…

Parental and Adolescent Perceptions of Neighborhood Safety Related to Adolescents’ Physical Activity in Their Neighborhood

PubMed Central

Esteban-Cornejo, Irene; Carlson, Jordan A.; Conway, Terry L.; Cain, Kelli L.; Saelens, Brian E.; Frank, Lawrence D.; Glanz, Karen; Roman, Caterina G.; Sallis, James F.

2017-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the association between adolescent and parental perceptions of neighborhood safety and adolescents’ physical activity in multiple locations and to investigate the moderating effect of sex within this association. Method This cross-sectional study was conducted with 928 adolescents aged 12 to 16 years old and 1 of their parents. Adolescents and parents reported their perceptions of neighborhood safety (traffic safety, pedestrian safety, crime safety, and stranger danger safety). Adolescents reported how often they were physically active in multiple locations (physical activity in the neighborhood, in parks, and for active transport). Mixed-effects linear regression models were used to investigate these associations while controlling for demographics and the Walkability Index. Results Parent-perceived crime safety was positively associated with adolescents’ physical activity in parks (B = .094, p = .024). Parent-perceived traffic safety was positively associated with adolescents’ reported physical activity in the neighborhood (B = .186, p = .014). Adolescents’ physical activity for active transport was positively associated with parent-perceived traffic safety (B = .179, p = .001), stranger danger safety (B = .110, p = .013), and crime safety (B = .077, p = .035). There were 2 interactions by sex on the relation between adolescent traffic safety perception and parent pedestrian safety perception in the neighborhood and adolescents’ physical activity in parks (i.e., statistically significant only for boys). Conclusions Parents’ perceptions of traffic, stranger danger, and crime safety were all related to adolescents’ active transportation. Multiple safety concerns may be motivating parents to restrict adolescent mobility by walking and bicycling. PMID:27030158

Investigating Improvements to Pedestrian Crossings with an Emphasis on the Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacon

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-06-01

The goal of this research effort was to improve pedestrian safety at urban and suburban crossing locations by identifying and evaluating low- to medium-cost pedestrian treatments. The treatments were to have the potential to reduce pedestrian crashes...

The advocacy in action study a cluster randomized controlled trial to reduce pedestrian injuries in deprived communities.

PubMed

Lyons, R A; Towner, E; Christie, N; Kendrick, D; Jones, S J; Hayes, M; Kimberlee, R; Sarvotham, T; Macey, S; Brussoni, M; Sleney, J; Coupland, C; Phillips, C

2008-04-01

Road traffic-related injury is a major global public health problem. In most countries, pedestrian injuries occur predominantly to the poorest in society. A number of evaluated interventions are effective in reducing these injuries. Very little research has been carried out into the distribution and determinants of the uptake of these interventions. Previous research has shown an association between local political influence and the distribution of traffic calming after adjustment for historical crash patterns. This led to the hypothesis that advocacy could be used to increase local politicians knowledge of pedestrian injury risk and effective interventions, ultimately resulting in improved pedestrian safety. To design an intervention to improve the uptake of pedestrian safety measures in deprived communities. Electoral wards in deprived areas of England and Wales with a poor record of pedestrian safety for children and older adults. Design mixedmethods study, incorporating a cluster randomized controlled trial. Data mixture of Geographical Information Systems data collision locations, road safety interventions, telephone interviews, and questionnaires. Randomization 239 electoral wards clustered within 57 local authorities. Participants 615 politicians representing intervention and control wards. Intervention a package of tailored information including maps of pedestrian injuries was designed for intervention politicians, and a general information pack for controls. Primary outcome number of road safety interventions 25 months after randomization. Secondary outcomes politicians interest and involvement in injury prevention cost of interventions. Process evaluation use of advocacy pack, facilitators and barriers to involvement, and success.

Bicyclist Safety Behaviors in an Urban Northeastern, United States City: An Observational Study.

PubMed

Wolfe, Elizabeth Suzanne; Arabian, Sandra Strack; Salzler, Matthew J; Bugaev, Nikolay; Rabinovici, Reuven

2016-01-01

Bicycling is gaining popularity in the United States, and laws and safety recommendations are being established to keep bicyclists safer. To improve road safety for bicyclists, there is a need to characterize their compliance with road laws and safety behaviors. Adult bicyclists were observed at three high-traffic intersections in Boston, MA, with state recommendations of wearing a helmet and riding in a bike lane. State law compliance for displaying reflectors during the day and of a front light and a rear light/reflector at night, obeying traffic signals, and giving pedestrians the right of way was also observed. Variables were compared between personal and shared/rented bicyclists and analyzed by time of day. A total of 1,685 bicyclists were observed. Because of the speed of the bicyclists and obstructed views, only a sampling of 802 bicyclists was observed for reflectors/front light. Overall, 74% wore a helmet, 49% had reflectors/front lights, 95% rode in bike lanes, 87% obeyed traffic signals, and 99% gave the right of way to pedestrians. Compared with shared bicyclists (n = 122), personal bicyclists (n = 1563) had a higher helmet-wearing behaviors (77% vs. 39%, p = .0001). Shared bicyclists had a higher (p = .0001) compliance with reflectors/lights (100%) than personal bicyclists (39%, n = 265). Boston bicyclists ride in bike lanes, obey traffic signals, give pedestrians the right of way, and wear helmets while having suboptimal compliance with light/reflector use. Educational programs and stricter law enforcement aimed at these safety behaviors should be part of the effort to improve safety for all road users.

Bicycle and pedestrian detection : final report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-02-27

With the development of ITS applications, automated pedestrian detectors are beginning to compliment the existing pushbutton detectors. These applications optimize intersection operations and improve safety by reducing the conflicts between vehicles ...

Development of Statewide Guidelines for Implementing Leading Pedestrian Intervals in Florida

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-12-01

Pedestrian safety is an ongoing major concern throughout the United States and is one of the highest priorities for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). Vehicles often fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections, especially when pedestr...

An on-board pedestrian detection and warning system with features of side pedestrian

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Ruzhong; Zhao, Yong; Wong, ChupChung; Chan, KwokPo; Xu, Jiayao; Wang, Xin'an

2012-01-01

Automotive Active Safety(AAS) is the main branch of intelligence automobile study and pedestrian detection is the key problem of AAS, because it is related with the casualties of most vehicle accidents. For on-board pedestrian detection algorithms, the main problem is to balance efficiency and accuracy to make the on-board system available in real scenes, so an on-board pedestrian detection and warning system with the algorithm considered the features of side pedestrian is proposed. The system includes two modules, pedestrian detecting and warning module. Haar feature and a cascade of stage classifiers trained by Adaboost are first applied, and then HOG feature and SVM classifier are used to refine false positives. To make these time-consuming algorithms available in real-time use, a divide-window method together with operator context scanning(OCS) method are applied to increase efficiency. To merge the velocity information of the automotive, the distance of the detected pedestrian is also obtained, so the system could judge if there is a potential danger for the pedestrian in the front. With a new dataset captured in urban environment with side pedestrians on zebra, the embedded system and its algorithm perform an on-board available result on side pedestrian detection.

A framework for improved safety and accessibility through pedestrian guidance and navigation.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-07-01

With the changes in America's demographics comes a need to provide improved accommodation of individuals : with reduced capabilities. To date, our research has focused upon assistive pedestrian signal technologies for : pedestrians with impaired visi...

[Use and non-use of pedestrian bridges in Mexico City. The pedestrian perspective].

PubMed

Hidalgo-Solórzano, Elisa; Campuzano-Rincón, Julio; Rodríguez-Hernández, Jorge M; Chias-Becerril, Luis; Reséndiz-López, Héctor; Sánchez-Restrepo, Harvey; Baranda-Sepúlveda, Bernardo; Franco-Arias, Claudia; Híjar, Martha

2010-01-01

To analyze the motives for using and not using pedestrian bridges (PB). A cross-sectional survey was conducted of a sample of pedestrian users and non-users of PB; a logistic regression model was used to analyze the motives for use and non-use. The prevalence of non-use was 50.5 % of 813 surveyed pedestrians; the principal reason to use a PB was safety, and not to use it was "laziness". There were significant differences when analyzing the reason of non-use in the age groups 19 to 36 years, adjusted for education and physical characteristics of the PB ([aOR=1.7; 95 % CI=1.06-2.86] and [ORa.1.9; 95 % CI=1.14-3.33], respectively). The results of this study allow us to identify important aspects to consider--from the perspective of the pedestrians--when constructing new PB and improving existing PB to increase use in areas with a high risk of pedestrian injuries.

Stay on Your Feet Safety Walks Group.

PubMed

Powell, J; Wilkins, D; Leiper, J; Gillam, C

2000-05-01

The Safety Walks Group is an initiative that evolved from the Stay on Your Feet Program. The strategies used in this program target both behavioural and environmental change and are based on the five areas for action under the Ottawa Charter (WHO, 1986) and Jakarta Declaration (WHO, 1997). The Safety Walks Group addresses the issue of public hazards via the use of a standard checklist covering pedestrian areas, business houses and accommodation. The project provided a forum for seniors to be proactive, working with the authorities to address the issue of public hazards and make the environment safer.

Estimating the value of life and injury for pedestrians using a stated preference framework.

PubMed

Niroomand, Naghmeh; Jenkins, Glenn P

2017-09-01

The incidence of pedestrian death over the period 2010 to 2014 per 1000,000 in North Cyprus is about 2.5 times that of the EU, with 10.5 times more pedestrian road injuries than deaths. With the prospect of North Cyprus entering the EU, many investments need to be undertaken to improve road safety in order to reach EU benchmarks. We conducted a stated choice experiment to identify the preferences and tradeoffs of pedestrians in North Cyprus for improved walking times, pedestrian costs, and safety. The choice of route was examined using mixed logit models to obtain the marginal utilities associated with each attribute of the routes that consumers chose. These were used to estimate the individuals' willingness to pay (WTP) to save walking time and to avoid pedestrian fatalities and injuries. We then used the results to obtain community-wide estimates of the value of a statistical life (VSL) saved, the value of an injury (VI) prevented, and the value per hour of walking time saved. The estimate of the VSL was €699,434 and the estimate of VI was €20,077. These values are consistent, after adjusting for differences in incomes, with the median results of similar studies done for EU countries. The estimated value of time to pedestrians is €7.20 per person hour. The ratio of deaths to injuries is much higher for pedestrians than for road accidents, and this is completely consistent with the higher estimated WTP to avoid a pedestrian accident than to avoid a car accident. The value of time of €7.20 is quite high relative to the wages earned. Findings provide a set of information on the VRR for fatalities and injuries and the value of pedestrian time that is critical for conducing ex ante appraisals of investments to improve pedestrian safety. Copyright © 2017 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of cell phone distraction on pediatric pedestrian injury risk.

PubMed

Stavrinos, Despina; Byington, Katherine W; Schwebel, David C

2009-02-01

Early adolescents are using cell phones with increasing frequency. Cell phones are known to distract motor vehicle drivers to the point that their safety is jeopardized, but it is unclear if cell phones might also distract child pedestrians. This study was designed to examine the influence of talking on a cell phone for pediatric pedestrian injury risk. Seventy-seven children aged 10 to 11 years old completed simulated road crossings in an immersive, interactive virtual pedestrian environment. In a within-subjects design, children crossed the virtual street 6 times while undistracted and 6 times while distracted by a cell phone conversation with an unfamiliar research assistant. Participants also completed several other experimental tasks hypothesized to predict the impact of distraction while crossing the street and talking on a cell phone. Children's pedestrian safety was compromised when distracted by a cell phone conversation. While distracted, children were less attentive to traffic; left less safe time between their crossing and the next arriving vehicle; experienced more collisions and close calls with oncoming traffic; and waited longer before beginning to cross the street. Analyses testing experience using a cell phone and experience as a pedestrian yielded few significant results, suggesting that distraction on the cell phone might affect children's pedestrian safety no matter what their experience level. There was some indication that younger children and children who are less attentive and more oppositional may be slightly more susceptible to distraction while talking on the cell phone than older, more attentive, and less oppositional children. Our results suggest that cell phones distract preadolescent children while crossing streets.

Pedestrian safety : the identification of precipitating factors and possible countermeasures. Volume 1

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1971-01-01

The study objective was to identify causes and countermeasures relevant to pedestrian. accidents. Behavioral and descriptive data were collected by interviews and on-scene observations for over 2,000 pedestrian accidents in 13 major cities. Subsequen...

Can cyclist safety be improved with intelligent transport systems?

PubMed

Silla, Anne; Leden, Lars; Rämä, Pirkko; Scholliers, Johan; Van Noort, Martijn; Bell, Daniel

2017-08-01

In recent years, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) have assisted in the decrease of road traffic fatalities, particularly amongst passenger car occupants. Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) such as pedestrians, cyclists, moped riders and motorcyclists, however, have not been that much in focus when developing ITS. Therefore, there is a clear need for ITS which specifically address VRUs as an integrated element of the traffic system. This paper presents the results of a quantitative safety impact assessment of five systems that were estimated to have high potential to improve the safety of cyclists, namely: Blind Spot Detection (BSD), Bicycle to Vehicle communication (B2V), Intersection safety (INS), Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection System+Emergency Braking (PCDS+EBR) and VRU Beacon System (VBS). An ex-ante assessment method proposed by Kulmala (2010) targeted to assess the effects of ITS for cars was applied and further developed in this study to assess the safety impacts of ITS specifically designed for VRUs. The main results of the assessment showed that all investigated systems affect cyclist safety in a positive way by preventing fatalities and injuries. The estimates considering 2012 accident data and full penetration showed that the highest effects could be obtained by the implementation of PCDS+EBR and B2V, whereas VBS had the lowest effect. The estimated yearly reduction in cyclist fatalities in the EU-28 varied between 77 and 286 per system. A forecast for 2030, taking into accounts the estimated accident trends and penetration rates, showed the highest effects for PCDS+EBR and BSD. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gainesville, Florida increases pedestrian safety by implementing year-long program : traffic tech.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-08-01

In large cities, pedestrians account for 40% to 50% of traffic : fatalities. In 2011, there were 4,432 pedestrian fatalities : and about 69,000 injuries in the United States (NHTSA, : 2013). Many of these incidents occur at crosswalks where : drivers...

Usability and Feasibility of an Internet-Based Virtual Pedestrian Environment to Teach Children to Cross Streets Safely

PubMed Central

Schwebel, David C.; McClure, Leslie A.; Severson, Joan

2013-01-01

Child pedestrian injury is a preventable global health challenge. Successful training efforts focused on child behavior, including individualized streetside training and training in large virtual pedestrian environments, are laborious and expensive. This study considers the usability and feasibility of a virtual pedestrian environment “game” application to teach children safe street-crossing behavior via the internet, a medium that could be broadly disseminated at low cost. Ten 7- and 8-year-old children participated. They engaged in an internet-based virtual pedestrian environment and completed a brief assessment survey. Researchers rated children's behavior while engaged in the game. Both self-report and researcher observations indicated the internet-based system was readily used by the children without adult support. The youth understood how to engage in the system and used it independently and attentively. The program also was feasible. It provided multiple measures of pedestrian safety that could be used for research or training purposes. Finally, the program was rated by children as engaging and educational. Researcher ratings suggested children used the program with minimal fidgeting or boredom. The pilot test suggests an internet-based virtual pedestrian environment offers a usable, feasible, engaging, and educational environment for child pedestrian safety training. If future research finds children learn the cognitive and perceptual skills needed to cross streets safely within it, internet-based training may provide a low-cost medium to broadly disseminate child pedestrian safety training. The concept may be generalized to other domains of health-related functioning such as teen driving safety, adolescent sexual risk-taking, and adolescent substance use. PMID:24678263

Development of Statewide Guidelines for Implementing Leading Pedestrian Intervals in Florida [Summary

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2018-02-01

Pedestrian safety is always a high priority for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), especially as FDOT moves Florida toward a truly multimodal transportation system. Intersections are where vehicles and pedestrians are most likely to int...

Application of demographic analysis to pedestrian safety : [project summary].

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-05-01

FDOT has been working diligently to improve its facilities for pedestrians and cyclists, including : initiatives like the Complete Streets Policy and Implementation Plan. However, one of the : challenges facing FDOT is targeting those areas of greate...

Investigation of safety analysis methods using computer vision techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shirazi, Mohammad Shokrolah; Morris, Brendan Tran

2017-09-01

This work investigates safety analysis methods using computer vision techniques. The vision-based tracking system is developed to provide the trajectory of road users including vehicles and pedestrians. Safety analysis methods are developed to estimate time to collision (TTC) and postencroachment time (PET) that are two important safety measurements. Corresponding algorithms are presented and their advantages and drawbacks are shown through their success in capturing the conflict events in real time. The performance of the tracking system is evaluated first, and probability density estimation of TTC and PET are shown for 1-h monitoring of a Las Vegas intersection. Finally, an idea of an intersection safety map is introduced, and TTC values of two different intersections are estimated for 1 day from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

A rapid method for identifying and characterizing structural impacts using distributed sensors: An application for automotive pedestrian protection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Andrew C.

This research is motivated by recent activity to improve automotive safety, especially for pedestrians. In many parts of the world today, injuries and fatalities from road accidents are a significant problem. Safety features such as seat restraints and air bags provide considerable levels of protection for car occupants; however, no such protective measures currently exist for pedestrians. Drawing upon the success and effectiveness of occupant air bag systems, current research aims to develop similar devices for pedestrians. These active pedestrian protection systems deploy a safety feature such as an external air bag when a pedestrian is hit by a vehicle. Contact with the front bumper induces a body rotation that may result in a violent head collision. The deployable safety device provides a cushioning surface for the vulnerable pedestrian during impact. The challenge of such a system is an effective sensory unit that can rapidly and correctly discriminate pedestrian impacts from non-pedestrian ones. The fast kinematics of the automobile-pedestrian impact leaves a minimal amount of time for signal processing and computation. This research study focuses on a discrimination scheme that satisfies both the time and accuracy requirements for a proposed sensory system for pedestrian protection. A unique methodology was developed to identify structural impacts using dominant frequency features extracted from sensory data. Contact sensors mounted on the front bumper of an automobile measure the strain response from an impact event. The dominant frequencies obtained from these sensor signals are greatly influenced by the impact object's properties and can be used to discriminate between different objects. Extensive tests were conducted to gather sensor data and validate the proposed methodology and impact discrimination algorithm. Results of the impact tests indicate that the approach is sound, and the sensory system effectively identifies "pedestrian" impacts within a

Auditory detectability of hybrid electric vehicles by pedestrians who are blind

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-11-15

Quieter cars such as electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) may reduce auditory cues used by pedestrians to assess the state of nearby traffic and, as a result, their use may have an adverse impact on pedestrian safety. In order ...

Child Pedestrian Injury: A Review of Behavioral Risks and Preventive Strategies

PubMed Central

Schwebel, David C.; Davis, Aaron L.; O’Neal, Elizabeth E.

2011-01-01

Pedestrian injury is among the leading causes of pediatric death in the United States and much of the world. This paper is divided into two sections. First, we review the literature on behavioral risk factors for child injury. Cognitive and perceptual development risks are discussed. The roles of distraction, temperament and personality, and social influences from parents and peers are presented. We conclude the first section with brief reviews of environmental risks, pedestrian safety among special populations, and the role of sleep and fatigue on pediatric pedestrian safety. The second section of the review considers child pedestrian injury prevention strategies. Categorized by mode of presentation, we discuss parent instruction strategies, school-based instruction strategies (including crossing guards), and streetside training techniques. Technology-based training strategies using video, internet, and virtual reality are reviewed. We conclude the section on prevention with discussion of community-based interventions. PMID:23066380

The roles of garment design and scene complexity in the daytime conspicuity of high-visibility safety apparel.

PubMed

Sayer, James R; Buonarosa, Mary Lynn

2008-01-01

This study examines the effects of high-visibility garment design on daytime pedestrian conspicuity in work zones. Factors assessed were garment color, amount of background material, pedestrian arm motion, scene complexity, and driver age. The study was conducted in naturalistic conditions on public roads in real traffic. Drivers drove two passes on a 31-km route and indicated when they detected pedestrians outfitted in the fluorescent garments. The locations of the vehicle and the pedestrian were recorded. Detection distances between fluorescent yellow-green and fluorescent red-orange garments were not significantly different, nor were there any significant two-way interactions involving garment color. Pedestrians were detected at longer distances in lower complexity scenes. Arm motion significantly increased detection distances for pedestrians wearing a Class 2 vest, but had little added benefit on detection distances for pedestrians wearing a Class 2 jacket. Daytime detection distances for pedestrians wearing Class 2 or Class 3 garments are longest when the complexity of the surround is low. The more background information a driver has to search through, the longer it is likely to take the driver to locate a pedestrian--even when wearing a high-visibility garment. These findings will provide information to safety garment manufacturers about characteristics of high-visibility safety garments which make them effective for daytime use.

A study of pedestrian compliance with traffic signals for exclusive and concurrent phasing.

PubMed

Ivan, John N; McKernan, Kevin; Zhang, Yaohua; Ravishanker, Nalini; Mamun, Sha A

2017-01-01

This paper describes a comparison of pedestrian compliance at traffic signals with two types of pedestrian phasing: concurrent, where both pedestrians and vehicular traffic are directed to move in the same directions at the same time, and exclusive, where pedestrians are directed to move during their own dedicated phase while all vehicular traffic is stopped. Exclusive phasing is usually perceived to be safer, especially by senior and disabled advocacy groups, although these safety benefits depend upon pedestrians waiting for the walk signal. This paper investigates whether or not there are differences between pedestrian compliance at signals with exclusive pedestrian phasing and those with concurrent phasing and whether these differences continue to exist when compliance at exclusive phasing signals is evaluated as if they had concurrent phasing. Pedestrian behavior was observed at 42 signalized intersections in central Connecticut with both concurrent and exclusive pedestrian phasing. Binary regression models were estimated to predict pedestrian compliance as a function of the pedestrian phasing type and other intersection characteristics, such as vehicular and pedestrian volume, crossing distance and speed limit. We found that pedestrian compliance is significantly higher at intersections with concurrent pedestrian phasing than at those with exclusive pedestrian phasing, but this difference is not significant when compliance at exclusive phase intersections is evaluated as if it had concurrent phasing. This suggests that pedestrians treat exclusive phase intersections as though they have concurrent phasing, rendering the safety benefits of exclusive pedestrian phasing elusive. No differences were observed for senior or non-senior pedestrians. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Effect of gate skirts on pedestrian behavior at highway-rail grade crossings

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-12-31

The Federal Railroad Administration was interested in evaluating one type of pedestrian safety device, commonly known as gate skirts, that consists of a secondary horizontal hanging gate under the existing pedestrian gate to better block access to th...

