Vulnerable road users contribute to nearly half of road deaths globally. In New Zealand, this group accounts for 26% of road deaths, which includes 8% of pedestrian crashes. This paper provides a critical review of the road safety policies from the pedestrian’s viewpoint for some of the best performing countries and discusses their effectiveness for the future. A case study is conducted for New Zealand to identify factors contributing to the pedestrian crashes and investigate the impact of the road safety policies on pedestrian crash trends. The policies are predominantly well informed by evidence-based approaches contributing to an overall reduction in the number of road crashes. However, little attention has been paid on pedestrian behaviour related to crashes. Finally, the paper makes recommendations for improving pedestrian safety to enable better safety outcomes that are closer to vision zero.

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Crossing roads at mid-block sections often creates ambiguity about priority between pedestrians and drivers, resulting in conflicts, road crashes, death, and human injury. To share the road space safely, they need to anticipate other user behaviors whilst maintaining and modifying their own habitual and desired maneuvers. This study investigates the effect of pedestrian assertive behaviors and vehicle user characteristics on driver yielding at mid-block sections. Road users’ interactions were observed in a dense mixed land use urban area of Central Auckland, New Zealand. Bayesian structural equation modeling is used to find interrelationships of multivariate data. The result shows that yielding levels decrease when the vehicle speed increases and they are not part of a platoon. Pedestrians’ direct signals (i.e., hand gestures) can increase drivers’ willingness to yield. Conversely, pedestrians, who tend to run or cross heedlessly through the traffic, are less likely to modify driver behavior in a high-speed environment. However, these factors are mediated through vehicle speed-related factors. Women are more likely to be given priority compared to men, especially when they have slow crossing speed. The study offers a better understanding of road users’ interactions outside controlled crossings. It provides evidence why it is important to reduce operating speeds in areas where there is a high demand for sharing between vehicles and vulnerable road users and mid-block crossings. Road users can be better informed to understand more gesture communication combined with appropriate engineering practice, such as traffic calming, and where appropriate re-prioritization of road space to influence drivers’ operating speeds.

Traffic crashes involving pedestrians often occur when the gap acceptance selected is below the minimum critical gap. Social cues and situational awareness play a key role in pedestrians’ choices when crossing roads at unprotected mid-blocks. This paper investigates the effects of conformist behavior on pedestrians’ cautiousness relative to their age group. In particular, we examine differences between adolescents (aged 13–18 years) and adults (aged 18 years or over). Video cameras were set at three urban locations in Auckland City, New Zealand. A total of 1,330 pedestrians were divided into four age groups, with adolescence used as the reference group. Risk ratios and regression analysis were used to measure the association between variables. The key finding from the observed behavior shows that group dynamics can reduce individuals’ attention to the road crossing regardless of age and gender. Although both adolescents and adults display self-regulation with various cautious behaviors, the presence of others affects their selection of the safety margin (time left to spare after crossing). Differences in the safety margins for groups of adolescents and adults largely involved the relationship amongst the group members rather than the number of people. Such findings present evidence that injury prevention strategies need to reflect the instincts and behavioral habits of different pedestrians. Encouraging a safety culture targeted specifically at various age groups that aligns with road design facilities and recognizes these behaviors will assist in the reduction of crashes involving pedestrians.