Edinburgh Napier University

  The review of available literature related to pedestrian accidents indicates that the occurrence of pedestrian accidents is influenced by a diverse range of factors. However, few empirical studies have documented the effects of distance of pedestrian accidents from pedestrian crossing area or junction. The few studies which investigated the impact of the distance from the crossing line on pedestrian accidents, suggest that the longer the distance from road crossing facilities, the higher the likelihood of a pedestrian accident. With respect to the influence of the type of pedestrian crossing on the incidence of pedestrian accidents, a substantial body of literature has found that the types of pedestrian crossing indeed affect the frequency of pedestrian collisions.
Additionally, all the available studies reviewed indicated the positive impact of signalised crossings on the reduction of pedestrian collision risk.
Data from STATS19 show that pedestrian severity rates are higher over the pedestrian crossing points or within 50 meters of pedestrian crossing facilities than those away from it. This is contrary to the expectations that accidents should be least over these crossing facilities. This study investigates in more detail the factors that affect accident occurrence at signalised pedestrian junction and pelican or similar type of crossing facilities in the Scotland area. The main objective of this current research has been to investigate those factors most commonly associated with pedestrian injury severity at a pedestrian crossing or within 50m of one. Accident data of 14 years (from 1993 until 2006) in selected sites show that 942 pedestrian accidents occurred on or within 50m of a signalised pedestrian crossing area. Grid references of accident locations as well as locations of pedestrian crossings were obtained from the STATS 19 database and the local city council. The data was used to identify the locations of accidents relative to the location of pedestrian crossing facilities.
In terms of severity of injuries models, results suggest that pedestrians from the older group received more severe injuries, compared with those from younger groups. Again, this finding underlines the importance of regulations and subsequent enforcement of traffic laws that protect and promote the safety of older pedestrians. The models also showed an association between the severity of injury and the type of pedestrian crossing. Since more KSI accidents have been associated with pelican crossings, there may be a need to undertake raising awareness and education for pedestrians to improve pedestrian safety. In terms of ROW models; it was shown that turning manoeuvres were more likely to violate pedestrian’s ROW and result in accidents than other types of manoeuvres. Moreover, the model showed that heavy-goods vehicles and cars are associated with pedestrian’s ROW, as compared to other types of vehicles. The various issues related to accidents resulting from pedestrian right-of-way can be effectively resolved by rationalisation of pedestrian crossing types; and provision of education with regards to the rules and responsibilities of both pedestrians and drivers at all available crossings.
The models developed to profile pedestrian accidents in Edinburgh suggest that the highest number of pedestrian accidents occurred at pedestrian crossing lines; and that the number of pedestrian accidents decreased when moving away from pedestrian crossing lines or within 50 metres of pedestrian crossing lines. These have serious implications in terms of requiring improvements to pedestrian crossing facilities that can then ensure better pedestrian visibility and provide the public with more protection from moving vehicles. Moreover, another implication of this finding is that more regulatory instruments must be revalidated and further developed, since there are no laws to prevent pedestrians from crossing the road at certain points. The only laws being enforced in the UK are those relating to the prohibition of walking on motorways or slip roads but not regarding loitering on pedestrian crossings. Therefore, the guidelines specified in the Highway Code to deal with pedestrian behaviour while crossing the road have to be revisited and further developed.
The results show that accidents rates decrease as distance increase from the pedestrian crossing facilities. The most risky locations are those at the pedestrian crossings or within 10 meters and the distance from 10 to 30 meters before the pedestrian crossing facilities. Analysis of pedestrian accidents rates and severities for each of pelican and signalised crossings were discussed. An investigation of right-of-way violations associated with pedestrian accidents at pedestrian crossing areas or within 50 metres of the same was carried out. Modelling accidents rates and severities at these pedestrian crossings is also presented in this thesis. Multinomial logit, ordinal and probit logit and binary logit modelling are used to analyse the results.