Evaluation of the Miami-Dade pedestrian safety demonstration project.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-06-01

The purpose of this study was to identify and implement a comprehensive countermeasure program that could reduce deaths and injuries among pedestrians in a large urban environment. Miami-Dade County, Florida, was selected as the focus of this study. ...

Safety assessment in the urban park environment in Alborz Province, Iran.

PubMed

Oostakhan, Morteza; Babaei, Aliakbar

2013-01-01

Urban parks, as one of the recreational and sports sectors, could cause serious injuries among different ages if the safety issues in their design are not considered. These injuries can result from the equipment in the park, including play and sports equipment, or even from environmental factors, too. Lack of safety benchmark in parks will impact on the development of future proposals. In this article, attempts are made to survey the important safety factors in the urban parks including playgrounds, fitness equipment, pedestrian surface and environmental factors into a risk assessment. Hence, a checklist of safety factors was used. A Yes or No descriptor was allocated to any factor for determining safety level. The study also suggests recommendations for future planning concerning existing failures for designers. It was found that the safety level of the regional and local parks differ from each other.

Development and test of selected model pedestrian safety regulations

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-04-01

Two model regulations to remove parking--one from suburban streets in daylight hours and one on the last 50 feet of the approach to crosswalks--were designed in previous work to prevent pedestrian dart and dash accidents by removing screening vehicle...

Aging driver and pedestrian safety : parking lot hazards study.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-06-20

In 2009, Florida reported the highest rate of : pedestrian fatalities in the nation. At 2.51 : deaths per 100,000 residents, Floridas rate was : nearly twice the national average. These deaths : occurred in all age groups, but compared to : other ...

Individuals with severely impaired vision can learn useful orientation and mobility skills in virtual streets and can use them to improve real street safety.

PubMed

Bowman, Ellen Lambert; Liu, Lei

2017-01-01

Virtual reality has great potential in training road safety skills to individuals with low vision but the feasibility of such training has not been demonstrated. We tested the hypotheses that low vision individuals could learn useful skills in virtual streets and could apply them to improve real street safety. Twelve participants, whose vision was too poor to use the pedestrian signals were taught by a certified orientation and mobility specialist to determine the safest time to cross the street using the visual and auditory signals made by the start of previously stopped cars at a traffic-light controlled street intersection. Four participants were trained in real streets and eight in virtual streets presented on 3 projection screens. The crossing timing of all participants was evaluated in real streets before and after training. The participants were instructed to say "GO" at the time when they felt the safest to cross the street. A safety score was derived to quantify the GO calls based on its occurrence in the pedestrian phase (when the pedestrian sign did not show DON'T WALK). Before training, > 50% of the GO calls from all participants fell in the DON'T WALK phase of the traffic cycle and thus were totally unsafe. 20% of the GO calls fell in the latter half of the pedestrian phase. These calls were unsafe because one initiated crossing this late might not have sufficient time to walk across the street. After training, 90% of the GO calls fell in the early half of the pedestrian phase. These calls were safer because one initiated crossing in the pedestrian phase and had at least half of the pedestrian phase for walking across. Similar safety changes occurred in both virtual street and real street trained participants. An ANOVA showed a significant increase of the safety scores after training and there was no difference in this safety improvement between the virtual street and real street trained participants. This study demonstrated that virtual reality

Individuals with severely impaired vision can learn useful orientation and mobility skills in virtual streets and can use them to improve real street safety

PubMed Central

Liu, Lei

2017-01-01

Virtual reality has great potential in training road safety skills to individuals with low vision but the feasibility of such training has not been demonstrated. We tested the hypotheses that low vision individuals could learn useful skills in virtual streets and could apply them to improve real street safety. Twelve participants, whose vision was too poor to use the pedestrian signals were taught by a certified orientation and mobility specialist to determine the safest time to cross the street using the visual and auditory signals made by the start of previously stopped cars at a traffic-light controlled street intersection. Four participants were trained in real streets and eight in virtual streets presented on 3 projection screens. The crossing timing of all participants was evaluated in real streets before and after training. The participants were instructed to say “GO” at the time when they felt the safest to cross the street. A safety score was derived to quantify the GO calls based on its occurrence in the pedestrian phase (when the pedestrian sign did not show DON’T WALK). Before training, > 50% of the GO calls from all participants fell in the DON’T WALK phase of the traffic cycle and thus were totally unsafe. 20% of the GO calls fell in the latter half of the pedestrian phase. These calls were unsafe because one initiated crossing this late might not have sufficient time to walk across the street. After training, 90% of the GO calls fell in the early half of the pedestrian phase. These calls were safer because one initiated crossing in the pedestrian phase and had at least half of the pedestrian phase for walking across. Similar safety changes occurred in both virtual street and real street trained participants. An ANOVA showed a significant increase of the safety scores after training and there was no difference in this safety improvement between the virtual street and real street trained participants. This study demonstrated that virtual

Measuring accident risk exposure for pedestrians in different micro-environments.

PubMed

Lassarre, Sylvain; Papadimitriou, Eleonora; Yannis, George; Golias, John

2007-11-01

Pedestrians are mainly exposed to the risk of road accident when crossing a road in urban areas. Traditionally in the road safety field, the risk of accident for pedestrian is estimated as a rate of accident involvement per unit of time spent on the road network. The objective of this research is to develop an approach of accident risk based on the concept of risk exposure used in environmental epidemiology, such as in the case of exposure to pollutants. This type of indicator would be useful for comparing the effects of urban transportation policy scenarios on pedestrian safety. The first step is to create an indicator of pedestrians' exposure, which is based on motorised vehicles' "concentration" by lane and also takes account of traffic speed and time spent to cross. This is applied to two specific micro-environments: junctions and mid-block locations. A model of pedestrians' crossing behaviour along a trip is then developed, based on a hierarchical choice between junctions and mid-block locations and taking account of origin and destination, traffic characteristics and pedestrian facilities. Finally, a complete framework is produced for modelling pedestrians' exposure in the light of their crossing behaviour. The feasibility of this approach is demonstrated on an artificial network and a first set of results is obtained from the validation of the models in observational studies.

How do attitudes, personality traits, and driver behaviors relate to pedestrian behaviors?: A Turkish case.

PubMed

Şimşekoğlu, Özlem

2015-01-01

The present study aimed to investigate the role of pedestrian attitudes and personality traits (social conformity and empathy) on pedestrian behaviors in a Turkish sample. An equally important aim of the study was to examine the association between pedestrian and driver behaviors. The sample included 289 road users including pedestrians and drivers (169 females and 120 males). The participants' age ranged from 15 to 78 years (M = 32.00, SD = 13.89). Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. A regression analysis showed that increased age, high level of satisfaction with traffic infrastructure and environment, safer attitudes toward pedestrian violations, and empathy were negatively related to risky pedestrian behaviors, whereas social conformity was positively related. Attitudes were the strongest predictor of pedestrian behaviors. In addition, bivariate correlation analysis showed that all dimensions of pedestrian and driver behaviors were positively correlated with each other, which indicates that a tendency to take risks remains the same regardless of the road user role (i.e., driver vs. pedestrian). Attitudes are strong predictors of pedestrian behaviors. A tendency to take risks as a pedestrian and as a driver is correlated. Results are discussed for their implications to traffic safety campaigns targeting increased pedestrian safety.

Pedestrian Safety Training Curriculum for Persons with Developmental Disabilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Illinois State Office of the Secretary of State, Springfield.

This manual provides a suggested curriculum, intended for use in the natural environment, for individualized instruction on street travel skills for adults with developmental disabilities. Suggestions are given for instruction in home or classroom; the community; vocational settings; recreational settings; and special pedestrian situations (for…

Environmental supports for walking/biking and traffic safety: income and ethnicity disparities.

PubMed

Yu, Chia-Yuan

2014-10-01

The present study investigates the influence of income, ethnicity, and built environmental characteristics on the percentages of workers who walk/bike as well as on pedestrian/cyclist crash rates. Furthermore, income and ethnicity disparities are also explored. This study chose 162 census tracts in Austin as the unit of analysis. To explore income and ethnicity differences in built environments, this study examined the associations of the poverty rate, the percentage of white population, and the percentage of Hispanic population to each built environmental variable. Path models were applied to examine environmental supports of walking/biking and pedestrian/cyclist safety. Areas with high poverty rates had more biking trips and experienced more cyclist crashes, while areas with a high percentage of white population generated more walking trips and fewer pedestrian crashes. Sidewalk completeness and mixed land uses promoted walking to work but increased the crash risk for pedestrians as well. In terms of biking behaviors, road density and transit stop density both increased biking trips and cyclist crashes. Environmental designs that both encourage walking/biking trips and generate more safety threats should attract more attention from policy makers. Policies should also be more devoted to enhancing the mobility and health for areas with high poverty rates. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Exploring the mechanisms of vehicle front-end shape on pedestrian head injuries caused by ground impact.

PubMed

Yin, Sha; Li, Jiani; Xu, Jun

2017-09-01

In pedestrian-vehicle accidents, pedestrians typically suffer from secondary impact with the ground after the primary contact with vehicles. However, information about the fundamental mechanism of pedestrian head injury from ground impact remains minimal, thereby hindering further improvement in pedestrian safety. This study addresses this issue by using multi-body modeling and computation to investigate the influence of vehicle front-end shape on pedestrian safety. Accordingly, a simulation matrix is constructed to vary bonnet leading-edge height, bonnet length, bonnet angle, and windshield angle. Subsequently, a set of 315 pedestrian-vehicle crash simulations are conducted using the multi-body simulation software MADYMO. Three vehicle velocities, i.e., 20, 30, and 40km/h, are set as the scenarios. Results show that the top governing factor is bonnet leading-edge height. The posture and head injury at the instant of head ground impact vary dramatically with increasing height because of the significant rise of the body bending point and the movement of the collision point. The bonnet angle is the second dominant factor that affects head-ground injury, followed by bonnet length and windshield angle. The results may elucidate one of the critical barriers to understanding head injury caused by ground impact and provide a solid theoretical guideline for considering pedestrian safety in vehicle design. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Training the elderly in pedestrian safety: Transfer effect between two virtual reality simulation devices.

PubMed

Maillot, Pauline; Dommes, Aurélie; Dang, Nguyen-Thong; Vienne, Fabrice

2017-02-01

A virtual-reality training program has been developed to help older pedestrians make safer street-crossing decisions in two-way traffic situations. The aim was to develop a small-scale affordable and transportable simulation device that allowed transferring effects to a full-scale device involving actual walking. 20 younger adults and 40 older participants first participated in a pre-test phase to assess their street crossings using both full-scale and small-scale simulation devices. Then, a trained older group (20 participants) completed two 1.5-h training sessions with the small-scale device, whereas an older control group received no training (19 participants). Thereafter, the 39 older trained and untrained participants took part in a 1.5-h post-test phase again with both devices. Pre-test phase results suggested significant differences between both devices in the group of older participants only. Unlike younger participants, older participants accepted more often to cross and had more collisions on the small-scale simulation device than on the full-scale one. Post-test phase results showed that training older participants on the small-scale device allowed a significant global decrease in the percentage of accepted crossings and collisions on both simulation devices. But specific improvements regarding the way participants took into account the speed of approaching cars and vehicles in the far lane were notable only on the full-scale simulation device. The findings suggest that the small-scale simulation device triggers a greater number of unsafe decisions compared to a full-scale one that allows actual crossings. But findings reveal that such a small-scale simulation device could be a good means to improve the safety of street-crossing decisions and behaviors among older pedestrians, suggesting a transfer of learning effect between the two simulation devices, from training people with a miniature device to measuring their specific progress with a full-scale one

Long-Time Stability of Ni-Ti-Shape Memory Alloys for Automotive Safety Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strittmatter, Joachim; Gümpel, Paul

2011-07-01

In automotive a lot of electromagnetically, pyrotechnically or mechanically driven actuators are integrated to run comfort systems and to control safety systems in modern passenger cars. Using shape memory alloys (SMA) the existing systems could be simplified, performing the same function through new mechanisms with reduced size, weight, and costs. A drawback for the use of SMA in safety systems is the lack of materials knowledge concerning the durability of the switching function (long-time stability of the shape memory effect). Pedestrian safety systems play a significant role to reduce injuries and fatal casualties caused by accidents. One automotive safety system for pedestrian protection is the bonnet lifting system. Based on such an application, this article gives an introduction to existing bonnet lifting systems for pedestrian protection, describes the use of quick changing shape memory actuators and the results of the study concerning the long-time stability of the tested NiTi-wires. These wires were trained, exposed up to 4 years at elevated temperatures (up to 140 °C) and tested regarding their phase change temperatures, times, and strokes. For example, it was found that A P-temperature is shifted toward higher temperatures with longer exposing periods and higher temperatures. However, in the functional testing plant a delay in the switching time could not be detected. This article gives some answers concerning the long-time stability of NiTi-wires that were missing till now. With this knowledge, the number of future automotive applications using SMA can be increased. It can be concluded, that the use of quick changing shape memory actuators in safety systems could simplify the mechanism, reduce maintenance and manufacturing costs and should be insertable also for other automotive applications.

Analysis of car-to-bicycle approach patterns for developing active safety devices.

PubMed

Matsui, Yasuhiro; Oikawa, Shoko; Hitosugi, Masahito

2016-05-18

To reduce the severity of injuries and the number of cyclist deaths in traffic accidents, active safety devices providing cyclist detection are considered to be effective countermeasures. The features of car-to-bicycle collisions need to be known in detail to develop such safety devices. The study investigated near-miss situations captured by drive recorders installed in passenger cars. Because similarities in the approach patterns between near-miss incidents and real-world fatal cyclist accidents in Japan were confirmed, we analyzed the 229 near-miss incident data via video capturing bicycles crossing the road in front of forward-moving cars. Using a video frame captured by a drive recorder, the time to collision (TTC) was calculated from the car's velocity and the distance between the car and bicycle at the moment when the bicycle initially appeared. The average TTC in the cases where bicycles emerged from behind obstructions was shorter than that in the cases where drivers had unobstructed views of the bicycles. In comparing the TTC of car-to-bicycle near-miss incidents to the previously obtained results of car-to-pedestrian near-miss incidents, it was determined that the average TTC in car-to-bicycle near-miss incidents was significantly longer than that in car-to-pedestrian near-miss incidents. When considering the TTC in the test protocol of evaluation for safety performance of active safety devices, we propose individual TTCs for evaluation of cyclist and pedestrian detections, respectively. In the test protocols, the following 2 scenarios should be employed: bicycle emerging from behind an unobstructed view and bicycle emerging from behind obstructions.

Demonstration and evaluation of the Heed the Speed pedestrian safety program : traffic tech.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-07-01

Research has shown that higher vehicular speeds are : related to increased pedestrian injury severity and death. : It is unclear, however, if lowering vehicle speeds in residential : areas would result in lower frequency of pedestrian-involved : cras...

Controlling factors of the parental safety perception on children's travel mode choice.

PubMed

Nevelsteen, Kristof; Steenberghen, Thérèse; Van Rompaey, Anton; Uyttersprot, Liesbeth

2012-03-01

The travel mode of children changed significantly over the last 20 years, with a decrease of children travelling as pedestrians or cyclists. This study focuses on six to twelve year old children. Parents determine to a large extent the mode choice of children in this age category. Based on the analysis of an extensive survey, the research shows that traffic infrastructure has a significant impact on parental decision making concerning children's travel mode choice, by affecting both the real and the perceived traffic safety. Real traffic safety is quantified in terms of numbers of accidents and road infrastructure. For the perceived traffic safety a parental allowance probability is calculated per road type to show that infrastructure characteristics influence parental decision making on the children's mode choice. A binary logistic model shows that this allowance is determined by age, gender and traffic infrastructure near the child's home or near destinations frequently visited by children. Since both real and perceived traffic safety are influenced by infrastructure characteristics, a spatial analysis of parental perception and accident statistics can be used to indicate the locations where infrastructure improvements will be most effective to increase the number of children travelling - safely - as pedestrians or cyclists. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Do prohibitive warnings improve road-crossing Safety for texting and non-texting pedestrians?

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-06-01

Pedestrian injuries and deaths caused by collisions with motor vehicles are a major health problem in the U.S. [1]. In 2013 alone, 4,735 pedestrians were killed and 66,000 were injured in traffic crashes. Both field observations and controlled experi...

The effects of pedestrian countdown timers on safety and efficiency of operations at signalized intersections.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-12-01

Pedestrian countdown timers are becoming common at urban and suburban intersections. The added information that : pedestrian countdown timers provide to pedestrians can also be used by approaching drivers. A before-and-after case study : on the effec...

An empirical Bayes safety evaluation of tram/streetcar signal and lane priority measures in Melbourne.

PubMed

Naznin, Farhana; Currie, Graham; Sarvi, Majid; Logan, David

2016-01-01

Streetcars/tram systems are growing worldwide, and many are given priority to increase speed and reliability performance in mixed traffic conditions. Research related to the road safety impact of tram priority is limited. This study explores the road safety impacts of tram priority measures including lane and intersection/signal priority measures. A before-after crash study was conducted using the empirical Bayes (EB) method to provide more accurate crash impact estimates by accounting for wider crash trends and regression to the mean effects. Before-after crash data for 29 intersections with tram signal priority and 23 arterials with tram lane priority in Melbourne, Australia, were analyzed to evaluate the road safety impact of tram priority. The EB before-after analysis results indicated a statistically significant adjusted crash reduction rate of 16.4% after implementation of tram priority measures. Signal priority measures were found to reduce crashes by 13.9% and lane priority by 19.4%. A disaggregate level simple before-after analysis indicated reductions in total and serious crashes as well as vehicle-, pedestrian-, and motorcycle-involved crashes. In addition, reductions in on-path crashes, pedestrian-involved crashes, and collisions among vehicles moving in the same and opposite directions and all other specific crash types were found after tram priority implementation. Results suggest that streetcar/tram priority measures result in safety benefits for all road users, including vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists. Policy implications and areas for future research are discussed.

Walking the line: Understanding pedestrian behaviour and risk at rail level crossings with cognitive work analysis.

PubMed

Read, Gemma J M; Salmon, Paul M; Lenné, Michael G; Stanton, Neville A

2016-03-01

Pedestrian fatalities at rail level crossings (RLXs) are a public safety concern for governments worldwide. There is little literature examining pedestrian behaviour at RLXs and no previous studies have adopted a formative approach to understanding behaviour in this context. In this article, cognitive work analysis is applied to understand the constraints that shape pedestrian behaviour at RLXs in Melbourne, Australia. The five phases of cognitive work analysis were developed using data gathered via document analysis, behavioural observation, walk-throughs and critical decision method interviews. The analysis demonstrates the complex nature of pedestrian decision making at RLXs and the findings are synthesised to provide a model illustrating the influences on pedestrian decision making in this context (i.e. time, effort and social pressures). Further, the CWA outputs are used to inform an analysis of the risks to safety associated with pedestrian behaviour at RLXs and the identification of potential interventions to reduce risk. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Modeling pedestrian gap crossing index under mixed traffic condition.

PubMed

Naser, Mohamed M; Zulkiple, Adnan; Al Bargi, Walid A; Khalifa, Nasradeen A; Daniel, Basil David

2017-12-01

There are a variety of challenges faced by pedestrians when they walk along and attempt to cross a road, as the most recorded accidents occur during this time. Pedestrians of all types, including both sexes with numerous aging groups, are always subjected to risk and are characterized as the most exposed road users. The increased demand for better traffic management strategies to reduce the risks at intersections, improve quality traffic management, traffic volume, and longer cycle time has further increased concerns over the past decade. This paper aims to develop a sustainable pedestrian gap crossing index model based on traffic flow density. It focusses on the gaps accepted by pedestrians and their decision for street crossing, where (Log-Gap) logarithm of accepted gaps was used to optimize the result of a model for gap crossing behavior. Through a review of extant literature, 15 influential variables were extracted for further empirical analysis. Subsequently, data from the observation at an uncontrolled mid-block in Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was gathered and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and Binary Logit Model (BLM) techniques were employed to analyze the results. From the results, different pedestrian behavioral characteristics were considered for a minimum gap size model, out of which only a few (four) variables could explain the pedestrian road crossing behavior while the remaining variables have an insignificant effect. Among the different variables, age, rolling gap, vehicle type, and crossing were the most influential variables. The study concludes that pedestrians' decision to cross the street depends on the pedestrian age, rolling gap, vehicle type, and size of traffic gap before crossing. The inferences from these models will be useful to increase pedestrian safety and performance evaluation of uncontrolled midblock road crossings in developing countries. Copyright © 2017 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Planning Design and Maintenance of Pedestrian Facilities

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1989-03-01

Pedestrian safety and accessibility has long been a concern to Federal, State, and local agencies. The result has been a wide diversity of published reports, recommended practices and changes in accessibility standards for the planning, design and ma...

Integrated solar lighting for pedestrian crosswalk visibility.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-10-31

This report is written for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to aid in their assessment of the viability of solar-driven lighting of pedestrian crosswalks or other traffic bearing areas to enhance safety. The goal of the solarized cross...

Harnessing Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) Communication Technology: Sending Traffic Warnings to Texting Pedestrians.

PubMed

Rahimian, Pooya; O'Neal, Elizabeth E; Zhou, Shiwen; Plumert, Jodie M; Kearney, Joseph K

2018-06-01

We examined how sending mobile-device warnings to texting pedestrians when they initiate an unsafe road crossing influences their decisions and actions. Pedestrian texting has been identified as a key risk factor in pedestrian-vehicle collisions. Advances in sensing and communications technology offer the possibility of providing pedestrians with information about traffic conditions to assist them in safely crossing traffic-filled roadways. However, it is unclear how this information can be most effectively communicated to pedestrians. We examined how texting and nontexting pedestrians crossed roads with continuous traffic in a large-screen, immersive pedestrian simulator using a between-subjects design with three conditions: texting, warning, and control. Texting participants in the warning condition received an alarm on their cell phone when they began to cross a dangerously small gap. The results demonstrate the detrimental influence of texting on pedestrians' gap selection, movement timing, and gaze behavior, and show the potential of warnings to improve decision making and safety. However, the results also reveal the limits of warning texting participants once they initiate a crossing and possible overreliance on technology that may lead to reduced situation awareness. Mobile devices and short-range communication technologies offer enormous potential to assist pedestrians, but further study is needed to better understand how to provide useful information in a timely manner. The technology for communicating traffic information to pedestrians via mobile devices is on the horizon. Research on how such information influences all aspects of pedestrian behavior is critical to developing effective solutions.

Comprehensive guidance for pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements : Research Spotlight

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-01-01

Planners and designers at every level of government look for ways to make Michigan roads safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. A wide range of improvement options at intersections and along corridors offers the potential for safer streets. MDOT under...

Engineering design for pedestrian safety at highway-rail grade crossings

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-07-01

A number of pedestrian treatments at railroad grade crossings have been developed and are used throughout the United States. The decision of when to use these treatments is generally a matter of best practices, using a decision tree, or conducting a ...

The pedestrian in the transportation system : proposed traffic safety legislation.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1981-01-01

The purposes of this project were to review and evaluate Virginia's traffic laws related to pedestrians, compare provisions of the Code of Virginia with those of the statutes of other states and the Uniform Vehicle Code, and, if appropriate, propose ...

Commentary: Status of road safety in Asia.

PubMed

Wismans, Jac; Skogsmo, Ingrid; Nilsson-Ehle, Anna; Lie, Anders; Thynell, Marie; Lindberg, Gunnar

2016-01-01

The objective of this article is to assess the status of road safety in Asia and present accident and injury prevention strategies based on global road safety improvement experiences and discuss the way forward by indicating opportunities and countermeasures that could be implemented to achieve a new level of safety in Asia. This study provides a review and analyses of data in the literature, including from the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank, and a review of lessons learned from best practices in high-income countries. In addition, an estimation of costs due to road transport injuries in Asia and review of future trends in road transport is provided. Data on the global and Asian road safety problem and status of prevention strategies in Asia as well as recommendations for future actions are discussed. The total number of deaths due to road accidents in the 24 Asian countries, encompassing 56% of the total world population, is 750,000 per year (statistics 2010). The total number of injuries is more than 50 million, of which 12% are hospital admissions. The loss to the economy in the 24 Asian countries is estimated to around US$800 billion or 3.6% of the gross domestic product (GDP). This article clearly shows that road safety is causing large problems and high costs in Asia, with an enormous impact on the well-being of people, economy, and productivity. In many Asian low- and middle-income countries, the yearly number of fatalities and injuries is increasing. Vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists combined) are particularly at risk. Road safety in Asia should be given rightful attention, including taking powerful, effective actions. This review stresses the need for reliable accident data, because there is considerable underreporting in the official statistics. Reliable accident data are imperative to determine evidence-based intervention strategies and monitor the success of these interventions and analyses. On the other

Aging driver and pedestrian safety : parking lot hazards study [summary].

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-01-01

In 2009, Florida reported the highest rate of pedestrian fatalities in the nation. At 2.51 deaths per 100,000 residents, Floridas rate was nearly twice the national average. These deaths occurred in all age groups, but compared to other age groups...

Pedestrian injuries due to mobile phone use in public places.

PubMed

Nasar, Jack L; Troyer, Derek

2013-08-01

Research shows that pedestrians, similar to drivers, experience reduced situation awareness, distracted attention and unsafe behavior when talking or texting on their mobile phones. The present study centered on injuries related to mobile phone use among pedestrians. It used data from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission on injuries in hospital emergency rooms from 2004 through 2010. It found that mobile-phone related injuries among pedestrians increased relative to total pedestrian injuries, and paralleled the increase in injuries for drivers, and in 2010 exceeded those for drivers. Pedestrian injuries related to mobile-phone use were higher for males and for people under 31 years old. Using a mobile phone while walking puts pedestrians at risk of accident, injury or death. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Epidemiology of Pedestrian-Motor Vehicle Fatalities and Injuries, 2006-2015.

PubMed

Chong, Shu-Ling; Chiang, Li-Wei; Allen, John Carson; Fleegler, Eric William; Lee, Lois Kaye

2018-07-01

Pedestrian road safety remains a public health priority. The objective of this study is to describe trends in fatalities and injuries after pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions in the U.S. and identify associated risk factors for pedestrian fatalities. This is a cross-sectional study of U.S. pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions from 2006 to 2015 (performed in 2017). Pedestrian fatality and injury data were obtained from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System and National Automotive Sampling System General Estimates System. Frequencies of fatalities, injuries, and associated characteristics were calculated. Multivariable logistic regression was performed for risk of fatality, controlling for demographic and crash-related factors. There were 47,789 pedestrian fatalities and 674,414 injuries during the 10-year study period. Fatality rates were highest among the elderly aged 85 years and older (2.95/100,000 population), whereas injury rates were highest for those aged 15-19 years (35.23/100,000 population). Predictors associated with increased risk for death include the following: male sex (AOR=1.36, 95% CI=1.15, 1.62), age ≥65 years (AOR=3.44, 95% CI=2.62, 4.50), alcohol involvement (AOR=2.63, 95% CI=1.88, 3.67), collisions after midnight (AOR=5.21, 95% CI=3.20, 8.49), at non-intersections (AOR=2.76, 95% CI=2.21, 3.45), and involving trucks (AOR=2.15, 95% CI=1.16, 3.97) and buses (AOR=5.82, 95% CI=3.67, 9.21). Potentially modifiable factors are associated with increased risk of death after pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions. Interventions including elder-friendly intersections and increasing visibility of pedestrians may aid in decreasing pedestrian injuries and deaths. Copyright © 2018 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Exploring the application of latent class cluster analysis for investigating pedestrian crash injury severities in Switzerland.

PubMed

Sasidharan, Lekshmi; Wu, Kun-Feng; Menendez, Monica

2015-12-01

One of the major challenges in traffic safety analyses is the heterogeneous nature of safety data, due to the sundry factors involved in it. This heterogeneity often leads to difficulties in interpreting results and conclusions due to unrevealed relationships. Understanding the underlying relationship between injury severities and influential factors is critical for the selection of appropriate safety countermeasures. A method commonly employed to address systematic heterogeneity is to focus on any subgroup of data based on the research purpose. However, this need not ensure homogeneity in the data. In this paper, latent class cluster analysis is applied to identify homogenous subgroups for a specific crash type-pedestrian crashes. The manuscript employs data from police reported pedestrian (2009-2012) crashes in Switzerland. The analyses demonstrate that dividing pedestrian severity data into seven clusters helps in reducing the systematic heterogeneity of the data and to understand the hidden relationships between crash severity levels and socio-demographic, environmental, vehicle, temporal, traffic factors, and main reason for the crash. The pedestrian crash injury severity models were developed for the whole data and individual clusters, and were compared using receiver operating characteristics curve, for which results favored clustering. Overall, the study suggests that latent class clustered regression approach is suitable for reducing heterogeneity and revealing important hidden relationships in traffic safety analyses. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analyzing pedestrian crash injury severity under different weather conditions.

PubMed

Li, Duo; Ranjitkar, Prakash; Zhao, Yifei; Yi, Hui; Rashidi, Soroush

2017-05-19

Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users due to the lack of mass, speed, and protection compared to other types of road users. Adverse weather conditions may reduce road friction and visibility and thus increase crash risk. There is limited evidence and considerable discrepancy with regard to impacts of weather conditions on injury severity in the literature. This article investigated factors affecting pedestrian injury severity level under different weather conditions based on a publicly available accident database in Great Britain. Accident data from Great Britain that are publicly available through the STATS19 database were analyzed. Factors associated with pedestrian, driver, and environment were investigated using a novel approach that combines a classification and regression tree with random forest approach. Significant severity predictors under fine weather conditions from the models included speed limits, pedestrian age, light conditions, and vehicle maneuver. Under adverse weather conditions, the significant predictors were pedestrian age, vehicle maneuver, and speed limit. Elderly pedestrians are associated with higher pedestrian injury severities. Higher speed limits increase pedestrian injury severity. Based on the research findings, recommendations are provided to improve pedestrian safety.

Exploring the safety in numbers effect for vulnerable road users on a macroscopic scale.

PubMed

Tasic, Ivana; Elvik, Rune; Brewer, Simon

2017-12-01

A "Safety in Numbers" effect for a certain group of road users is present if the number of crashes increases at a lower rate than the number of road users. The existence of this effect has been invoked to justify investments in multimodal transportation improvements in order to create more sustainable urban transportation systems by encouraging walking, biking, and transit ridership. The goal of this paper is to explore safety in numbers effect for cyclists and pedestrians in areas with different levels of access to multimodal infrastructure. Data from Chicago served to estimate the expected number of crashes on the census tract level by applying Generalized Additive Models (GAM) to capture spatial dependence in crash data. Measures of trip generation, multimodal infrastructure, network connectivity and completeness, and accessibility were used to model travel exposure in terms of activity, number of trips, trip length, travel opportunities, and conflicts. The results show that a safety in numbers effect exists on a macroscopic level for motor vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Severity of vehicle bumper location in vehicle-to-pedestrian impact accidents.

PubMed

Matsui, Yasuhiro; Hitosugi, Masahito; Mizuno, Koji

2011-10-10

Pedestrian protection is one of the key topics for safety measures in traffic accidents all over the world. To analyze the relation between the collision site of the vehicle bumper and the severity of the lower extremity injuries, we performed biomechanical experiments. We compared the applied external force and the risks of subsequent injuries between the impact of the center and side positions of the front bumper. These comparisons were performed by practical impact tests with eight typical different types of cars which were typical of the current vehicle fleets. The tests were made using the TRL legform impactor which was a mechanical substitute of a pedestrian lower extremity. The TRL impactor is used all over the world for assessing the safety of car bumpers. It was found that the risks of lower extremity injuries in the impacts at the side positions, in front of the vehicle's side member, were significantly higher than those at the center. In the tests, we found that foam materials around the rigid front cross member had a significant effect on reducing the lower extremity injury risks and especially tibia fracture risk against vehicle bumper center collisions, but had little effect at the sides of the bumper over the vehicle's side members where the foam was thinner. We also found that the front shape of the vehicle affected the risk of ligaments injuries. According to these results, the information of impact locations of cars in vehicle-to-pedestrian traffic accidents is valuable for clinicians to diagnose patients with lower extremity injuries in traffic accidents and for forensic pathologists to analyze the accident reconstruction. Furthermore, the results suggest that testing of the bumper area in front of the main longitudinal beams should be included in the car safety legislation to require pedestrian safety. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pedestrian injuries resulting from road traffic accidents: the Azare experience.

PubMed

Umaru, H; Ahidjo, A; Dogo, H

2007-01-01

Road traffic accident (RTA) is a leading cause of serious morbidity and mortality world wide. The pedestrians are not spared from this epidemic. The aim of this study is to identify factors that puts the pedestrian at risk of injuries from RTA and the anatomical regions most commonly involved in our environment and suggest ways of curbing them. This was a one-year retrospective study of 122 pedestrian casualties resulting from road traffic accident attending the Accident and Emergency (A/E) Unit of the Federal Medical Centre, Azare. Majority of the patients (72%) were males with a male to female ratio of 2.6:1. Children and adolescents constitute 54.1% of the casualties. Motorcycles were responsible for most of the pedestrian injuries (73%). The head and neck was the most frequently injured anatomical region of the body (43.4%), followed by the extremities (37%). The months of August and January were the peak periods of injuries. The safety of pedestrian is seriously threatened by the growing popularity of commercial motorcycles on our roads. Preventive measures are advocated to ensure only licensed cyclists are allowed on the roads. Adequate personnel training to manage head injury in our centers is also advised. More patrol by the road safety agents is advised in the months of January and August.

Active transportation safety features around schools in Canada.

PubMed

Pinkerton, Bryn; Rosu, Andrei; Janssen, Ian; Pickett, William

2013-10-31

The purpose of this study was to describe the presence and quality of active transportation safety features in Canadian school environments that relate to pedestrian and bicycle safety. Variations in these features and associated traffic concerns as perceived by school administrators were examined by geographic status and school type. The study was based on schools that participated in 2009/2010 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey. ArcGIS software version 10 and Google Earth were used to assess the presence and quality of ten different active transportation safety features. Findings suggest that there are crosswalks and good sidewalk coverage in the environments surrounding most Canadian schools, but a dearth of bicycle lanes and other traffic calming measures (e.g., speed bumps, traffic chokers). Significant urban/rural inequities exist with a greater prevalence of sidewalk coverage, crosswalks, traffic medians, and speed bumps in urban areas. With the exception of bicycle lanes, the active transportation safety features that were present were generally rated as high quality. Traffic was more of a concern to administrators in urban areas. This study provides novel information about active transportation safety features in Canadian school environments. This information could help guide public health efforts aimed at increasing active transportation levels while simultaneously decreasing active transportation injuries.

Active Transportation Safety Features around Schools in Canada

PubMed Central

Pinkerton, Bryn; Rosu, Andrei; Janssen, Ian; Pickett, William

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to describe the presence and quality of active transportation safety features in Canadian school environments that relate to pedestrian and bicycle safety. Variations in these features and associated traffic concerns as perceived by school administrators were examined by geographic status and school type. The study was based on schools that participated in 2009/2010 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey. ArcGIS software version 10 and Google Earth were used to assess the presence and quality of ten different active transportation safety features. Findings suggest that there are crosswalks and good sidewalk coverage in the environments surrounding most Canadian schools, but a dearth of bicycle lanes and other traffic calming measures (e.g., speed bumps, traffic chokers). Significant urban/rural inequities exist with a greater prevalence of sidewalk coverage, crosswalks, traffic medians, and speed bumps in urban areas. With the exception of bicycle lanes, the active transportation safety features that were present were generally rated as high quality. Traffic was more of a concern to administrators in urban areas. This study provides novel information about active transportation safety features in Canadian school environments. This information could help guide public health efforts aimed at increasing active transportation levels while simultaneously decreasing active transportation injuries. PMID:24185844

Using Interactive Multimedia to Teach Pedestrian Safety: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glang, Ann; Noell, John; Ary, Dennis; Swartz, Lynne

2005-01-01

Objectives: To evaluate an interactive multimedia (IMM) program that teaches young children safe pedestrian skills. Methods: The program uses IMM (animation and video) to teach children critical skills for crossing streets safely. A computer-delivered video assessment and a real-life street simulation were used to measure the effectiveness of the…

Hybrid Aluminum and Natural Fiber Composite Structure for Crash Safety Improvement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helaili, S.; Chafra, M.; Chevalier, Y.

There is a growing interest on pedestrian's protection in automotive safety standards. Pedestrians head impact is one of the most important tests. In this paper, a hybrid composite structure made from natural fiber and aluminum, which improve the head protection when impact is taken place, is presented. The structure is made from a honeycomb composite made from unidirectional and woven composites and a thin aluminum layer. A head impact model is developed. The number of hexagonal layers is fixed and the thickness of the aluminum layer of the honeycomb structure is varied. The specific absorption energy is then calculated.

Fall Protection Characteristics of Safety Belts and Human Impact Tolerance.

PubMed

Hino, Yasumichi; Ohdo, Katsutoshi; Takahashi, Hiroki

2014-08-23

Many fatal accidents due to falls from heights have occurred at construction sites not only in Japan but also in other countries. This study aims to determine the fall prevention performance of two types of safety belts: a body belt 1) , which has been used for more than 40 yr in the Japanese construction industry as a general type of safety equipment for fall accident prevention, and a full harness 2, 3) , which has been used in many other countries. To determine human tolerance for impact trauma, this study discusses features of safety belts with reference 4-9) to relevant studies in the medical science, automobile crash safety, and aircrew safety. For this purpose, simple drop tests were carried out in a virtual workplace to measure impact load, head acceleration, and posture in the experiments, the Hybrid-III pedestrian model 10) was used as a human dummy. Hybrid-III is typically employed in official automobile crash tests (New Car Assessment Program: NCAP) and is currently recognized as a model that faithfully reproduces dynamic responses. Experimental results shows that safety performance strongly depends on both the variety of safety belts used and the shock absorbers attached onto lanyards. These findings indicate that fall prevention equipment, such as safety belts, lanyards, and shock absorbers, must be improved to reduce impact injuries to the human head and body during falls.

Fall protection characteristics of safety belts and human impact tolerance.

PubMed

Hino, Yasumichi; Ohdo, Katsutoshi; Takahashi, Hiroki

2014-01-01

Many fatal accidents due to falls from heights have occurred at construction sites not only in Japan but also in other countries. This study aims to determine the fall prevention performance of two types of safety belts: a body belt, which has been used for more than 40 yr in the Japanese construction industry as a general type of safety equipment for fall accident prevention, and a full harness, which has been used in many other countries. To determine human tolerance for impact trauma, this study discusses features of safety belts with reference to relevant studies in the medical science, automobile crash safety, and aircrew safety. For this purpose, simple drop tests were carried out in a virtual workplace to measure impact load, head acceleration, and posture in the experiments, the Hybrid-III pedestrian model was used as a human dummy. Hybrid-III is typically employed in official automobile crash tests (New Car Assessment Program: NCAP) and is currently recognized as a model that faithfully reproduces dynamic responses. Experimental results shows that safety performance strongly depends on both the variety of safety belts used and the shock absorbers attached onto lanyards. These findings indicate that fall prevention equipment, such as safety belts, lanyards, and shock absorbers, must be improved to reduce impact injuries to the human head and body during falls.

Linking green space to neighborhood social capital in older adults: The role of perceived safety.

PubMed

Hong, Andy; Sallis, James F; King, Abby C; Conway, Terry L; Saelens, Brian; Cain, Kelli L; Fox, Eric H; Frank, Lawrence D

2018-06-01

This study examines the moderating effect of perceived safety on the association of green space with neighborhood social capital in older adults. Green space may play an important role for promoting neighborhood social capital and health for older adults; however, safety remains a significant challenge in maximizing the benefits of green space. Data were drawn from 647 independent-living seniors who participated in the Senior Neighborhood Quality of Life Study in the Seattle/King County and Baltimore/Washington DC region. The results suggest that certain green space elements, such as natural sights, may be beneficial to neighborhood social capital of older adults. However, other types of green space, such as parks and street trees, may be less advantageous to older adults who perceive their neighborhoods as unsafe for pedestrians. Findings highlight the importance of pedestrian safety in examining associations of green space with neighborhood social capital in older adults. Further studies using a longitudinal design are warranted to confirm the causality of the findings. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An open simulation approach to identify chances and limitations for vulnerable road user (VRU) active safety.

PubMed

Seiniger, Patrick; Bartels, Oliver; Pastor, Claus; Wisch, Marcus

2013-01-01

It is commonly agreed that active safety will have a significant impact on reducing accident figures for pedestrians and probably also bicyclists. However, chances and limitations for active safety systems have only been derived based on accident data and the current state of the art, based on proprietary simulation models. The objective of this article is to investigate these chances and limitations by developing an open simulation model. This article introduces a simulation model, incorporating accident kinematics, driving dynamics, driver reaction times, pedestrian dynamics, performance parameters of different autonomous emergency braking (AEB) generations, as well as legal and logical limitations. The level of detail for available pedestrian accident data is limited. Relevant variables, especially timing of the pedestrian appearance and the pedestrian's moving speed, are estimated using assumptions. The model in this article uses the fact that a pedestrian and a vehicle in an accident must have been in the same spot at the same time and defines the impact position as a relevant accident parameter, which is usually available from accident data. The calculations done within the model identify the possible timing available for braking by an AEB system as well as the possible speed reduction for different accident scenarios as well as for different system configurations. The simulation model identifies the lateral impact position of the pedestrian as a significant parameter for system performance, and the system layout is designed to brake when the accident becomes unavoidable by the vehicle driver. Scenarios with a pedestrian running from behind an obstruction are the most demanding scenarios and will very likely never be avoidable for all vehicle speeds due to physical limits. Scenarios with an unobstructed person walking will very likely be treatable for a wide speed range for next generation AEB systems.

49 CFR 1.95 - Delegations to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

...-related aspects of pedestrian and bicycle safety. (e) Carry out the functions and exercise the authority...) Carry out the functions and exercise the authority vested in the Secretary for the following provisions of Title 23, U.S.C. (with respect to matters within the primary responsibility of the National...

Pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities in large truck crashes, 2013.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-05-01

This report presents data on pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities in large truck crashes over the past several years (up to 2013). Information is provided on the characteristics of fatal crashes recorded in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administ...

Community variations in population exposure to near-field tsunami hazards as a function of pedestrian travel time to safety

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wood, Nathan J.; Schmidtlein, Mathew C.

2013-01-01

Efforts to characterize population exposure to near-field tsunami threats typically focus on quantifying the number and type of people in tsunami-hazard zones. To develop and prioritize effective risk-reduction strategies, emergency managers also need information on the potential for successful evacuations and how this evacuation potential varies among communities. To improve efforts to properly characterize and differentiate near-field tsunami threats among multiple communities, we assess community variations in population exposure to tsunamis as a function of pedestrian travel time to safety. We focus our efforts on the multiple coastal communities in Grays Harbor and Pacific Counties (State of Washington, USA), where a substantial resident and visitor population is threatened by near-field tsunamis related to a potential Cascadia subduction zone earthquake. Anisotropic, path-distance modeling is conducted to estimate travel times to safety and results are merged with various population data, including residents, employees, public venues, and dependent-care facilities. Results suggest that there is substantial variability among communities in the number of people that may have insufficient time to evacuate. Successful evacuations may be possible in some communities assuming slow-walking speeds, are plausible in others if travel speeds are increased, and are unlikely in another set of communities given the large distances and short time horizon. Emergency managers can use these results to prioritize the location and determine the most appropriate type of tsunami risk-reduction strategies, such as education and training in areas where evacuations are plausible and vertical-evacuation structures in areas where they are not.

Commercialization and Field Distribution of Smart Pedestrian Call Signals

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-06-01

The research on this project resulted in a new design for an accessible pedestrian system (APS) that uses Ethernet communications to implement a distributed control system. Present APS designs represent a safety risk factor by APS systems having unde...

Development of a portable bicycle/pedestrian monitoring system for safety enhancement.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-02-02

The objective of this project was to develop a portable automated system to collect continuous video data on pedestrian and cyclist behavior at midblock locations throughout the metro Atlanta area. The system analyzes the collected video data and aut...

Development of pedestrian safety based warrants for permissive left-turn control

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-12-01

At the intersections with permissive only signal control, pedestrians will move at the permissive phase with the parallel through vehicular movement and left-turn vehicles, the left-turn vehicles have to yield to both opposing through vehicles and pe...

Driver perceptions of the safety implications of quiet electric vehicles.

PubMed

Cocron, Peter; Krems, Josef F

2013-09-01

Previous research on the safety implications of quiet electric vehicles (EVs) has mostly focused on pedestrians' acoustic perception of EVs, and suggests that EVs are more difficult for pedestrians to hear and, therefore, compromise traffic safety. The two German field studies presented here examine the experiences of 70 drivers with low noise emissions of EVs and the drivers' long-term evaluation of the issue. Participants were surveyed via interviews and questionnaires before driving an EV for the first time, after 3 months of driving, and in the first study, again after 6 months. Based on participants' reports, a catalogue of safety-relevant incidents was composed in Study 1. The catalogue revealed that low noise-related critical incidents only rarely occur, and mostly take place in low-speed environments. The degree of hazard related to these incidents was rated as low to medium. In Study 1, driver concern for vulnerable road users as a result of low noise diminished with increasing driving experience, while perceived comfort due to this feature increased. These results were replicated in Study 2. In the second study, it was additionally examined, if drivers adjust their perceived risk of harming other road users over time. Results show that the affective assessment of risk also decreased with increased driving experience. Based on individual experience, drivers adjust their evaluation of noise-related hazards, suggesting that dangers associated with low noise emissions might be less significant than previously expected. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

National survey of pedestrian & bicyclist attitudes and behaviors : highlights report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2002-11-30

This report presents highlights of the 2002 National Survey of Pedestrian and Bicyclist Attitudes and Behaviors, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Bureau of Tra...

Pedestrian temporal and spatial gap acceptance at mid-block street crossing in developing world.

PubMed

Pawar, Digvijay S; Patil, Gopal R

2015-02-01

Most of the midblock pedestrian crossings on urban roads in India are uncontrolled; wherein the high degree of discretion in pedestrians' behavior while crossing the traffic stream, has made the situation complex to analyze. Vehicles do not yield to pedestrians, even though the traffic laws give priority to pedestrians over motorized vehicles at unsignalized pedestrian crossings. Therefore, a pedestrian has to decide if an available gap is safe or not for crossing. This paper aims to investigate pedestrian temporal and spatial gap acceptance for midblock street crossings. Field data were collected using video camera at two midblock pedestrian crossings. The data extraction in laboratory resulted in 1107 pedestrian gaps. Available gaps, pedestrians' decision, traffic volume, etc. were extracted from the videos. While crossing a road with multiple lanes, rolling gap acceptance behavior was observed. Using binary logit analysis, six utility models were developed, three each for temporal and spatial gaps. The 50th percentile temporal and spatial gaps ranged from 4.1 to 4.8s and 67 to 79 m respectively, whereas the 85th percentile temporal and spatial gaps ranged from 5 to 5.8s and 82 to 95 m respectively. These gap values were smaller than that reported in the studies in developed countries. The speed of conflicting vehicle was found to be significant in spatial gap but not in temporal gap acceptance. The gap acceptance decision was also found to be affected by the type of conflicting vehicles. The insights from this study can be used for the safety and performance evaluation of uncontrolled midblock street crossings in developing countries. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.

78 FR 47480 - Notice of Funding Availability for the Tribal Transportation Program Safety Funds

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-05

... engineering improvement projects include, but are not limited to: Intersection safety improvements; Pavement..., replacement, and other improvement of highway signage and pavement markings, or a project to maintain minimum... Administration entitled `Highway Design Handbook for Older Drivers and Pedestrians'; Truck parking facilities...

Fall Protection Characteristics of Safety Belts and Human Impact Tolerance

PubMed Central

HINO, Yasumichi; OHDO, Katsutoshi; TAKAHASHI, Hiroki

2014-01-01

Abstract: Many fatal accidents due to falls from heights have occurred at construction sites not only in Japan but also in other countries. This study aims to determine the fall prevention performance of two types of safety belts: a body belt1), which has been used for more than 40 yr in the Japanese construction industry as a general type of safety equipment for fall accident prevention, and a full harness2, 3), which has been used in many other countries. To determine human tolerance for impact trauma, this study discusses features of safety belts with reference4,5,6,7,8,9) to relevant studies in the medical science, automobile crash safety, and aircrew safety. For this purpose, simple drop tests were carried out in a virtual workplace to measure impact load, head acceleration, and posture in the experiments, the Hybrid-III pedestrian model10) was used as a human dummy. Hybrid-III is typically employed in official automobile crash tests (New Car Assessment Program: NCAP) and is currently recognized as a model that faithfully reproduces dynamic responses. Experimental results shows that safety performance strongly depends on both the variety of safety belts used and the shock absorbers attached onto lanyards. These findings indicate that fall prevention equipment, such as safety belts, lanyards, and shock absorbers, must be improved to reduce impact injuries to the human head and body during falls. PMID:25345426

Enhancing non-motorized safety by simulating non-motorized exposure using a transportation planning approach : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-06-01

Safety researchers and analysists have employed land use and urban form variables as surrogates for traffic exposure information (pedestrian and bicyclist volumes and vehicular traffic). The quality of these crash prediction models is affected by the...

Risk Factors for Road Transport-Related Injury among Pedestrians in Rural Ghana: Implications for Road Safety Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teye-Kwadjo, Enoch

2017-01-01

Objectives: Injuries and mortality resulting from pedestrian road traffic crashes are a major public health problem in Ghana. This study investigated risk factors for road transport-related injury among pedestrians in rural Ghana. Design: Case study design using qualitative data. Method: In-depth interviews were conducted with pedestrians.…

Change detection in urban and rural driving scenes: Effects of target type and safety relevance on change blindness.

PubMed

Beanland, Vanessa; Filtness, Ashleigh J; Jeans, Rhiannon

2017-03-01

The ability to detect changes is crucial for safe driving. Previous research has demonstrated that drivers often experience change blindness, which refers to failed or delayed change detection. The current study explored how susceptibility to change blindness varies as a function of the driving environment, type of object changed, and safety relevance of the change. Twenty-six fully-licenced drivers completed a driving-related change detection task. Changes occurred to seven target objects (road signs, cars, motorcycles, traffic lights, pedestrians, animals, or roadside trees) across two environments (urban or rural). The contextual safety relevance of the change was systematically manipulated within each object category, ranging from high safety relevance (i.e., requiring a response by the driver) to low safety relevance (i.e., requiring no response). When viewing rural scenes, compared with urban scenes, participants were significantly faster and more accurate at detecting changes, and were less susceptible to "looked-but-failed-to-see" errors. Interestingly, safety relevance of the change differentially affected performance in urban and rural environments. In urban scenes, participants were more efficient at detecting changes with higher safety relevance, whereas in rural scenes the effect of safety relevance has marginal to no effect on change detection. Finally, even after accounting for safety relevance, change blindness varied significantly between target types. Overall the results suggest that drivers are less susceptible to change blindness for objects that are likely to change or move (e.g., traffic lights vs. road signs), and for moving objects that pose greater danger (e.g., wild animals vs. pedestrians). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a video game as a child pedestrian educational tool.

PubMed

Arbogast, Helen; Burke, Rita V; Muller, Valerie; Ruiz, Pearl; Knudson, M Margaret; Knudson, Margaret M; Upperman, Jeffrey S

2014-05-01

Injury is the number one cause of death and disability in children in the United States and an increasingly important public health problem globally. While prevention of injuries is an important goal, prevention efforts are currently fragmented, poorly funded, and rarely studied. Among school-aged children, pedestrian crashes are a major mechanism of injury. We hypothesized that we could develop a game-based educational tool that would be effective in teaching elementary school children the principles of pedestrian safety. Between November 2011 and June 2013, second- and third-grade children in Los Angeles Unified School District were randomly assigned to play a unique interactive video game (Ace's Adventure) about pedestrian safety or to a traditional didactic session about pedestrian safety. A pretest and posttest were administered to the study participants. Afterward, study participants were observed for appropriate pedestrian behavior on a simulated street set called Street Smarts. All statistical analyses were performed using SAS version 9.2. A total of 348 study participants took the pretest and posttest. There were 180 who were randomized to the didactic and 168 who were randomized to the video game. The didactic group demonstrated a higher mean score increase (1.01, p < 0.0001) as compared with the video game group (0.44, p < 0.0001). However, observation of study participants revealed that participants who played the video game, as compared with the didactic group, more frequently exhibited appropriate behavior during the following: exiting a parked car (p = 0.01), signaling to a car that was backing up (p = 0.01), signaling to a stopped car (p = 0.0002), and crossing the street (p = 0.01). Students who played the educational video game about pedestrian safety performed similarly to those who attended a more traditional and labor-intensive didactic learning. Innovative educational methods, such as game playing, could significantly change our approach to

Effects of transverse rumble strips on safety of pedestrian crosswalks on rural roads in China.

PubMed

Liu, Pan; Huang, Jia; Wang, Wei; Xu, Chengcheng

2011-11-01

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the impacts of transverse rumble strips in reducing crashes and vehicle speeds at pedestrian crosswalks on rural roads in China. Using crash data reported at 366 sites, the research team conducted an observational before-after study using a comparison group and the Empirical Bayesian (EB) method to evaluate the effectiveness of transverse rumble strips in reducing crashes at pedestrian crosswalks. It was found that transverse rumble strips may reduce expected crash frequency at pedestrian crosswalks by 25%. The research team collected more than 15,000 speed observations at 12 sites. The speed data analysis results show that transverse rumble strips significantly reduce vehicle speeds in vicinity of pedestrian crosswalks on rural roads with posted speed limits of 60 km/h and 80 km/h. On average, the mean speed at pedestrian crosswalks declined 9.2 km/h on roads with a speed limit of 60 km/h; and 11.9 km/h on roads with a speed limit of 80 km/h. The 85th percentile speed declined 9.1 km/h on roads with a speed limit of 60 km/h; and 12.0 km/h on roads with a speed limit of 80 km/h. However, the speed reduction impacts were not found to be statistically significant for the pedestrian crosswalk on the road with a speed limit of 40 km/h. The study also looked extensively at the influence area of transverse rumble strips on rural roads. Speed profiles developed in this study show that the influence area of transverse rumble strips is generally less than 0.3 km. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multiple pedestrian detection using IR LED stereo camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ling, Bo; Zeifman, Michael I.; Gibson, David R. P.

2007-09-01

As part of the U.S. Department of Transportations Intelligent Vehicle Initiative (IVI) program, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is conducting R&D in vehicle safety and driver information systems. There is an increasing number of applications where pedestrian monitoring is of high importance. Visionbased pedestrian detection in outdoor scenes is still an open challenge. People dress in very different colors that sometimes blend with the background, wear hats or carry bags, and stand, walk and change directions unpredictably. The background is various, containing buildings, moving or parked cars, bicycles, street signs, signals, etc. Furthermore, existing pedestrian detection systems perform only during daytime, making it impossible to detect pedestrians at night. Under FHWA funding, we are developing a multi-pedestrian detection system using IR LED stereo camera. This system, without using any templates, detects the pedestrians through statistical pattern recognition utilizing 3D features extracted from the disparity map. A new IR LED stereo camera is being developed, which can help detect pedestrians during daytime and night time. Using the image differencing and denoising, we have also developed new methods to estimate the disparity map of pedestrians in near real time. Our system will have a hardware interface with the traffic controller through wireless communication. Once pedestrians are detected, traffic signals at the street intersections will change phases to alert the drivers of approaching vehicles. The initial test results using images collected at a street intersection show that our system can detect pedestrians in near real time.

Neighborhood Influences on Vehicle-Pedestrian Crash Severity.

PubMed

Toran Pour, Alireza; Moridpour, Sara; Tay, Richard; Rajabifard, Abbas

2017-12-01

Socioeconomic factors are known to be contributing factors for vehicle-pedestrian crashes. Although several studies have examined the socioeconomic factors related to the location of the crashes, limited studies have considered the socioeconomic factors of the neighborhood where the road users live in vehicle-pedestrian crash modelling. This research aims to identify the socioeconomic factors related to both the neighborhoods where the road users live and where crashes occur that have an influence on vehicle-pedestrian crash severity. Data on vehicle-pedestrian crashes that occurred at mid-blocks in Melbourne, Australia, was analyzed. Neighborhood factors associated with road users' residents and location of crash were investigated using boosted regression tree (BRT). Furthermore, partial dependence plots were applied to illustrate the interactions between these factors. We found that socioeconomic factors accounted for 60% of the 20 top contributing factors to vehicle-pedestrian crashes. This research reveals that socioeconomic factors of the neighborhoods where the road users live and where the crashes occur are important in determining the severity of the crashes, with the former having a greater influence. Hence, road safety countermeasures, especially those focussing on the road users, should be targeted at these high-risk neighborhoods.

Evaluating the effect of advance yield markings and symbolic signs on vehicle-pedestrian conflicts at marked midblock crosswalks across multilane roads.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-02-01

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has made walkable communities a priority. Pedestrian safety is key to the success of : this objective. Pedestrians are at high risk when traversing unsignalized, marked crosswalks located either midblock or at Tinter...

Brake reactions of distracted drivers to pedestrian Forward Collision Warning systems.

PubMed

Lubbe, Nils

2017-06-01

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) can be effective in directing driver attention towards a conflict and thereby aid in preventing or mitigating collisions. FCW systems aiming at pedestrian protection have been introduced onto the market, yet an assessment of their safety benefits depends on the accurate modeling of driver reactions when the system is activated. This study contributes by quantifying brake reaction time and brake behavior (deceleration levels and jerk) to compare the effectiveness of an audio-visual warning only, an added haptic brake pulse warning, and an added Head-Up Display in reducing the frequency of collisions with pedestrians. Further, this study provides a detailed data set suited for the design of assessment methods for car-to-pedestrian FCW systems. Brake response characteristics were measured for heavily distracted drivers who were subjected to a single FCW event in a high-fidelity driving simulator. The drivers maintained a self-regulated speed of 30km/h in an urban area, with gaze direction diverted from the forward roadway by a secondary task. Collision rates and brake reaction times differed significantly across FCW settings. Brake pulse warnings resulted in the lowest number of collisions and the shortest brake reaction times (mean 0.8s, SD 0.29s). Brake jerk and deceleration were independent of warning type. Ninety percent of drivers exceeded a maximum deceleration of 3.6m/s 2 and a jerk of 5.3m/s 3 . Brake pulse warning was the most effective FCW interface for preventing collisions. In addition, this study presents the data required for driver modeling for car-to-pedestrian FCW similar to Euro NCAP's 2015 car-to-car FCW assessment. Practical applications: Vehicle manufacturers should consider the introduction of brake pulse warnings to their FCW systems. Euro NCAP could introduce an assessment that quantifies the safety benefits of pedestrian FCW systems and thereby aid the proliferation of effective systems. Copyright © 2017

Urban pedestrian accident countermeasures experimental evaluation. Volume 1, Behavioral evaluation studies

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1975-02-01

A series of site and accident specific pedestrian safety countermeasures had been developed in a previous study, but the effectiveness of these countermeasures had not been empirically evaluated. This project focused on the determination of the effec...

Evaluating the Effect of Advance Yield Markings and Symbolic Signs on Vehicle-Pedestrian Conflicts at Marked Midblock Crosswalks across Multilane Roads

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-02-01

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has made walkable communities a priority. Pedestrian safety is key to the success of this objective. Pedestrians are at high risk when traversing unsignalized, marked crosswalks located either midblock or at T inters...

Pedestrian accidents in Arizona : an investigation of causative factor and recommendation for safety improvements, Volume 2 : final report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1985-12-01

This research investigated the causes of pedestrian accidents in Arizona to discover why Arizona's pedestrian accident rate if higher than the national average. All pedestrian accidents for 1981, 1982, and 1983 that were computerized in the state acc...

An observational study of road safety around selected primary schools in Ibadan municipality, Oyo State, Southwestern Nigeria.

PubMed

Sangowawa, Adesola O; Adebiyi, Akindele O; Faseru, Babalola; Popoola, Olusola J

2012-01-01

Child pedestrians have been identified as vulnerable road users. Although walking as a means of transport has health and other benefits, it exposes children to the risk of road traffic injuries. This study was conducted to assess the availability of road safety features around government-owned primary schools in Ibadan municipality. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 46 of the 74 schools in the study area. Some (11) of the selected schools were sited within the same premises and shared a common entrance; thus a total of 35 school premises were eventually observed. Trained research assistants observed the school environment around the selected schools for road safety features such as location of schools, presence of "school", "child crossing" and "speed limit" road signs, and presence of traffic calming devices (road bumps or zebra crossing). Five (14%) of the schools were located on major roads and eight (23%) had road signs indicating that a school was nearby. Seven (20%) had road bumps close to the school, 15 (43%) had a warden who assisted children to cross, and none had a zebra crossing. Five (14%) schools had pedestrian sidewalks. The study revealed that the environment around a number of the observed schools in the municipality compromised the pupils' road safety. The local government, school authorities, parents, and road safety professionals need to institute definite measures to enhance the road safety environment around schools in the municipality.

Crash avoidance needs and countermeasure profiles for safety applications based on light-vehicle-to-pedestrian communications

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-08-01

This research supports establishing an updated understanding of the pedestrian crash problem and defining a way to connect the crash problem with vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communication crash avoidance technology. It describes 5 priority pre-crash ...

Environmental characteristics associated with pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions in Denver, Colorado.

PubMed

Sebert Kuhlmann, Anne K; Brett, John; Thomas, Deborah; Sain, Stephan R

2009-09-01

We examined patterns of pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions and associated environmental characteristics in Denver, Colorado. We integrated publicly available data on motor vehicle collisions, liquor licenses, land use, and sociodemographic characteristics to analyze spatial patterns and other characteristics of collisions involving pedestrians. We developed both linear and spatially weighted regression models of these collisions. Spatial analysis revealed global clustering of pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions with concentrations in downtown, in a contiguous neighborhood, and along major arterial streets. Walking to work, population density, and liquor license outlet density all contributed significantly to both linear and spatial models of collisions involving pedestrians and were each significantly associated with these collisions. These models, constructed with data from Denver, identified conditions that likely contribute to patterns of pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions. Should these models be verified elsewhere, they will have implications for future research directions, public policy to enhance pedestrian safety, and public health programs aimed at decreasing unintentional injury from pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions and promoting walking as a routine physical activity.

Simulated interactions of pedestrian crossings and motorized vehicles in residential areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yan; Peng, Zhongyi; Chen, Qun

2018-01-01

To evaluate whether motorized vehicles can travel through a residential area, this paper develops a cellular automata (CA) model to simulate the interactions between pedestrian crossings and motorized vehicles in a residential area. In this paper, pedestrians determine their crossing speed according to their judgments of the position and velocity of the upcoming vehicles. The pedestrians may walk slowly or quickly or even run, and the pedestrian crossing time influences the vehicle movement. In addition, the proposed model considers the safety margin time needed for pedestrians to cross, and pedestrian-vehicle conflict is considered using the vehicle collision avoidance rule. Through simulations of interactions of pedestrian crossings with motorized vehicles' movement on a typical road in a residential area, the average wait time for pedestrians to cross and the average vehicle velocity under different pedestrian crossing volumes, different vehicle flows and different maximum vehicle velocities are obtained. To avoid an excessive waiting time for pedestrians to cross, the vehicle flow should be less than 180 veh/h, which allows an average of less than 10 s of waiting time; if the vehicle flow rate is less than 36 veh/h, then the waiting time is approximately 1 s. Field observations are conducted to validate the simulation results.

Personal factors influencing the visual reaction time of pedestrians to detect turn indicators in the presence of Daytime Running Lamps.

PubMed

Peña-García, Antonio; de Oña, Rocío; García, Pedro Antonio; de Oña, Juan

2016-12-01

Daytime running lamps (DRL) on vehicles have proven to be an effective measure to prevent accidents during the daytime, particularly when pedestrians and cyclists are involved. However, there are negative interactions of DRL with other functions in automotive lighting, such as delays in pedestrians' visual reaction time (VRT) when turn indicators are activated in the presence of DRL. These negative interactions need to be reduced. This work analyses the influence of variables inherent to pedestrians, such as height, gender and visual defects, on the VRT using a classification and regression tree as an exploratory analysis and a generalized linear model to validate the results. Some pedestrian characteristics, such as gender, alone or combined with the DRL colour, and visual defects, were found to have a statistically significant influence on VRT and, hence, on traffic safety. These results and conclusions concerning the interaction between pedestrians and vehicles are presented and discussed. Practitioner Summary: Visual interactions of vehicle daytime running lamps (DRL) with other functions in automotive lighting, such as turn indicators, have an important impact on a vehicle's conspicuity for pedestrians. Depending on several factors inherent to pedestrians, the visual reaction time (VRT) can be remarkably delayed, which has implications in traffic safety.

The roles of gender, age and cognitive development in children's pedestrian route selection.

PubMed

Barton, B K; Ulrich, T; Lyday, B

2012-03-01

Thousands of American children under the age of 10 years are injured annually as pedestrians. Despite the scope of this public health problem, knowledge about behavioural control and developmental factors involved in the aetiology of child pedestrian safety is limited. The present study examined the roles of gender, age and two aspects of cognitive development (visual search and efficiency of processing) in children's safe pedestrian route selection. Measures of cognitive functioning (visual search and efficiency) and selections of risky pedestrian routes were collected from 65 children aged 5-9 years. Boys, younger children and those with less developed cognitive functioning selected riskier pedestrian routes. Cognitive functioning also subsumed age as a predictor of risky route selections. Our findings suggest developmental differences, specifically less developed cognitive functioning, play important roles in children's pedestrian decision making. Directions for future examination are discussed. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Perception and Practice of Road Safety among Medical Students, Mansoura, Egypt.

PubMed

Helal, Randah; El-Khawaga, Ghada; El-Gilany, Abdel-Hady

2018-01-01

To assess the knowledge and attitude of medical students towards road safety and to determine their driving behavior and its relation to different related factors. This cross-sectional study involved 480 medical students at Mansoura University, Egypt. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect student personal data, knowledge about road safety, attitude towards road safety, and driving practices. More than 40% of students experienced an injury in the previous year, mainly as a pedestrian (56%), and 15.2% practiced driving, although only 9.6% had a driving licence. Most of the students had correct road safety knowledge except for awareness that the safe time to read maps is when your vehicle is parked (44%), one should drive in the left lane (29.6%), and one should overtake from the right-hand lane only (25.8%). The majority of the students reported that road traffic injuries can be prevented (89.2%). The mean score of the driving practices of the students ranged from 0.66±1.04 to 2.44±6.28 and rural residents showed significantly higher score regarding errors and lapses. Good road safety knowledge and a favorable, low risk attitude, did not translate into improved road traffic behavior and this highlights the importance of stricter implementation of the existing rules and including road safety in medical education programs.

Can new passenger cars reduce pedestrian lower extremity injury? A review of geometrical changes of front-end design before and after regulatory efforts.

PubMed

Nie, Bingbing; Zhou, Qing

2016-10-02

Pedestrian lower extremity represents the most frequently injured body region in car-to-pedestrian accidents. The European Directive concerning pedestrian safety was established in 2003 for evaluating pedestrian protection performance of car models. However, design changes have not been quantified since then. The goal of this study was to investigate front-end profiles of representative passenger car models and the potential influence on pedestrian lower extremity injury risk. The front-end styling of sedans and sport utility vehicles (SUV) released from 2008 to 2011 was characterized by the geometrical parameters related to pedestrian safety and compared to representative car models before 2003. The influence of geometrical design change on the resultant risk of injury to pedestrian lower extremity-that is, knee ligament rupture and long bone fracture-was estimated by a previously developed assessment tool assuming identical structural stiffness. Based on response surface generated from simulation results of a human body model (HBM), the tool provided kinematic and kinetic responses of pedestrian lower extremity resulted from a given car's front-end design. Newer passenger cars exhibited a "flatter" front-end design. The median value of the sedan models provided 87.5 mm less bottom depth, and the SUV models exhibited 94.7 mm less bottom depth. In the lateral impact configuration similar to that in the regulatory test methods, these geometrical changes tend to reduce the injury risk of human knee ligament rupture by 36.6 and 39.6% based on computational approximation. The geometrical changes did not significantly influence the long bone fracture risk. The present study reviewed the geometrical changes in car front-ends along with regulatory concerns regarding pedestrian safety. A preliminary quantitative benefit of the lower extremity injury reduction was estimated based on these geometrical features. Further investigation is recommended on the structural changes

Injury prevention counselling to improve safety practices by parents in Mexico.

PubMed Central

Mock, Charles; Arreola-Risa, Carlos; Trevino-Perez, Rodolfo; Almazan-Saavedra, Victoria; Zozaya-Paz, Jaime E.; Gonzalez-Solis, Reynaldo; Simpson, Kate; Rodriguez-Romo, Laura; Hernandez-Torre, Martin H.

2003-01-01

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness of educational counselling programmes aimed at increasing parents' practice of childhood safety in Monterrey, Mexico, and to provide information aimed at helping to improve the effectiveness of future efforts in this field. METHODS: Three different counselling programmes were designed to meet the needs of the upper, middle and lower socioeconomic strata. Evaluation involved the use of baseline questionnaires on parents' existing safety-related practices for intervention and control groups and the administration of corresponding questionnaires after the programmes had been carried out. FINDINGS: Data were obtained on 1124 children before counselling took place and on 625 after it had been given. Overall safety scores (% safe responses) increased from 54% and 65% for the lower and upper socioeconomic strata, respectively, before counselling to 62% and 73% after counselling (P <0.001 for all groups). Improvements occurred both for activities that required caution and for activities that required the use of safety-related devices (e.g. helmets, car seats). However, scores for the use of such devices remained suboptimal even after counselling and there were wide discrepancies between the socioeconomic strata. The post-counselling scores for the use of safety-related devices were 55%, 38% and 19% for the upper, middle and lower socioeconomic strata, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Brief educational interventions targeting parents' practice of childhood safety improved safe behaviours. Increased attention should be given to specific safety-related devices and to the safety of pedestrians. Educational efforts should be combined with other strategies for injury prevention, such as the use of legislation and the improvement of environmental conditions. PMID:14576891

Psychological distance of pedestrian at the bus terminal area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Firdaus Mohamad Ali, Mohd; Salleh Abustan, Muhamad; Hidayah Abu Talib, Siti; Abustan, Ismail; Rahman, Noorhazlinda Abd; Gotoh, Hitoshi

2018-03-01

Walking is a part of transportation modes that is effective for pedestrian in either short or long trips. All people are classified as pedestrian because people do walk every day and the higher number of people walking will lead to crowd conditions and that is the reason of the importance to study about the behaviour of pedestrian specifically the psychological distance in both indoor and outdoor. Nowadays, the number of studies of crowd dynamics among pedestrian have increased due to the concern about the safety issues primarily related to the emergency cases such as fire, earthquake, festival and etc. An observation of pedestrian was conducted at one of the main bus terminals in Kuala Lumpur with the main objective to obtain pedestrian psychological distance and it took place for 45 minutes by using a camcorder that was set up by using a tripod on the upper floor from the area of observation at the main lobby and the trapped area was approximately 100 m2. The analysis was focused on obtaining the gap between pedestrian based on two different categories, which are; (a) Pedestrian with relationship, and (b) Pedestrian without relationship. In total, 1,766 data were obtained during the analysis in which 561 data were obtained for `Pedestrian with relationship' and 1,205 data were obtained for "Pedestrian without relationship". Based on the obtained results, "Pedestrian without relationship" had shown a slightly higher average value of psychological distance between them compare to "Pedestrian with relationship" with the results of 1.6360m and 1.5909m respectively. In gender case, "Pedestrian without relationship" had higher mean of psychological distance in all three categories as well. Therefore, it can be concluded that pedestrian without relationship tend to have longer distance when walking in crowds.

National survey of bicyclist and pedestrian attitudes and behavior. Volume 1, Summary report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-08-01

This report presents findings from the National Survey of Bicyclist and Pedestrian Attitudes and Behavior, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportations National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Bureau of Transpo...

National survey of bicyclist and pedestrian attitudes and behavior. Volume 3, Methods report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-08-01

This report presents findings from the National Survey of Bicyclist and Pedestrian Attitudes and Behavior, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportations National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Bureau of Transpo...

National survey of bicyclist and pedestrian attitudes and behavior. Volume 2, Findings report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-08-01

This report presents findings from the National Survey of Bicyclist and Pedestrian Attitudes and Behavior, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportations National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Bureau of Transpo...

Increasing of visibility on the pedestrian crossing by the additional lighting systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baleja, Richard; Bos, Petr; Novak, Tomas; Sokansky, Karel; Hanusek, Tomas

2017-09-01

Pedestrian crossings are critical places for road accidents between pedestrians and motor vehicles. For this reason, it is very important to increase attention when the pedestrian crossings are designed and it is necessary to take into account all factors that may contribute to higher safety. Additional lighting systems for pedestrian crossings are one of them and the lighting systems must fulfil the requirements for higher visibility from the point of view of car drivers from both directions. This paper describes the criteria for the suitable additional lighting system on pedestrian crossings. Generally, it means vertical illuminance on the pedestrian crossing from the driver’s view, horizontal illuminance on the crossing and horizontal illuminance both in front of and behind the crossing placed on the road and their acceptable ratios. The article also describes the choice of the colours of the light (correlated colour temperature) and its influence on visibility. As a part of the article, there are case designs of additional lighting systems for pedestrian crossings and measurements from realized additional lighting systems by luxmeters and luminance cameras and their evaluation.

Design of an Active Bumper with a Series Elastic Actuator for Pedestrian Protection of Small Unmanned Vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terumasa, Narukawa; Tomoki, Tsuge; Hiroshi, Yamamoto; Takahiro, Suzuki

2016-09-01

When autonomous unmanned vehicles are operated on sidewalks, the vehicles must have high safety standards such as avoiding injury when they come in contact with pedestrians. In this study, we established a design for preventing serious injury when such collisions occur. We designed an active bumper with a series elastic actuator, with the goal of avoiding serious injury to a pedestrian in a collision with a small unmanned vehicle. The series elastic actuator comprised an elastic element in series with a table driven by a ball screw and servo motor. The active bumper was used to control the contact force between a vehicle and a pedestrian. The optimal force for minimizing the deflection of the object of the collision was derived, and the actuator controlled to apply this optimal force. Numerical simulations showed that the active bumper was successful in improving the collision safety of small unmanned vehicles.

Pedestrian/bicyclist warning devices and signs at CTA rail-highway grade crossings.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-12-14

The focus of this research was on individuals who utilize legally authorized CTA highway-rail crossings with pedestrian access. While trespassing is a major public safety issue, it is not the focus of this research. : An extensive review of the liter...

Risky behaviors associated with pediatric pedestrians and bicyclists struck by motor vehicles.

PubMed

Glass, Nina E; Frangos, Spiros G; Simon, Ronald J; Bholat, Omar S; Todd, S Rob; Wilson, Chad; Jacko, Sally; Slaughter, Dekeya; Foltin, George; Levine, Deborah A

2014-06-01

Road safety constitutes a crisis with important health and economic impacts. In 2010, 11,000 pedestrians and 3500 bicyclists were injured by motor vehicles in New York City (NYC). Motor vehicle injuries represent the second leading cause of injury-related deaths in NYC children aged 5 to 14 years. To better target injury prevention strategies, we evaluated demographics, behaviors, environmental factors, injuries, and outcomes of pediatric pedestrians and bicyclists struck by motor vehicles in NYC. Pediatric data were extracted from a prospectively collected database of pedestrians and bicyclists struck by motor vehicles and treated at a level I regional trauma center between December 2008 and June 2011. Patients, guardians, and first responders were interviewed and medical records were reviewed. Institutional review board approval was granted and verbal consent was obtained. Of the 1457 patients, 168 (12%) were younger than 18 years. Compared with injured adults, children were more likely to be in male sex (69% vs 53%), to have minor injuries (83% vs 73% for injury severity scores of <9), and to be discharged without admission (69% vs 67%). Midblock crossings were more common in children pedestrians than in adults (37% vs 19%), often despite supervision (48%). Electronic device use among teenagers aged 13 to 17 years was nearly 3 times that of adults (28% vs 11%). Risky behaviors are common among pediatric pedestrians and bicyclists injured by motor vehicles. Road safety education and prevention strategies must stress compliance with traffic laws, readdress the importance of supervision, and reinforce avoidance of common distractors including electronic devices.

Effects of mobile phone distraction on pedestrians' crossing behavior and visual attention allocation at a signalized intersection: An outdoor experimental study.

PubMed

Jiang, Kang; Ling, Feiyang; Feng, Zhongxiang; Ma, Changxi; Kumfer, Wesley; Shao, Chen; Wang, Kun

2018-06-01

With the rapid growth in mobile phone use worldwide, traffic safety experts have begun to consider the impact of mobile phone distractions on pedestrian crossing safety. This study sought to investigate how mobile phone distractions (music distraction, phone conversation distraction and text distraction) affect the behavior of pedestrians while they are crossing the street. An outdoor-environment experiment was conducted among 28 college student pedestrians. Two HD videos and an eye tracker were employed to record and analyze crossing behavior and visual attention allocation. The results of the research showed that the three mobile phone distractions cause different levels of impairment to pedestrians' crossing performance, with the greatest effect from text distraction, followed by phone conversation distraction and music distraction. Pedestrians distracted by music initiate crossing later, have increased pupil diameter, and reduce their scanning frequency, fixation points and fixation times toward traffic signal area priorities. In addition to the above effects, pedestrians distracted by phone conversation cross the street more slowly, direct fewer fixation points to the right traffic area, and spend less fixation time and lower average fixation duration on the left traffic area. Moreover, pedestrians distracted by texting look left and right less often and switch, distribute and maintain less visual attention on the traffic environment. These findings may inform researchers, policy makers, and pedestrians. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automatic Pedestrian Crossing Detection and Impairment Analysis Based on Mobile Mapping System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, X.; Zhang, Y.; Li, Q.

2017-09-01

Pedestrian crossing, as an important part of transportation infrastructures, serves to secure pedestrians' lives and possessions and keep traffic flow in order. As a prominent feature in the street scene, detection of pedestrian crossing contributes to 3D road marking reconstruction and diminishing the adverse impact of outliers in 3D street scene reconstruction. Since pedestrian crossing is subject to wearing and tearing from heavy traffic flow, it is of great imperative to monitor its status quo. On this account, an approach of automatic pedestrian crossing detection using images from vehicle-based Mobile Mapping System is put forward and its defilement and impairment are analyzed in this paper. Firstly, pedestrian crossing classifier is trained with low recall rate. Then initial detections are refined by utilizing projection filtering, contour information analysis, and monocular vision. Finally, a pedestrian crossing detection and analysis system with high recall rate, precision and robustness will be achieved. This system works for pedestrian crossing detection under different situations and light conditions. It can recognize defiled and impaired crossings automatically in the meanwhile, which facilitates monitoring and maintenance of traffic facilities, so as to reduce potential traffic safety problems and secure lives and property.

76 FR 11418 - Rear Visibility; Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard, Rearview Mirrors; Federal Motor Vehicle...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-02

... mirrors to improve the ability of a driver of a vehicle to detect pedestrians in the area immediately..., NHTSA proposed to specify an area immediately behind each vehicle that the driver must be able to see... agency's Federal motor vehicle safety standard on rearview mirrors to improve the ability of a driver to...

Pedestrian Crossings - USMES Teacher Resource Book. Fifth Edition. Trial Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keskulla, Jean

This Unified Sciences and Mathematics for Elementary Schools (USMES) unit challenges students to improve the safety and convenience of a pedestrian crossing near a school. The challenge is general enough to apply to many problem-solving situations in mathematics, science, social science, and language arts at any elementary school level (grades…

Assessment of sidewalk/bicycle-lane gaps with safety and developing statewide pedestrian [summary].

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2016-04-01

Interest in multimodal transportation and walkable/bikeable communities has led to : construction of more sidewalks and bicycle paths. However, in many places, sidewalks or : bicycle paths are not continuous, leaving gaps that force pedestrians and b...

System safety education focused on flight safety

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holt, E.

1971-01-01

The measures necessary for achieving higher levels of system safety are analyzed with an eye toward maintaining the combat capability of the Air Force. Several education courses were provided for personnel involved in safety management. Data include: (1) Flight Safety Officer Course, (2) Advanced Safety Program Management, (3) Fundamentals of System Safety, and (4) Quantitative Methods of Safety Analysis.

Labor unions and safety climate: perceived union safety values and retail employee safety outcomes.

PubMed

Sinclair, Robert R; Martin, James E; Sears, Lindsay E

2010-09-01

Although trade unions have long been recognized as a critical advocate for employee safety and health, safety climate research has not paid much attention to the role unions play in workplace safety. We proposed a multiple constituency model of workplace safety which focused on three central safety stakeholders: top management, ones' immediate supervisor, and the labor union. Safety climate research focuses on management and supervisors as key stakeholders, but has not considered whether employee perceptions about the priority their union places on safety contributes contribute to safety outcomes. We addressed this gap in the literature by investigating unionized retail employee (N=535) perceptions about the extent to which their top management, immediate supervisors, and union valued safety. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that perceived union safety values could be distinguished from measures of safety training, workplace hazards, top management safety values, and supervisor values. Structural equation analyses indicated that union safety values influenced safety outcomes through its association with higher safety motivation, showing a similar effect as that of supervisor safety values. These findings highlight the need for further attention to union-focused measures related to workplace safety as well as further study of retail employees in general. We discuss the practical implications of our findings and identify several directions for future safety research. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Injury tolerance of tibia for the car-pedestrian impact.

PubMed

Mo, Fuhao; Arnoux, Pierre Jean; Jure, Jean Jaques; Masson, Catherine

2012-05-01

Lower limbs are normally the first contacted body region during car-pedestrian accidents, and easily suffer serious injuries. The previous tibia bending tolerances for pedestrian safety were mainly developed from three-point bending tests on tibia mid-shaft. The tibia tolerances of other locations are still not investigated enough. In addition, tibia loading condition under the car-pedestrian impact should be explored to compare with the three-point bending. This work aims to investigate the injury tolerance of tibia fracture with combined experimental data and numerical simulation. Eleven new reported quasi-static bending tests of tibia mid-shaft, and additional eleven dynamic mid-shaft bending test results in the previous literature were used to define injury risk functions. Furthermore, to investigate the influence of tibia locations on bending tolerance, finite element simulations with lower limb model were implemented according to three-point bending and pedestrian impact conditions. The regressive curve of tibia bending tolerance was obtained from the simulations on the different impact locations, and indicated that tibia fracture tolerance could vary largely due to the impact locations for the car-pedestrian crash. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Urban planning and traffic safety at night

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ispas, N.; Trusca, D.

2016-08-01

Urban planning including traffic signs serve vital functions, providing road users with regulatory, warning and guidance information about the roadway and surrounding environment. There are a large number of signs and even more guidelines on how these signs should be designed, installed, and maintained in concordance with on road surface traffic signs. More requirements for signs are made for night urban traffic, including appearance (size, shape, colour), placement (height, lateral, and longitudinal), maintenance (visibility, position, damage) and signs light and retroreflective. In the night, traffic signs visibility can interact by on pedestrian visibility and diminish urban traffic safety. The main aim of this paper are the scientific determination of an urban specific zone visibility for evaluate at night real conditions in case of a traffic accident in the Braşov city area. The night visibility study was made using PC-Rect version 4.2. Other goal of the paper was to modify some urban planning solution in order to increase the urban safety in Brașov.

Body mass index, safety hazards, and neighborhood attractiveness.

PubMed

Lovasi, Gina S; Bader, Michael D M; Quinn, James; Neckerman, Kathryn; Weiss, Christopher; Rundle, Andrew

2012-10-01

Neighborhood attractiveness and safety may encourage physical activity and help individuals maintain a healthy weight. However, these neighborhood characteristics may not be equally relevant to health across all settings and population subgroups. To evaluate whether potentially attractive neighborhood features are associated with lower BMI, whether safety hazards are associated with higher BMI, and whether environment-environment interactions are present such that associations for a particular characteristic are stronger in an otherwise supportive environment. Survey data and measured height and weight were collected from a convenience sample of 13,102 adult New York City (NYC) residents in 2000-2002; data analyses were completed 2008-2012. Built-environment measures based on municipal GIS data sources were constructed within 1-km network buffers to assess walkable urban form (density, land-use mix, transit access); attractiveness (sidewalk cafés, landmark buildings, street trees, street cleanliness); and safety (homicide rate, pedestrian-auto collision and fatality rate). Generalized linear models with cluster-robust SEs controlled for individual and area-based sociodemographic characteristics. The presence of sidewalk cafés, density of landmark buildings, and density of street trees were associated with lower BMI, whereas the proportion of streets rated as clean was associated with higher BMI. Interactions were observed for sidewalk cafés with neighborhood poverty, for street-tree density with walkability, and for street cleanliness with safety. Safety hazard indicators were not independently associated with BMI. Potentially attractive community and natural features were associated with lower BMI among adults in NYC, and there was some evidence of effect modification. Copyright © 2012 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Subsurface safety valves: safety asset or safety liability

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Busch, J.M.; Llewelyn, D.C.G.; Policky, B.J.

1983-10-01

This paper summarizes the methods used to compare the risk of a blowout for a well completed with a subsurface safety valve (SSSV) vs. a completion without an SSSV. These methods, which could be applied to any field, include a combination of SSSV reliability and conventional risk analyses. The Kuparuk River Unit Working Interest Owners recently formed a group to examine the risks associated with installing and maintaining SSSV's in the Kuparuk field. The group was charged with answering the question: ''Assuming Kuparuk field operating conditions, are SSSV's a safety asset, or do numerous operating and maintenance procedures make themmore » a safety liability.'' The results indicate that for the Kuparuk River Unit, an SSSV becomes a safety liability when the mean time between SSSV failures is less than one year. Since current SSSV mean time to failure (MTTF) at Kuparuk is approximately 1000 days, they are considered a safety asset.« less

Outdoor pedestrian fall-related injuries among Swedish senior citizens--injuries and preventive strategies.

PubMed

Gyllencreutz, Lina; Björnstig, Johanna; Rolfsman, Ewa; Saveman, Britt-Inger

2015-06-01

Senior citizens get around, to a large extent, as pedestrians, and safe walking is desirable for senior citizens allowing them to stay mobile, independent and healthy in old age. Senior citizens are over-represented in injury statistics, and fall-related injuries are common. The aim of this study was to investigate fall-related injuries including healthcare costs among senior citizen pedestrians injured when walking in public outdoor environments and to describe their self-reported causes and suggested preventive strategies. The data were based on a combination of information from injury data and a questionnaire. Three hundred senior citizens attended one emergency department after sustaining injuries from pedestrian falls; 60% suffered nonminor injuries, mostly fractures. One-fifth of the pedestrians were hospitalised for an average of 8 days with an indirect hospital cost of 6.2 million EUR (55 million SEK). Environmental factors such as ice were the most commonly described cause of the injury incident. Forty per cent of the respondents indicated that the municipality was responsible for the cause of the injury incident. Fewer respondents mentioned their own responsibility as a preventive strategy. Thirty per cent described a combination of improvements such as better road maintenance, changes in human behaviour and use of safety products as preventive strategies. It is of great importance to highlight general safety, products and preventive strategies to minimise injury risks, so that pedestrians can safely realise the known health benefits of walking and thereby limit healthcare costs. © 2014 Nordic College of Caring Science.

Advanced emergency braking controller design for pedestrian protection oriented automotive collision avoidance system.

PubMed

Lie, Guo; Zejian, Ren; Pingshu, Ge; Jing, Chang

2014-01-01

Automotive collision avoidance system, which aims to enhance the active safety of the vehicle, has become a hot research topic in recent years. However, most of the current systems ignore the active protection of pedestrian and other vulnerable groups in the transportation system. An advanced emergency braking control system is studied by taking into account the pedestrians and the vehicles. Three typical braking scenarios are defined and the safety situations are assessed by comparing the current distance between the host vehicle and the obstacle with the critical braking distance. To reflect the nonlinear time-varying characteristics and control effect of the longitudinal dynamics, the vehicle longitudinal dynamics model is established in CarSim. Then the braking controller with the structure of upper and lower layers is designed based on sliding mode control and the single neuron PID control when confronting deceleration or emergency braking conditions. Cosimulations utilizing CarSim and Simulink are finally carried out on a CarSim intelligent vehicle model to explore the effectiveness of the proposed controller. Results display that the designed controller has a good response in preventing colliding with the front vehicle or pedestrian.

Advanced Emergency Braking Controller Design for Pedestrian Protection Oriented Automotive Collision Avoidance System

PubMed Central

Lie, Guo; Zejian, Ren; Pingshu, Ge; Jing, Chang

2014-01-01

Automotive collision avoidance system, which aims to enhance the active safety of the vehicle, has become a hot research topic in recent years. However, most of the current systems ignore the active protection of pedestrian and other vulnerable groups in the transportation system. An advanced emergency braking control system is studied by taking into account the pedestrians and the vehicles. Three typical braking scenarios are defined and the safety situations are assessed by comparing the current distance between the host vehicle and the obstacle with the critical braking distance. To reflect the nonlinear time-varying characteristics and control effect of the longitudinal dynamics, the vehicle longitudinal dynamics model is established in CarSim. Then the braking controller with the structure of upper and lower layers is designed based on sliding mode control and the single neuron PID control when confronting deceleration or emergency braking conditions. Cosimulations utilizing CarSim and Simulink are finally carried out on a CarSim intelligent vehicle model to explore the effectiveness of the proposed controller. Results display that the designed controller has a good response in preventing colliding with the front vehicle or pedestrian. PMID:25097870

Illegal road crossing behavior of pedestrians at overpass locations: Factors affecting gap acceptance, crossing times and overpass use.

PubMed

Demiroz, Y I; Onelcin, P; Alver, Y

2015-07-01

The aim of designing overpasses is to provide safe road crossings for pedestrians by helping them to avoid conflicts with motor vehicles. However, the number of pedestrians who do not use overpasses to cross the road is very high. An observational survey of illegal road crossings was conducted at four overpass locations in Izmir, Turkey to determine the crossing time, crossing speed of the pedestrians and their distance and time gap perception for safe road-crossing within 25 m of the overpasses in both directions. Crossing time is the time needed for a pedestrian to cross a particular road. Time gap is strongly related with safety margin. If a pedestrian chooses a larger time gap, then the arrival time of the oncoming vehicle to the crossing point of the pedestrian increases thus, the possibility of a collision decreases. Each overpass was observed on weekdays during peak afternoon (12.30-13.30) and evening hours (17.00-18.00). At all overpass locations 454 illegal crossings were observed. ANOVA results revealed that age had a significant effect both on safety margin and crossing time. During the observations a survey was conducted among pedestrians who completed their crossings either using the overpass or at street level within 25 m of the overpass (n=231). Factors affecting the crossing choice of pedestrians were specified in the surveys. The major part of the respondents (71.7%) indicated that time saving was the main reason for crossing at street level. Pedestrians' crossing speeds were extracted from the video recordings to observe the effect of speed limit on pedestrian behavior. As a result, at locations where the speed limit was 70 km/h, pedestrians' average crossing speed was found to be 1.60 m/s and 1.73 m/s while at locations where the speed limit was 50 km/h, pedestrians' average crossing speed was found to be 1.04 m/s and 0.97 m/s. This shows that pedestrians feel safer while crossing when the vehicle speed is low. Copyright © 2015. Published by

Hand Safety

MedlinePlus

... Lawnmower Safety Snowblower safety Pumpkin Carving Gardening Safety Turkey Carving Removing a Ring Fireworks Safety Español Artritis ... Lawnmower Safety Snowblower safety Pumpkin Carving Gardening Safety Turkey Carving Removing a Ring Fireworks Safety Español Artritis ...

Potential of pedestrian protection systems--a parameter study using finite element models of pedestrian dummy and generic passenger vehicles.

PubMed

Fredriksson, Rikard; Shin, Jaeho; Untaroiu, Costin D

2011-08-01

To study the potential of active, passive, and integrated (combined active and passive) safety systems in reducing pedestrian upper body loading in typical impact configurations. Finite element simulations using models of generic sedan car fronts and the Polar II pedestrian dummy were performed for 3 impact configurations at 2 impact speeds. Chest contact force, head injury criterion (HIC(15)), head angular acceleration, and the cumulative strain damage measure (CSDM(0.25)) were employed as injury parameters. Further, 3 countermeasures were modeled: an active autonomous braking system, a passive deployable countermeasure, and an integrated system combining the active and passive systems. The auto-brake system was modeled by reducing impact speed by 10 km/h (equivalent to ideal full braking over 0.3 s) and introducing a pitch of 1 degree and in-crash deceleration of 1 g. The deployable system consisted of a deployable hood, lifting 100 mm in the rear, and a lower windshield air bag. All 3 countermeasures showed benefit in a majority of impact configurations in terms of injury prevention. The auto-brake system reduced chest force in a majority of the configurations and decreased HIC(15), head angular acceleration, and CSDM in all configurations. Averaging all impact configurations, the auto-brake system showed reductions of injury predictors from 20 percent (chest force) to 82 percent (HIC). The passive deployable countermeasure reduced chest force and HIC(15) in a majority of configurations and head angular acceleration and CSDM in all configurations, although the CSDM decrease in 2 configurations was minimal. On average a reduction from 20 percent (CSDM) to 58 percent (HIC) was recorded in the passive deployable countermeasures. Finally, the integrated system evaluated in this study reduced all injury assessment parameters in all configurations compared to the reference situations. The average reductions achieved by the integrated system ranged from 56 percent

A Finite Element Model of a Midsize Male for Simulating Pedestrian Accidents.

PubMed

Untaroiu, Costin D; Pak, Wansoo; Meng, Yunzhu; Schap, Jeremy; Koya, Bharath; Gayzik, Scott

2018-01-01

Pedestrians represent one of the most vulnerable road users and comprise nearly 22% the road crash-related fatalities in the world. Therefore, protection of pedestrians in car-to-pedestrian collisions (CPC) has recently generated increased attention with regulations involving three subsystem tests. The development of a finite element (FE) pedestrian model could provide a complementary component that characterizes the whole-body response of vehicle-pedestrian interactions and assesses the pedestrian injuries. The main goal of this study was to develop and to validate a simplified full body FE model corresponding to a 50th male pedestrian in standing posture (M50-PS). The FE model mesh and defined material properties are based on a 50th percentile male occupant model. The lower limb-pelvis and lumbar spine regions of the human model were validated against the postmortem human surrogate (PMHS) test data recorded in four-point lateral knee bending tests, pelvic\\abdomen\\shoulder\\thoracic impact tests, and lumbar spine bending tests. Then, a pedestrian-to-vehicle impact simulation was performed using the whole pedestrian model, and the results were compared to corresponding PMHS tests. Overall, the simulation results showed that lower leg response is mostly within the boundaries of PMHS corridors. In addition, the model shows the capability to predict the most common lower extremity injuries observed in pedestrian accidents. Generally, the validated pedestrian model may be used by safety researchers in the design of front ends of new vehicles in order to increase pedestrian protection.

The Evaluation of the North Carolina K-9 Traffic Safety Curriculum: Methodology, Findings, and Recommendations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Padgett, Susan S.

The evaluation of the traffic safety curriculum as presented to K-9 students in North Carolina focused on three areas: (1) the extent to which students acquired the information included in the curriculum, (2) the extent to which students showed a change in their actual pedestrian and bicyclist behavior, and (3) the extent to which teachers made…

2012 national survey of bicyclist and pedestrian attitudes and behavior : volume 3 : methodology report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-10-01

The 2012 National Survey of Bicyclist and Pedestrian Attitudes and Behavior is the second survey on this topic conducted for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Data collection was conducted by Abt SRBI, Inc, a national resear...

2012 national survey of bicyclist and pedestrian attitudes and behavior : volume 2 : findings report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-10-01

The 2012 National Survey of Bicyclist and Pedestrian Attitudes and Behavior is the second survey on this topic conducted for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Data collection was conducted by Abt SRBI, Inc, a national resear...

2012 national survey of bicyclist and pedestrian attitudes and behavior : volume 1 : summary report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-10-01

The 2012 National Survey of Bicyclist and Pedestrian Attitudes and Behavior is the second survey on this topic conducted for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Data collection was conducted by Abt SRBI, Inc, a national resear...

Evaluation of geometrically personalized THUMS pedestrian model response against sedan-pedestrian PMHS impact test data.

PubMed

Chen, Huipeng; Poulard, David; Forman, Jason; Crandall, Jeff; Panzer, Matthew B

2018-07-04

Evaluating the biofidelity of pedestrian finite element models (PFEM) using postmortem human subjects (PMHS) is a challenge because differences in anthropometry between PMHS and PFEM could limit a model's capability to accurately capture cadaveric responses. Geometrical personalization via morphing can modify the PFEM geometry to match the specific PMHS anthropometry, which could alleviate this issue. In this study, the Total Human Model for Safety (THUMS) PFEM (Ver 4.01) was compared to the cadaveric response in vehicle-pedestrian impacts using geometrically personalized models. The AM50 THUMS PFEM was used as the baseline model, and 2 morphed PFEM were created to the anthropometric specifications of 2 obese PMHS used in a previous pedestrian impact study with a mid-size sedan. The same measurements as those obtained during the PMHS tests were calculated from the simulations (kinematics, accelerations, strains), and biofidelity metrics based on signals correlation (correlation and analysis, CORA) were established to compare the response of the models to the experiments. Injury outcomes were predicted deterministically (through strain-based threshold) and probabilistically (with injury risk functions) and compared with the injuries reported in the necropsy. The baseline model could not accurately capture all aspects of the PMHS kinematics, strain, and injury risks, whereas the morphed models reproduced biofidelic response in terms of trajectory (CORA score = 0.927 ± 0.092), velocities (0.975 ± 0.027), accelerations (0.862 ± 0.072), and strains (0.707 ± 0.143). The personalized THUMS models also generally predicted injuries consistent with those identified during posttest autopsy. The study highlights the need to control for pedestrian anthropometry when validating pedestrian human body models against PMHS data. The information provided in the current study could be useful for improving model biofidelity for vehicle-pedestrian impact scenarios.

Making In-Class Skills Training More Effective: The Scope for Interactive Videos to Complement the Delivery of Practical Pedestrian Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hammond, James; Cherrett, Tom; Waterson, Ben

2015-01-01

Skills and awareness of young pedestrians can be improved with on-street practical pedestrian training, often delivered in schools in the UK by local authorities with the intention of improving road safety. This training is often supplemented by in-class paper-based worksheet activities that are seen to be less effective than practical training in…

Nuclear safety

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Buden, D.

1991-01-01

Topics dealing with nuclear safety are addressed which include the following: general safety requirements; safety design requirements; terrestrial safety; SP-100 Flight System key safety requirements; potential mission accidents and hazards; key safety features; ground operations; launch operations; flight operations; disposal; safety concerns; licensing; the nuclear engine for rocket vehicle application (NERVA) design philosophy; the NERVA flight safety program; and the NERVA safety plan.

Young drivers' perception of adult and child pedestrians in potential street-crossing situations.

PubMed

Ābele, Līva; Haustein, Sonja; Møller, Mette

2018-04-03

Despite overall improvements in road traffic safety, pedestrian accidents continue to be a serious public health problem. Due to lack of experience, limited cognitive and motoric skills, and smaller size, children have a higher injury risk as pedestrians than adults. To what extent drivers adjust their driving behaviour to children's higher vulnerability is largely unknown. To determine whether young male drivers' behaviour and scanning pattern differs when approaching a child and an adult pedestrian in a potential street-crossing situation, sixty-five young (18-24) male drivers' speed, lateral position and eye movements were recorded in a driving simulator. Results showed that fewer drivers responded by slowing down and that drivers had a higher driving speed when approaching a child pedestrian, although the time of the first fixation on both types of pedestrians was the same. However, drivers drove farther away from a child than an adult pedestrian. Additionally, fewer drivers who did not slow down fixated on the speedometer while approaching the child pedestrian. The results show that young drivers behave differently when approaching a child and an adult pedestrian, though not in a way that appropriately accounts for the limitations of a child pedestrian. A better understanding of how drivers respond to different types of pedestrians and why could contribute to the development of pedestrian detection and emergency braking systems. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pedestrian worker fatalities in workplace locations, Australia, 2000-2010.

PubMed

Kitching, Fiona; Jones, Christopher B; Ibrahim, Joseph E; Ozanne-Smith, Joan

2014-01-01

Pedestrian deaths of workers in Australian workplaces (1 July 2000-31 December 2010) are described using coronial and safety authority fatality databases. One hundred and fifteen deaths were identified, with the majority male (93%) and aged over 50 years (59%). Four industries predominated (85% of deaths): Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (31%), Construction (29%), Transport, Postal and Warehousing (16%) and Manufacturing (10%). Similarly, three occupations dominated: Farmers (28%), Labourers (27%) and Machinery Operators and Drivers (25%). Common circumstantial factors (reversing machines or vehicles, driver also the pedestrian, driver's vision impeded and working accompanied) occurred in the Construction, Transport and Manufacturing industries, providing collaborative opportunities for prevention. Deaths occurring in the Agriculture industry showed different circumstantial factors, likely needing different solutions. While some effective countermeasures are known, workplace pedestrian fatalities continue to occur. Prevention strategies are needed to share known information across industries and to produce data enhancements and new knowledge.

Research safety vehicle program (Phase II) specification review. Volume II. Final technical report, Jul 1975--Nov 1976

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pugliese, S.M.

1977-02-01

In Phase I of the Research Safety Vehicle Program (RSV), preliminary design and performance specifications were developed for a mid-1980's vehicle that integrates crashworthiness and occupant safety features with material resource conservation, economy, and producibility. Phase II of the program focused on development of the total vehicle design via systems engineering and integration analyses. As part of this effort, it was necessary to continuously review the Phase I recommended performance specification in relation to ongoing design/test activities. This document contains the results of analyses of the Phase I specifications. The RSV is expected to satisfy all of the producibility andmore » safety related specifications, i.e., handling and stability systems, crashworthiness, occupant protection, pedestrian/cyclist protection, etc.« less

Effects of parallelogram-shaped pavement markings on vehicle speed and safety of pedestrian crosswalks on urban roads in China.

PubMed

Guo, Yanyong; Liu, Pan; Liang, Qiyu; Wang, Wei

2016-10-01

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of parallelogram-shaped pavement markings on vehicle speed and crashes in the vicinity of urban pedestrian crosswalks. The research team measured speed data at twelve sites, and crash data at eleven sites. Observational cross-sectional studies were conducted to identify if the effects of parallelogram-shaped pavement markings on vehicle speeds and speed violations were statistically significant. The results showed that parallelogram-shaped pavement markings significantly reduced vehicle speeds and speed violations in the vicinity of pedestrian crosswalks. More specifically, the speed reduction effects varied from 1.89km/h to 4.41km/h with an average of 3.79km/h. The reduction in the 85th percentile speed varied from 0.81km/h to 5.34km/h with an average of 4.19km/h. Odds ratios (OR) showed that the parallelogram-shaped pavement markings had effects of a 7.1% reduction in the mean speed and a 6.9% reduction in the 85th percentile speed at the pedestrian crosswalks. The reduction of proportion of drivers exceeding the speed limit varied from 8.64% to 14.15% with an average of 11.03%. The results of the crash data analysis suggested that the use of parallelogram-shaped pavement markings reduced both the frequency and severity of crashes at pedestrian crosswalks. The parallelogram-shaped pavement markings had a significant effect on reducing the vehicle-pedestrian crashes. Two crash prediction models were developed for vehicle-pedestrian crashes and rear-end crashes. According to the crash models, the presence of parallelogram-shaped pavement markings reduced vehicle-pedestrian crashes at pedestrian crosswalks by 24.87% with a 95% confidence interval of [10.06-30.78%]. However, the model results also showed that the presence of parallelogram-shaped pavement markings increased rear-end crashes at pedestrian crosswalks by 5.4% with a 95% confidence interval of [0-11.2%]. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All

Differences in geometry of pedestrian crashes in daylight and darkness.

PubMed

Sullivan, John M; Flannagan, Michael J

2011-02-01

Previous studies have shown that increased risk in darkness is particularly great for pedestrian crashes, suggesting that attempts to improve headlighting should focus on factors that likely influence those crashes. The current analysis was designed to provide information about how details of pedestrian crashes may differ between daylight and darkness. All pedestrian crashes that occurred in daylight or dark conditions in Michigan during 2004 were analyzed in terms of the variables included in the State of Michigan crash database. Additional analysis of the narratives and diagrams in police accident reports was performed for a subset of 400 of those crashes-200 sampled from daylight and 200 sampled from darkness. Several differences were found that appear to be related to the characteristic asymmetry of low-beam headlamps, which (in the United States) distributes more light on the passenger's side than the driver's side of the vehicle. These results provide preliminary quantification of the how the photometric differences between the right and left sides of typical headlamps may affect pedestrian crash risk. The results suggest that efforts to provide supplemental forward vehicle lighting in turns may have safety benefits for pedestrians. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Injury severity analysis in taxi-pedestrian crashes: An application of reconstructed crash data using a vehicle black box.

PubMed

Chung, Younshik

2018-02-01

In-vehicle recording devices have enabled recent changes in methodological paradigms for traffic safety research. Such devices include event data recorders (EDRs), vehicle black boxes (VBBs), and various sensors used in naturalistic driving studies (NDSs). These technologies may help improve the validity of models used to assess impacts on traffic safety. The objective of this study is to analyze the injury severity in taxi-pedestrian crashes using the accurate crash data from VBBs, such as the time-to-collision (TTC), speed, angle, and region of the crash. VBB data from a two-year period (2010-2011) were collected from taxis operating in Incheon, South Korea. An ordered probit model was then applied to analyze the injury severity in crashes. Five variables were found to have a greater effect on injury severity: crash speed, crashes in no-median sections, crashes where the secondary impact object of pedestrians was the crash vehicle, crashes where the third impact object of pedestrians was another moving vehicle, and crashes where the third impact region of pedestrians was their head. However, injuries were less severe in crashes where the first impact region on the pedestrian was their leg, crashes with the car moving in a straight line, and crashes involving junior high school students. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Priming patient safety: A middle-range theory of safety goal priming via safety culture communication.

PubMed

Groves, Patricia S; Bunch, Jacinda L

2018-05-18

The aim of this paper is discussion of a new middle-range theory of patient safety goal priming via safety culture communication. Bedside nurses are key to safe care, but there is little theory about how organizations can influence nursing behavior through safety culture to improve patient safety outcomes. We theorize patient safety goal priming via safety culture communication may support organizations in this endeavor. According to this theory, hospital safety culture communication activates a previously held patient safety goal and increases the perceived value of actions nurses can take to achieve that goal. Nurses subsequently prioritize and are motivated to perform tasks and risk assessment related to achieving patient safety. These efforts continue until nurses mitigate or ameliorate identified risks and hazards during the patient care encounter. Critically, this process requires nurses to have a previously held safety goal associated with a repertoire of appropriate actions. This theory suggests undergraduate educators should foster an outcomes focus emphasizing the connections between nursing interventions and safety outcomes, hospitals should strategically structure patient safety primes into communicative activities, and organizations should support professional development including new skills and the latest evidence supporting nursing practice for patient safety. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Highway Safety Program Manual: Volume 3: Motorcycle Safety.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (DOT), Washington, DC.

Volume 3 of the 19-volume Highway Safety Program Manual (which provides guidance to State and local governments on preferred highway safety practices) concentrates on aspects of motorcycle safety. The purpose and specific objectives of a State motorcycle safety program are outlined. Federal authority in the highway safety area and general policies…

New functional pavements for pedestrians and cyclists.

PubMed

Wallqvist, V; Kjell, G; Cupina, E; Kraft, L; Deck, C; Willinger, R

2017-08-01

When many fields of pedestrian and cyclist safety have been extensively studied, the surfacing has long been left unquestioned, despite being developed for another mode of transport and being one of the main causes for falls and fall injuries. In this project new surfacing materials for pedestrian and cyclist safety have been produced. Focusing on augmenting previously largely disregarded parameters as impact absorption, comfort and visibility at the same time as avoiding deteriorating of crucial parameters as friction and wear resistance. Rubber content, binder type, and pigment addition have been varied and evaluated. The results demonstrate that by increasing rubber content of the mixtures the head injury criterion (HIC) value and injury risk can be decreased while maintaining frictional properties according to existing criteria. Assembly of test-lanes demonstrate that some developed materials experience lower flow and component separation than standard materials due to rubber addition, calling for further optimisation of construction procedure linked to content development. Initial trials on the test-lanes indicate that a polyurethane (PU) based material has high cycling comfort, visibility and can be modified with phosphorescence properties. For standard asphalt, impact absorption might be inflicted by modification of bitumen alone but is mostly augmented by rubber addition. The results also indicate that rubber content can decrease ice formation on the materials. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Pedestrian Detection Method Using an Extension Background Subtraction about the Driving Safety Support Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muranaka, Noriaki; Date, Kei; Tokumaru, Masataka; Imanishi, Shigeru

In recent years, the traffic accident occurs frequently with explosion of traffic density. Therefore, we think that the safe and comfortable transportation system to defend the pedestrian who is the traffic weak is necessary. First, we detect and recognize the pedestrian (the crossing person) by the image processing. Next, we inform all the drivers of the right or left turn that the pedestrian exists by the sound and the image and so on. By prompting a driver to do safe driving in this way, the accident to the pedestrian can decrease. In this paper, we are using a background subtraction method for the movement detection of the movement object. In the background subtraction method, the update method in the background was important, and as for the conventional way, the threshold values of the subtraction processing and background update were identical. That is, the mixing rate of the input image and the background image of the background update was a fixation value, and the fine tuning which corresponded to the environment change of the weather was difficult. Therefore, we propose the update method of the background image that the estimated mistake is difficult to be amplified. We experiment and examines in the comparison about five cases of sunshine, cloudy, evening, rain, sunlight change, except night. This technique can set separately the threshold values of the subtraction processing and background update processing which suited the environmental condition of the weather and so on. Therefore, the fine tuning becomes possible freely in the mixing rate of the input image and the background image of the background update. Because the setting of the parameter which suited an environmental condition becomes important to minimize mistaking percentage, we examine about the setting of a parameter.

Does Employee Safety Matter for Patients Too? Employee Safety Climate and Patient Safety Culture in Health Care.

PubMed

Mohr, David C; Eaton, Jennifer Lipkowitz; McPhaul, Kathleen M; Hodgson, Michael J

2015-04-22

We examined relationships between employee safety climate and patient safety culture. Because employee safety may be a precondition for the development of patient safety, we hypothesized that employee safety culture would be strongly and positively related to patient safety culture. An employee safety climate survey was administered in 2010 and assessed employees' views and experiences of safety for employees. The patient safety survey administered in 2011 assessed the safety culture for patients. We performed Pearson correlations and multiple regression analysis to examine the relationships between a composite measure of employee safety with subdimensions of patient safety culture. The regression models controlled for size, geographic characteristics, and teaching affiliation. Analyses were conducted at the group level using data from 132 medical centers. Higher employee safety climate composite scores were positively associated with all 9 patient safety culture measures examined. Standardized multivariate regression coefficients ranged from 0.44 to 0.64. Medical facilities where staff have more positive perceptions of health care workplace safety climate tended to have more positive assessments of patient safety culture. This suggests that patient safety culture and employee safety climate could be mutually reinforcing, such that investments and improvements in one domain positively impacts the other. Further research is needed to better understand the nexus between health care employee and patient safety to generalize and act upon findings.

Software Safety Risk in Legacy Safety-Critical Computer Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hill, Janice L.; Baggs, Rhoda

2007-01-01

Safety Standards contain technical and process-oriented safety requirements. Technical requirements are those such as "must work" and "must not work" functions in the system. Process-Oriented requirements are software engineering and safety management process requirements. Address the system perspective and some cover just software in the system > NASA-STD-8719.13B Software Safety Standard is the current standard of interest. NASA programs/projects will have their own set of safety requirements derived from the standard. Safety Cases: a) Documented demonstration that a system complies with the specified safety requirements. b) Evidence is gathered on the integrity of the system and put forward as an argued case. [Gardener (ed.)] c) Problems occur when trying to meet safety standards, and thus make retrospective safety cases, in legacy safety-critical computer systems.

Rapid detection and identification of pedestrian impacts using a distributed sensor network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Andrew C.; Chang, Fu-Kuo

2005-05-01

Pedestrian fatalities from automobile accidents often occur as a result of head injuries suffered from impacts with an automobile front end. Active pedestrian protection systems with proper pedestrian recognition algorithms can protect pedestrians from such head trauma. An investigation was conducted to assess the feasibility of using a network of piezoelectric sensors mounted on the front bumper beam of an automobile to discriminate between impacts with "pedestrian" and "non-pedestrian" objects. This information would be used to activate a safety device (e.g., external airbag or pop-up hood) to provide protection for the vulnerable pedestrian. An analytical foundation for the object-bumper impact problem will be presented, as well as the classical beam impact theory. The mechanical waves that propagate in the structure from an external impact contain a wealth of information about the specifics of a particular impact -- object mass, size, impact speed, etc. -- but most notably the object stiffness, which identifies the impacted object. Using the frequency content of the sensor signals, it can be shown that impacts with a "pedestrian" object of varying size, weight, and speed can be easily differentiated from impacts with other "non-pedestrian" objects. Simulation results will illustrate this phenomenon, and experimental tests will verify the results. A comprehensive series of impact tests were performed for validation, using both a stationary front bumper with a drop-pendulum impactor and a moving car with stationary impact objects. Results from both tests will be presented.

An extension of the theory of planned behavior to predict pedestrians' violating crossing behavior using structural equation modeling.

PubMed

Zhou, Hongmei; Romero, Stephanie Ballon; Qin, Xiao

2016-10-01

This paper aimed to examine pedestrians' self-reported violating crossing behavior intentions by applying the theory of planned behavior (TPB). We studied the behavior intentions regarding instrumental attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, the three basic components of TPB, and extended the theory by adding new factors including descriptive norm, perceived risk and conformity tendency to evaluate their respective impacts on pedestrians' behavior intentions. A questionnaire presented with a scenario that pedestrians crossed the road violating the pedestrian lights at an intersection was designed, and the survey was conducted in Dalian, China. Based on the 260 complete and valid responses, reliability and validity of the data for each question was evaluated. The data were then analyzed by using the structural equation modeling (SEM). The results showed that people had a negative attitude toward the behavior of violating road-crossing rules; they perceived social influences from their family and friends; and they believed that this kind of risky behavior would potentially harm them in a traffic accident. The results also showed that instrumental attitude and subjective norm were significant in the basic TPB model. After adding descriptive norm, subjective norm was no more significant. Other models showed that conformity tendency was a strong predictor, indicating that the presence of other pedestrians would influence behavioral intention. The findings could help to design more effective interventions and safety campaigns, such as changing people's attitude toward this violation behavior, correcting the social norms, increasing their safety awareness, etc. in order to reduce pedestrians' road crossing violations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Research safety vehicle, Phase II. Volume I. Executive summary. Final report jul 75-dec 76

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Struble, D.

1976-12-01

Volume I summarizes the results of the Minicars Research Safety Vehicle Phase II program, as detailed in Volumes II and III. Phase I identified trends leading to the desired national social goals of the mid-1980's in vehicle crashworthiness, crash avoidance, damageability, pedestrian safety, fuel economy, emissions and cost, and characterized an RSV to satisfy them. In Phase II an RSV prototype was designed, developed and tested to demonstrate the feasibility of meeting these goals simultaneously. Although further refinement is necessary to assure operational validity, in all categories the results meet or exceed the most advanced performance specified by The Presidentialmore » Task Force on Motor Vehicle Goals beyond 1980.« less

Safety climate and safety behaviors in the construction industry: The importance of co-workers commitment to safety.

PubMed

Schwatka, Natalie V; Rosecrance, John C

2016-06-16

There is growing empirical evidence that as safety climate improves work site safety practice improve. Safety climate is often measured by asking workers about their perceptions of management commitment to safety. However, it is less common to include perceptions of their co-workers commitment to safety. While the involvement of management in safety is essential, working with co-workers who value and prioritize safety may be just as important. To evaluate a concept of safety climate that focuses on top management, supervisors and co-workers commitment to safety, which is relatively new and untested in the United States construction industry. Survey data was collected from a cohort of 300 unionized construction workers in the United States. The significance of direct and indirect (mediation) effects among safety climate and safety behavior factors were evaluated via structural equation modeling. Results indicated that safety climate was associated with safety behaviors on the job. More specifically, perceptions of co-workers commitment to safety was a mediator between both management commitment to safety climate factors and safety behaviors. These results support workplace health and safety interventions that build and sustain safety climate and a commitment to safety amongst work teams.

Comparing two safety culture surveys: safety attitudes questionnaire and hospital survey on patient safety.

PubMed

Etchegaray, Jason M; Thomas, Eric J

2012-06-01

To examine the reliability and predictive validity of two patient safety culture surveys-Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ) and Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPS)-when administered to the same participants. Also to determine the ability to convert HSOPS scores to SAQ scores. Employees working in intensive care units in 12 hospitals within a large hospital system in the southern United States were invited to anonymously complete both safety culture surveys electronically. All safety culture dimensions from both surveys (with the exception of HSOPS's Staffing) had adequate levels of reliability. Three of HSOPS's outcomes-frequency of event reporting, overall perceptions of patient safety, and overall patient safety grade-were significantly correlated with SAQ and HSOPS dimensions of culture at the individual level, with correlations ranging from r=0.41 to 0.65 for the SAQ dimensions and from r=0.22 to 0.72 for the HSOPS dimensions. Neither the SAQ dimensions nor the HSOPS dimensions predicted the fourth HSOPS outcome-number of events reported within the last 12 months. Regression analyses indicated that HSOPS safety culture dimensions were the best predictors of frequency of event reporting and overall perceptions of patient safety while SAQ and HSOPS dimensions both predicted patient safety grade. Unit-level analyses were not conducted because indices did not indicate that aggregation was appropriate. Scores were converted between the surveys, although much variance remained unexplained. Given that the SAQ and HSOPS had similar reliability and predictive validity, investigators and quality and safety leaders should consider survey length, content, sensitivity to change and the ability to benchmark when selecting a patient safety culture survey.

Eye Protection: Safety Glasses. Safety Spotlight

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deck, Anita; Roy, Ken

2017-01-01

When it comes to eye safety, there are some situations in which regular safety glasses will work adequately for the needs of the STEM education classroom or laboratory. However, there are certain instances in which safety goggles must be used for safer protection. Taking the time to analyze hazards and assess the risks prior to any activity in the…

The Effects of Safety Discrimination Training and Frequent Safety Observations on Safety-Related Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Matthew A.; Alvero, Alicia M.

2012-01-01

The intent of the present study was to assess the effects of discrimination training only and in combination with frequent safety observations on five participants' safety-related behavior in a simulated office setting. The study used a multiple-baseline design across safety-related behaviors. Across all participants and behavior, safety improved…

Traceability of Software Safety Requirements in Legacy Safety Critical Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hill, Janice L.

2007-01-01

How can traceability of software safety requirements be created for legacy safety critical systems? Requirements in safety standards are imposed most times during contract negotiations. On the other hand, there are instances where safety standards are levied on legacy safety critical systems, some of which may be considered for reuse for new applications. Safety standards often specify that software development documentation include process-oriented and technical safety requirements, and also require that system and software safety analyses are performed supporting technical safety requirements implementation. So what can be done if the requisite documents for establishing and maintaining safety requirements traceability are not available?

Safe main street highways part II : analyses of collisions involving pedestrians and bicyclists in Washington State.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-09-01

This project contributes to the Washington State Strategic Highway Safety Plan, whose goals are to achieve zero road fatality and serious injury by 2030 and to reduce the number of pedestrians and bicyclists involved in motor-vehicle collisions on st...

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) Increases Pedestrian Injury Risk in Children

PubMed Central

Avis, Kristin T.; Gamble, Karen L.; Schwebel, David C

2014-01-01

Objectives To evaluate pedestrian behavior, including reaction time, impulsivity, risk-taking, attention, and decision-making, in children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) compared with healthy controls. Study design Using a case control design, sixty 8- to 16-year-olds with newly diagnosed and untreated OSAS engaged in a virtual reality pedestrian environment. Sixty-one healthy children matched using a yoke-control procedure by age, race, gender and household income served as controls. Results Children with OSAS were riskier pedestrians than healthy children of the same age, race, and sex. Children with OSAS waited less time to cross (p<.01). The groups did not differ in looking at oncoming traffic or taking longer to decide to cross. Conclusions Results suggest OSAS may have significant consequences on children’s daytime functioning in a critical domain of personal safety, pedestrian skills. Children with OSAS appeared to have greater impulsivity when crossing streets. Results highlight the need for heightened awareness of the consequences of untreated sleep disorders and identify a possible target for pediatric injury prevention. PMID:25444002

Innovation as Road Safety Felicitator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahoo, S.; Mitra, A.; Kumar, J.; Sahoo, B.

2018-03-01

Transportation via Roads should only be used for safely commuting from one place to another. In 2015, when 1.5 Million people, across the Globe started out on a journey, it was meant to be their last. The Global Status Report on Road Safety, 2015, reflected this data from 180 countries as road traffic deaths, worldwide. In India, more than 1.37 Lakh[4] people were victims of road accidents in 2013 alone. That number is more than the number of Indians killed in all the wars put together. With these disturbing facts in mind, we found out some key ambiguities in the Indian Road Traffic Management systems like the non-adaptive nature to fluctuating traffic, pedestrians and motor vehicles not adhering to the traffic norms strictly, to name a few. Introduction of simple systems would greatly erase the effects of this silent epidemic and our Project aims to achieve the same. It would introduce a pair of Barricade systems to cautiously separate the pedestrians and motor vehicles to minimise road mishaps to the extent possible. Exceptional situations like that of an Ambulance or any emergency vehicles will be taken care off by the use of RFID tags to monitor the movement of the Barricades. The varied traffic scenario can be guided properly by using the ADS-B (Automatic Detection System-Broadcast) for monitoring traffic density according to the time and place.

HSE's safety assessment principles for criticality safety.

PubMed

Simister, D N; Finnerty, M D; Warburton, S J; Thomas, E A; Macphail, M R

2008-06-01

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published its revised Safety Assessment Principles for Nuclear Facilities (SAPs) in December 2006. The SAPs are primarily intended for use by HSE's inspectors when judging the adequacy of safety cases for nuclear facilities. The revised SAPs relate to all aspects of safety in nuclear facilities including the technical discipline of criticality safety. The purpose of this paper is to set out for the benefit of a wider audience some of the thinking behind the final published words and to provide an insight into the development of UK regulatory guidance. The paper notes that it is HSE's intention that the Safety Assessment Principles should be viewed as a reflection of good practice in the context of interpreting primary legislation such as the requirements under site licence conditions for arrangements for producing an adequate safety case and for producing a suitable and sufficient risk assessment under the Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999 (SI1999/3232 www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1999/uksi_19993232_en.pdf).

Software Safety Risk in Legacy Safety-Critical Computer Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hill, Janice; Baggs, Rhoda

2007-01-01

Safety-critical computer systems must be engineered to meet system and software safety requirements. For legacy safety-critical computer systems, software safety requirements may not have been formally specified during development. When process-oriented software safety requirements are levied on a legacy system after the fact, where software development artifacts don't exist or are incomplete, the question becomes 'how can this be done?' The risks associated with only meeting certain software safety requirements in a legacy safety-critical computer system must be addressed should such systems be selected as candidates for reuse. This paper proposes a method for ascertaining formally, a software safety risk assessment, that provides measurements for software safety for legacy systems which may or may not have a suite of software engineering documentation that is now normally required. It relies upon the NASA Software Safety Standard, risk assessment methods based upon the Taxonomy-Based Questionnaire, and the application of reverse engineering CASE tools to produce original design documents for legacy systems.

Safety Control and Safety Education at Technical Institutes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iino, Hiroshi

The importance of safety education for students at technical institutes is emphasized on three grounds including safety of all working members and students in their education, research and other activities. The Kanazawa Institute of Technology re-organized the safety organization into a line structure and improved safety minds of all their members and now has a chemical materials control system and a set of compulsory safety education programs for their students, although many problems still remain.

Development of Model for Pedestrian Gap Based on Land Use Pattern at Midblock Location and Estimation of Delay at Intersections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramesh, Adepu; Ashritha, Kilari; Kumar, Molugaram

2018-04-01

Walking has always been a prime source of human mobility for short distance travel. Traffic congestion has become a major problem for safe pedestrian crossing in most of the metropolitan cities. This has emphasized for providing a sufficient pedestrian gap for safe crossing on urban road. The present works aims in understanding factors that influence pedestrian crossing behaviour. Four locations were chosen for identification of pedestrian crossing behaviour, gap characteristics, waiting time etc., in Hyderabad city. From the study it was observed that pedestrian behaviour and crossing patterns are different and is influenced by land use pattern. A gap acceptance model was developed from the data for improving pedestrian safety at mid-block location; the model was validated using the existing data. Pedestrian delay was estimated at intersection using Highway Capacity Manual (HCM). It was observed that field delays are less when compared to delay arrived from HCM method.

Patient safety in phlebology: The ACP Phlebology Safety Checklist.

PubMed

Collares, Felipe Birchal; Sonde, Mehru; Harper, Kenneth; Armitage, Michael; Neuhardt, Diana L; Fronek, Helane S

2018-05-01

Objectives To assess the current use of safety checklists among the American College of Phlebology (ACP) members and their interest in implementing a checklist supported by the ACP on their clinical practices; and to develop a phlebology safety checklist. Method Online surveys were sent to ACP members, and a phlebology safety checklist was developed by a multispecialty team through the ACP Leadership Academy. Results Forty-seven percent of respondents are using a safety checklist in their practices; 23% think that a phlebology safety checklist would interfere or disrupt workflow; 79% answered that a phlebology safety checklist could improve procedure outcomes or prevent complications; and 85% would be interested in implementing a phlebology safety checklist approved by the ACP. Conclusion A phlebology safety checklist was developed with the intent to increase awareness on patient safety and improve outcome in phlebology practice.

78 FR 53790 - Public Forum-Safety Culture: Enhancing Transportation Safety

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-30

... NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD Public Forum--Safety Culture: Enhancing Transportation Safety On Tuesday and Wednesday, September 10-11, 2013, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will convene a forum titled, ``Safety Culture: Enhancing Transportation Safety.'' The forum will begin at 9:00...

Video-processing-based system for automated pedestrian data collection and analysis when crossing the street

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mansouri, Nabila; Watelain, Eric; Ben Jemaa, Yousra; Motamed, Cina

2018-03-01

Computer-vision techniques for pedestrian detection and tracking have progressed considerably and become widely used in several applications. However, a quick glance at the literature shows a minimal use of these techniques in pedestrian behavior and safety analysis, which might be due to the technical complexities facing the processing of pedestrian videos. To extract pedestrian trajectories from a video automatically, all road users must be detected and tracked during sequences, which is a challenging task, especially in a congested open-outdoor urban space. A multipedestrian tracker based on an interframe-detection-association process was proposed and evaluated. The tracker results are used to implement an automatic tool for pedestrians data collection when crossing the street based on video processing. The variations in the instantaneous speed allowed the detection of the street crossing phases (approach, waiting, and crossing). These were addressed for the first time in the pedestrian road security analysis to illustrate the causal relationship between pedestrian behaviors in the different phases. A comparison with a manual data collection method, by computing the root mean square error and the Pearson correlation coefficient, confirmed that the procedures proposed have significant potential to automate the data collection process.

Survival in fatal road crashes: body mass index, gender, and safety belt use.

PubMed

Sivak, Michael; Schoettle, Brandon; Rupp, Jonathan

2010-02-01

This study evaluated the associations of body mass index (BMI), gender, and use of safety belts with the survival of drivers involved in fatal road crashes. The census data of all U.S. fatal crashes that did not involve pedestrians, bicyclists, or motorcyclists were examined for an 11-year period. If involved in a crash with one or more fatalities, the odds of female drivers being among the fatalities are 1.28 times higher than those of male drivers, and the odds of unbelted drivers being among the fatalities are 5.43 times higher than those of belted drivers. The relationship of survivability to BMI depends on the gender and safety belt use of the driver. For male drivers, increased BMI appears beneficial when safety belts are used but detrimental when not used. For belted female drivers, normal BMI is associated with the lowest odds of being killed, and both increased and decreased BMIs increase the odds. For unbelted female drivers, no reliable trends were present among the BMI categories.

Safer passenger car front shapes for pedestrians: A computational approach to reduce overall pedestrian injury risk in realistic impact scenarios.

PubMed

Li, Guibing; Yang, Jikuang; Simms, Ciaran

2017-03-01

Vehicle front shape has a significant influence on pedestrian injuries and the optimal design for overall pedestrian protection remains an elusive goal, especially considering the variability of vehicle-to-pedestrian accident scenarios. Therefore this study aims to develop and evaluate an efficient framework for vehicle front shape optimization for pedestrian protection accounting for the broad range of real world impact scenarios and their distributions in recent accident data. Firstly, a framework for vehicle front shape optimization for pedestrian protection was developed based on coupling of multi-body simulations and a genetic algorithm. This framework was then applied for optimizing passenger car front shape for pedestrian protection, and its predictions were evaluated using accident data and kinematic analyses. The results indicate that the optimization shows a good convergence and predictions of the optimization framework are corroborated when compared to the available accident data, and the optimization framework can distinguish 'good' and 'poor' vehicle front shapes for pedestrian safety. Thus, it is feasible and reliable to use the optimization framework for vehicle front shape optimization for reducing overall pedestrian injury risk. The results also show the importance of considering the broad range of impact scenarios in vehicle front shape optimization. A safe passenger car for overall pedestrian protection should have a wide and flat bumper (covering pedestrians' legs from the lower leg up to the shaft of the upper leg with generally even contacts), a bonnet leading edge height around 750mm, a short bonnet (<800mm) with a shallow or steep angle (either >17° or <12°) and a shallow windscreen (≤30°). Sensitivity studies based on simulations at the population level indicate that the demands for a safe passenger car front shape for head and leg protection are generally consistent, but partially conflict with pelvis protection. In particular, both

Urban pedestrian accident countermeasures experimental evaluation. Volume 2 Appendix A, Review of education and public information materials

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1975-02-01

This technical appendix presents an overview of the national pedestrian safety effort. The appendix also reports the results of a survey of 48 ongoing educational programs being conducted in eight U.S. urban centers. A final chapter suggests procedur...

SafetyAnalyst

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-01-01

This booklet provides an overview of SafetyAnalyst. SafetyAnalyst is a set of software tools under development to help State and local highway agencies advance their programming of site-specific safety improvements. SafetyAnalyst will incorporate sta...

The association between EMS workplace safety culture and safety outcomes.

PubMed

Weaver, Matthew D; Wang, Henry E; Fairbanks, Rollin J; Patterson, Daniel

2012-01-01

Prior studies have highlighted wide variation in emergency medical services (EMS) workplace safety culture across agencies. To determine the association between EMS workplace safety culture scores and patient or provider safety outcomes. We administered a cross-sectional survey to EMS workers affiliated with a convenience sample of agencies. We recruited these agencies from a national EMS management organization. We used the EMS Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (EMS-SAQ) to measure workplace safety culture and the EMS Safety Inventory (EMS-SI), a tool developed to capture self-reported safety outcomes from EMS workers. The EMS-SAQ provides reliable and valid measures of six domains: safety climate, teamwork climate, perceptions of management, working conditions, stress recognition, and job satisfaction. A panel of medical directors, emergency medical technicians and paramedics, and occupational epidemiologists developed the EMS-SI to measure self-reported injury, medical errors and adverse events, and safety-compromising behaviors. We used hierarchical linear models to evaluate the association between EMS-SAQ scores and EMS-SI safety outcome measures. Sixteen percent of all respondents reported experiencing an injury in the past three months, four of every 10 respondents reported an error or adverse event (AE), and 89% reported safety-compromising behaviors. Respondents reporting injury scored lower on five of the six domains of safety culture. Respondents reporting an error or AE scored lower for four of the six domains, while respondents reporting safety-compromising behavior had lower safety culture scores for five of the six domains. Individual EMS worker perceptions of workplace safety culture are associated with composite measures of patient and provider safety outcomes. This study is preliminary evidence of the association between safety culture and patient or provider safety outcomes.

Transformational and passive leadership as cross-level moderators of the relationships between safety knowledge, safety motivation, and safety participation.

PubMed

Jiang, Lixin; Probst, Tahira M

2016-06-01

While safety knowledge and safety motivation are well-established predictors of safety participation, less is known about the impact of leadership styles on these relationships. The purpose of the current study was to examine whether the positive relationships between safety knowledge and motivation and safety participation are contingent on transformational and passive forms of safety leadership. Using multilevel modeling with a sample of 171 employees nested in 40 workgroups, we found that transformational safety leadership strengthened the safety knowledge-participation relationship, whereas passive leadership weakened the safety motivation-participation relationship. Under low transformational leadership, safety motivation was not related to safety participation; under high passive leadership, safety knowledge was not related to safety participation. These results are discussed in light of organizational efforts to increase safety-related citizenship behaviors. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.

Perceived organizational support for safety and employee safety voice: the mediating role of coworker support for safety.

PubMed

Tucker, Sean; Chmiel, Nik; Turner, Nick; Hershcovis, M Sandy; Stride, Chris B

2008-10-01

In the present study, we modeled 2 sources of safety support (perceived organizational support for safety and perceived coworker support for safety) as predictors of employee safety voice, that is, speaking out in an attempt to change unsafe working conditions. Drawing on social exchange and social impact theories, we hypothesized and tested a mediated model predicting employee safety voice using a cross-sectional survey of urban bus drivers (n = 213) in the United Kingdom. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that perceived coworker support for safety fully mediated the relationship between perceived organizational support for safety and employee safety voice. This study adds to the employee voice literature by evaluating the important role that coworkers can play in encouraging others to speak out about safety issues. Implications for research and practice related to change-oriented safety communication are discussed.

Pedestrian-driver communication and decision strategies at marked crossings.

PubMed

Sucha, Matus; Dostal, Daniel; Risser, Ralf

2017-05-01

' needs to feel safe and comfortable, as well as ensuring their objective safety. Thus, improvements should include measures aimed at reducing the speed of approaching vehicles (e.g. humps, speed cushions, elevated crossings, early yield bars, and narrow lanes), as this would enhance yielding by motor vehicles. Other measures that specifically rely on the subjective perception of different situations by the parties involved include the education and training of drivers, the aim of which is to promote their understanding and appreciation of pedestrians' needs and motives. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Relationships among Safety Climate, Safety Behavior, and Safety Outcomes for Ethnic Minority Construction Workers

PubMed Central

Lyu, Sainan; Chan, Albert P. C.; Wong, Francis K. W.

2018-01-01

In many countries, it is common practice to attract and employ ethnic minority (EM) or migrant workers in the construction industry. This primarily occurs in order to alleviate the labor shortage caused by an aging workforce with a lack of new entrants. Statistics show that EM construction workers are more likely to have occupational fatal and nonfatal injuries than their local counterparts; however, the mechanism underlying accidents and injuries in this vulnerable population has been rarely examined. This study aims to investigate relationships among safety climate, safety behavior, and safety outcomes for EM construction workers. To this end, a theoretical research model was developed based on a comprehensive review of the current literature. In total, 289 valid questionnaires were collected face-to-face from 223 Nepalese construction workers and 56 Pakistani construction workers working on 15 construction sites in Hong Kong. Structural equation modelling was employed to validate the constructs and test the hypothesized model. Results show that there were significant positive relationships between safety climate and safety behaviors, and significant negative relationships between safety behaviors and safety outcomes for EM construction workers. This research contributes to the literature regarding EM workers by providing empirical evidence of the mechanisms by which safety climate affects safety behaviors and outcomes. It also provides insights in order to help the key stakeholders formulate safety strategies for EM workers in many areas where numerous EM workers are employed, such as in the U.S., the UK, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Middle East. PMID:29522503

Relationships among Safety Climate, Safety Behavior, and Safety Outcomes for Ethnic Minority Construction Workers.

PubMed

Lyu, Sainan; Hon, Carol K H; Chan, Albert P C; Wong, Francis K W; Javed, Arshad Ali

2018-03-09

In many countries, it is common practice to attract and employ ethnic minority (EM) or migrant workers in the construction industry. This primarily occurs in order to alleviate the labor shortage caused by an aging workforce with a lack of new entrants. Statistics show that EM construction workers are more likely to have occupational fatal and nonfatal injuries than their local counterparts; however, the mechanism underlying accidents and injuries in this vulnerable population has been rarely examined. This study aims to investigate relationships among safety climate, safety behavior, and safety outcomes for EM construction workers. To this end, a theoretical research model was developed based on a comprehensive review of the current literature. In total, 289 valid questionnaires were collected face-to-face from 223 Nepalese construction workers and 56 Pakistani construction workers working on 15 construction sites in Hong Kong. Structural equation modelling was employed to validate the constructs and test the hypothesized model. Results show that there were significant positive relationships between safety climate and safety behaviors, and significant negative relationships between safety behaviors and safety outcomes for EM construction workers. This research contributes to the literature regarding EM workers by providing empirical evidence of the mechanisms by which safety climate affects safety behaviors and outcomes. It also provides insights in order to help the key stakeholders formulate safety strategies for EM workers in many areas where numerous EM workers are employed, such as in the U.S., the UK, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Middle East.

The association between EMS workplace safety culture and safety outcomes

PubMed Central

Weaver, Matthew D.; Wang, Henry E.; Fairbanks, Rollin J.; Patterson, Daniel

2012-01-01

Objective Prior studies have highlighted wide variation in EMS workplace safety culture across agencies. We sought to determine the association between EMS workplace safety culture scores and patient or provider safety outcomes. Methods We administered a cross-sectional survey to EMS workers affiliated with a convenience sample of agencies. We recruited these agencies from a national EMS management organization. We used the EMS Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (EMS-SAQ) to measure workplace safety culture and the EMS Safety Inventory (EMS-SI), a tool developed to capture self-reported safety outcomes from EMS workers. The EMS-SAQ provides reliable and valid measures of six domains: safety climate, teamwork climate, perceptions of management, perceptions of working conditions, stress recognition, and job satisfaction. A panel of medical directors, paramedics, and occupational epidemiologists developed the EMS-SI to measure self-reported injury, medical errors and adverse events, and safety-compromising behaviors. We used hierarchical linear models to evaluate the association between EMS-SAQ scores and EMS-SI safety outcome measures. Results Sixteen percent of all respondents reported experiencing an injury in the past 3 months, four of every 10 respondents reported an error or adverse event (AE), and 90% reported safety-compromising behaviors. Respondents reporting injury scored lower on 5 of the 6 domains of safety culture. Respondents reporting an error or AE scored lower for 4 of the 6 domains, while respondents reporting safety-compromising behavior had lower safety culture scores for 5 of 6 domains. Conclusions Individual EMS worker perceptions of workplace safety culture are associated with composite measures of patient and provider safety outcomes. This study is preliminary evidence of the association between safety culture and patient or provider safety outcomes. PMID:21950463

The moderating role of safety-specific trust on the relation between safety-specific leadership and safety citizenship behaviors.

PubMed

Conchie, Stacey M; Donald, Ian J

2009-04-01

The authors examined whether safety-specific trust moderates or mediates the relationship between safety-specific transformational leadership and subordinates' safety citizenship behavior. Data from 139 subordinate-supervisor dyads were collected from the United Kingdom construction industry and analyzed using hierarchical regression models. Results showed that safety-specific trust moderated rather than mediated the effects of safety-specific transformational leaders on subordinates' behavior. Specifically, in conditions of high and moderate safety-specific trust, leaders had a significant effect on subordinates' safety citizenship behavior. However, in conditions of low safety-specific trust, leaders did not significantly influence subordinates' safety citizenship behavior. The implications of these findings for general safety theory and practice are discussed.

Safety culture : a significant influence on safety in transportation

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-08-01

An organizations safety culture can influence safety outcomes. Research and experience show that when safety culture is strong, accidents are less frequent and less severe. As a result, building and maintaining strong safety cultures should be a t...

National Safety Council

MedlinePlus

... Safety Management Systems Workplace Safety Consulting Employee Perception Surveys Research Journey to Safety Excellence Join the Journey What ... Safety Management Systems Workplace Safety Consulting Employee Perception Surveys Research Journey to Safety Excellence Join the Journey What ...

An educational intervention in road safety among children and teenagers in Mexico.

PubMed

Treviño-Siller, S; Pacheco-Magaña, L E; Bonilla-Fernández, P; Rueda-Neria, C; Arenas-Monreal, L

2017-02-17

The purpose of this article is to describe a public school-based educational intervention (EI) designed to increase knowledge, improve attitudes, and change practices related to road safety. We used a mixed-methods evaluation of a road traffic safety baseline diagnosis conducted in 4 public schools, 2 primary and 2 secondary. Research was organized into 4 phases: (1) diagnosis, (2) EI design, (3) implementation, and (4) evaluation. We used convenience sampling (n = 219 students) across schools and applied a pre-/posttest design based on quantitative and qualitative data. The former related to surveys on road safety experiences, knowledge, attitudes, and practice and the latter to observation checklists, community mapping, ethnography, and focus groups. To compare pre-post scores, we used multilevel mixed-effect ordinal logistic regressions. We developed data matrices, field notes, and systematized community mapping. We also transcribed focus group discussions, generated categories, and carried out thematic analysis. Ethnography indicated poor sidewalk conditions, no helmet or seat belt use, overcrowded public transportation, and no traffic lights or proper signals. Pedestrians did not use sidewalks and crossed streets unsafely. Subsequent to the intervention, however, the study population showed significant changes in their knowledge, practices, and attitudes. They identified road traffic incidents (RTIs) as the first cause of death among children and youth, and most understood that the solution to the problem was incumbent upon each and every individual. They also displayed increased perceptions of danger in practices such as traveling on overcrowded public transportation, failing to wear seat belts in cars and helmets on motorcycles, crossing the street while using mobile phones or playing with friends, and riding with drunk drivers. Changes varied according to gender, and students reported being able to carry out safe practices only when they were in control of

Effects of mobile Internet use on college student pedestrian injury risk.

PubMed

Byington, Katherine W; Schwebel, David C

2013-03-01

College-age individuals have the highest incidence of pedestrian injuries of any age cohort. One factor that might contribute to elevated pedestrian injuries among this age group is injuries incurred while crossing streets distracted by mobile devices. Examine whether young adult pedestrian safety is compromised while crossing a virtual pedestrian street while distracted using the Internet on a mobile "smartphone." A within-subjects design was implemented with 92 young adults. Participants crossed a virtual pedestrian street 20 times, half the time while undistracted and half while completing an email-driven "scavenger hunt" to answer mundane questions using mobile Internet on their cell phones. Six measures of pedestrian behavior were assessed during crossings. Participants also reported typical patterns of street crossing and mobile Internet use. Participants reported using mobile Internet with great frequency in daily life, including while walking across streets. In the virtual street environment, pedestrian behavior was greatly altered and generally more risky when participants were distracted by Internet use. While distracted, participants waited longer to cross the street (F=42.37), missed more safe opportunities to cross (F=42.63), took longer to initiate crossing when a safe gap was available (F=53.03), looked left and right less often (F=124.68), spent more time looking away from the road (F=1959.78), and were more likely to be hit or almost hit by an oncoming vehicle (F=29.54; all ps<0.01). Results were retained after controlling for randomized order; participant gender, age, and ethnicity; and both pedestrian habits and mobile Internet experience. Pedestrian behavior was influenced, and generally considerably riskier, when participants were simultaneously using mobile Internet and crossing the street than when crossing the street with no distraction. This finding reinforces the need for increased awareness concerning the risks of distracted pedestrian

Effects of Mobile Internet Use On College Student Pedestrian Injury Risk

PubMed Central

Byington, Katherine W.; Schwebel, David C.

2012-01-01

Background College-age individuals have the highest incidence of pedestrian injuries of any age cohort. One factor that might contribute to elevated pedestrian injuries among this age group is injuries incurred while crossing streets distracted by mobile devices. Objectives Examine whether young adult pedestrian safety is compromised while crossing a virtual pedestrian street while distracted using the internet on a mobile “smartphone.” Method A within-subjects design was implemented with 92 young adults. Participants crossed a virtual pedestrian street 20 times, half the time while undistracted and half while completing an email-driven “scavenger hunt” to answer mundane questions using mobile internet on their cell phones. Six measures of pedestrian behavior were assessed during crossings. Participants also reported typical patterns of street crossing and mobile internet use. Results Participants reported using mobile internet with great frequency in daily life, including while walking across streets. In the virtual street environment, pedestrian behavior was greatly altered and generally more risky when participants were distracted by internet use. While distracted, participants waited longer to cross the street (F = 42.37), missed more safe opportunities to cross (F = 42.63), took longer to initiate crossing when a safe gap was available (F = 53.03), looked left and right less often (F = 124.68), spent more time looking away from the road (F = 1959.78), and were more likely to be hit or almost hit by an oncoming vehicle (F = 29.54; all ps< 0.01). Results were retained after controlling for randomized order; participant gender, age, and ethnicity; and both pedestrian habits and mobile internet experience. Conclusion Pedestrian behavior was influenced, and generally considerably riskier, when participants were simultaneously using mobile internet and crossing the street than when crossing the street with no distraction. This finding reinforces the need for

Offshore safety case approach and formal safety assessment of ships.

PubMed

Wang, J

2002-01-01

Tragic marine and offshore accidents have caused serious consequences including loss of lives, loss of property, and damage of the environment. A proactive, risk-based "goal setting" regime is introduced to the marine and offshore industries to increase the level of safety. To maximize marine and offshore safety, risks need to be modeled and safety-based decisions need to be made in a logical and confident way. Risk modeling and decision-making tools need to be developed and applied in a practical environment. This paper describes both the offshore safety case approach and formal safety assessment of ships in detail with particular reference to the design aspects. The current practices and the latest development in safety assessment in both the marine and offshore industries are described. The relationship between the offshore safety case approach and formal ship safety assessment is described and discussed. Three examples are used to demonstrate both the offshore safety case approach and formal ship safety assessment. The study of risk criteria in marine and offshore safety assessment is carried out. The recommendations on further work required are given. This paper gives safety engineers in the marine and offshore industries an overview of the offshore safety case approach and formal ship safety assessment. The significance of moving toward a risk-based "goal setting" regime is given.

Safety survey report EBR-II safety survey, ANL-west health protection, industrial safety and fire protection survey

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dunbar, K.A.

1972-01-10

A safety survey covering the disciplines of Reactor Safety, Nuclear Criticality Safety, Health Protection and Industrial Safety and Fire Protection was conducted at the ANL-West EBR-II FEF Complex during the period January 10-18, 1972. In addition, the entire ANL-West site was surveyed for Health Protection and Industrial Safety and Fire Protection. The survey was conducted by members of the AEC Chicago Operations Office, a member of RDT-HQ and a member of the RDT-ID site office. Eighteen recommendations resulted from the survey, eleven in the area of Industrial Safety and Fire Protection, five in the area of Reactor Safety and twomore » in the area of Nuclear Criticality Safety.« less

Dynamic compositional modeling of pedestrian crash counts on urban roads in Connecticut.

PubMed

Serhiyenko, Volodymyr; Ivan, John N; Ravishanker, Nalini; Islam, Md Saidul

2014-03-01

Uncovering the temporal trend in crash counts provides a good understanding of the context for pedestrian safety. With a rareness of pedestrian crashes it is impossible to investigate monthly temporal effects with an individual segment/intersection level data, thus the time dependence should be derived from the aggregated level data. Most previous studies have used annual data to investigate the differences in pedestrian crashes between different regions or countries in a given year, and/or to look at time trends of fatal pedestrian injuries annually. Use of annual data unfortunately does not provide sufficient information on patterns in time trends or seasonal effects. This paper describes statistical methods uncovering patterns in monthly pedestrian crashes aggregated on urban roads in Connecticut from January 1995 to December 2009. We investigate the temporal behavior of injury severity levels, including fatal (K), severe injury (A), evident minor injury (B), and non-evident possible injury and property damage only (C and O), as proportions of all pedestrian crashes in each month, taking into consideration effects of time trend, seasonal variations and VMT (vehicle miles traveled). This type of dependent multivariate data is characterized by positive components which sum to one, and occurs in several applications in science and engineering. We describe a dynamic framework with vector autoregressions (VAR) for modeling and predicting compositional time series. Combining these predictions with predictions from a univariate statistical model for total crash counts will then enable us to predict pedestrian crash counts with the different injury severity levels. We compare these predictions with those obtained from fitting separate univariate models to time series of crash counts at each injury severity level. We also show that the dynamic models perform better than the corresponding static models. We implement the Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation (INLA

Driver behavior in car-to-pedestrian incidents: An application of the Driving Reliability and Error Analysis Method (DREAM).

PubMed

Habibovic, Azra; Tivesten, Emma; Uchida, Nobuyuki; Bärgman, Jonas; Ljung Aust, Mikael

2013-01-01

To develop relevant road safety countermeasures, it is necessary to first obtain an in-depth understanding of how and why safety-critical situations such as incidents, near-crashes, and crashes occur. Video-recordings from naturalistic driving studies provide detailed information on events and circumstances prior to such situations that is difficult to obtain from traditional crash investigations, at least when it comes to the observable driver behavior. This study analyzed causation in 90 video-recordings of car-to-pedestrian incidents captured by onboard cameras in a naturalistic driving study in Japan. The Driving Reliability and Error Analysis Method (DREAM) was modified and used to identify contributing factors and causation patterns in these incidents. Two main causation patterns were found. In intersections, drivers failed to recognize the presence of the conflict pedestrian due to visual obstructions and/or because their attention was allocated towards something other than the conflict pedestrian. In incidents away from intersections, this pattern reoccurred along with another pattern showing that pedestrians often behaved in unexpected ways. These patterns indicate that an interactive advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) able to redirect the driver's attention could have averted many of the intersection incidents, while autonomous systems may be needed away from intersections. Cooperative ADAS may be needed to address issues raised by visual obstructions. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Are normally sighted, visually impaired, and blind pedestrians accurate and reliable at making street crossing decisions?

PubMed

Hassan, Shirin E

2012-05-04

The purpose of this study is to measure the accuracy and reliability of normally sighted, visually impaired, and blind pedestrians at making street crossing decisions using visual and/or auditory information. Using a 5-point rating scale, safety ratings for vehicular gaps of different durations were measured along a two-lane street of one-way traffic without a traffic signal. Safety ratings were collected from 12 normally sighted, 10 visually impaired, and 10 blind subjects for eight different gap times under three sensory conditions: (1) visual plus auditory information, (2) visual information only, and (3) auditory information only. Accuracy and reliability in street crossing decision-making were calculated for each subject under each sensory condition. We found that normally sighted and visually impaired pedestrians were accurate and reliable in their street crossing decision-making ability when using either vision plus hearing or vision only (P > 0.05). Under the hearing only condition, all subjects were reliable (P > 0.05) but inaccurate with their street crossing decisions (P < 0.05). Compared to either the normally sighted (P = 0.018) or visually impaired subjects (P = 0.019), blind subjects were the least accurate with their street crossing decisions under the hearing only condition. Our data suggested that visually impaired pedestrians can make accurate and reliable street crossing decisions like those of normally sighted pedestrians. When using auditory information only, all subjects significantly overestimated the vehicular gap time. Our finding that blind pedestrians performed significantly worse than either the normally sighted or visually impaired subjects under the hearing only condition suggested that they may benefit from training to improve their detection ability and/or interpretation of vehicular gap times.

Urban street structure and traffic safety.

PubMed

Mohan, Dinesh; Bangdiwala, Shrikant I; Villaveces, Andres

2017-09-01

This paper reports the influence of road type and junction density on road traffic fatality rates in U.S. cities. The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) files were used to obtain fatality rates for all cities for the years 2005-2010. A stratified random sample of 16 U.S. cities was taken, and cities with high and low road traffic fatality rates were compared on their road layout details (TIGER maps were used). Statistical analysis was done to determine the effect of junction density and road type on road traffic fatality rates. The analysis of road network and road traffic crash fatality rates in these randomly selected U.S. cities shows that, (a) higher number of junctions per road length was significantly associated with a lower motor- vehicle crash and pedestrian mortality rates, and, (b) increased number of kilometers of roads of any kind was associated with higher fatality rates, but an additional kilometer of main arterial road was associated with a significantly higher increase in total fatalities. When compared to non-arterial roads, the higher the ratio of highways and main arterial roads, there was an association with higher fatality rates. These results have important implications for road safety professionals. They suggest that once the road and street structure is put in place, that will influence whether a city has low or high traffic fatality rates. A city with higher proportion of wider roads and large city blocks will tend to have higher traffic fatality rates, and therefore in turn require much more efforts in police enforcement and other road safety measures. Urban planners need to know that smaller block size with relatively less wide roads will result in lower traffic fatality rates and this needs to be incorporated at the planning stage. Copyright © 2017 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Total safety management: An approach to improving safety culture

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Blush, S.M.

A little over 4 yr ago, Admiral James D. Watkins became Secretary of Energy. President Bush, who had appointed him, informed Watkins that his principal task would be to clean up the nuclear weapons complex and put the US Department of Energy (DOE) back in the business of producing tritium for the nation's nuclear deterrent. Watkins recognized that in order to achieve these objectives, he would have to substantially improve the DOE's safety culture. Safety culture is a relatively new term. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) used it in a 1986 report on the root causes of the Chernobylmore » nuclear accident. In 1990, the IAEA's International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group issued a document focusing directly on safety culture. It provides guidelines to the international nuclear community for measuring the effectiveness of safety culture in nuclear organizations. Safety culture has two principal aspects: an organizational framework conducive to safety and the necessary organizational and individual attitudes that promote safety. These obviously go hand in hand. An organization must create the right framework to foster the right attitudes, but individuals must have the right attitudes to create the organizational framework that will support a good safety culture. The difficulty in developing such a synergistic relationship suggests that achieving and sustaining a strong safety culture is not easy, particularly in an organization whose safety culture is in serious disrepair.« less

Road safety: serious injuries remain a major unsolved problem.

PubMed

Beck, Ben; Cameron, Peter A; Fitzgerald, Mark C; Judson, Rodney T; Teague, Warwick; Lyons, Ronan A; Gabbe, Belinda J

2017-09-18

To investigate temporal trends in the incidence, mortality, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and costs of health loss caused by serious road traffic injury. A retrospective review of data from the population-based Victorian State Trauma Registry and the National Coronial Information System on road traffic-related deaths (pre- and in-hospital) and major trauma (Injury Severity Score > 12) during 2007-2015.Main outcomes and measures: Temporal trends in the incidence of road traffic-related major trauma, mortality, DALYs, and costs of health loss, by road user type. There were 8066 hospitalised road traffic major trauma cases and 2588 road traffic fatalities in Victoria over the 9-year study period. There was no change in the incidence of hospitalised major trauma for motor vehicle occupants (incidence rate ratio [IRR] per year, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.99-1.01; P = 0.70), motorcyclists (IRR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.97-1.01; P = 0.45) or pedestrians (IRR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.97-1.02; P = 0.73), but the incidence for pedal cyclists increased 8% per year (IRR, 1.08; 95% CI; 1.05-1.10; P < 0.001). While DALYs declined for motor vehicle occupants (by 13% between 2007 and 2015), motorcyclists (32%), and pedestrians (5%), there was a 56% increase in DALYs for pedal cyclists. The estimated costs of health loss associated with road traffic injuries exceeded $14 billion during 2007-2015, although the cost per patient declined for all road user groups. As serious injury rates have not declined, current road safety targets will be difficult to meet. Greater attention to preventing serious injury is needed, as is further investment in road safety, particularly for pedal cyclists.

Civility norms, safety climate, and safety outcomes: a preliminary investigation.

PubMed

McGonagle, Alyssa K; Walsh, Benjamin M; Kath, Lisa M; Morrow, Stephanie L

2014-10-01

Working environments that are both civil and safe are good for business and employee well-being. Civility has been empirically linked to such important outcomes as organizational performance and individuals' positive work-related attitudes, yet research relating civility to safety is lacking. In this study, we link perceptions of civility norms to perceptions of safety climate and safety outcomes. Drawing on social exchange theory, we proposed and tested a model in 2 samples wherein civility norms indirectly relate to safety outcomes through associations with various safety climate facets. Our results supported direct relationships between civility and management safety climate and coworker safety climate. Additionally, indirect effects of civility norms on unsafe behaviors and injuries were observed. Indirect effects of civility norms on unsafe behaviors were observed through coworker safety climate and work-safety tension. Indirect effects of civility norms on injuries were observed through management safety climate and work-safety tension for full-time employees, although these effects did not hold for part-time employees. This study provides initial evidence that researchers and practitioners may want to look beyond safety climate to civility norms to more comprehensively understand the origins of unsafe behaviors and injuries and to develop appropriate preventive interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).