Major urban road characteristics and injured pedestrians: A representative survey of intersections in Montréal, Quebec

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:In urban settings, pedestrian fatalities and injuries are concentrated on major roads. This study aims to describe urban intersections with major roads (arterials and collector roads) and explore the association between intersection characteristics and injured pedestrians. METHODS:From a stratified random sampling in Montréal, Quebec, 512 intersections were selected and their characteristics collected. The number of injured pedestrians from 1999 to 2008 was obtained from ambulance services. Binomial negative regression models (including IRR: incidence rate ratios) were calculated to determine associations between intersection characteristics and injured pedestrians: i) at all intersections; ii) at intersections with multi-lane roads and iii) at signalized intersections with available vehicle and pedestrian counts. RESULTS:Major intersections had more traffic lanes (3.8 vs. 1.7, p < 0.01) and longer pedestrian crossings (18.8 m vs. 12.7 m, p < 0.01) than minor intersections. Bus stops were also more frequent at these intersections (75% vs. 6%, p < 0.01). Overall, each additional traffic lane was associated with a 75% increase in the number of injured pedestrians (IRR = 1.75; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.41-2.18). At intersections with multi-lane roads, a fourth branch (IRR = 2.40; 95% CI = 1.53-3.77), vehicles parked within 5 m of the intersection (IRR = 2.40; 95% CI = 1.64-3.51), and marked crosswalks (IRR = 1.79; 95% CI = 1.08-2.95) significantly increased the number of injured pedestrians. Raised medians had no significant protective effect. CONCLUSIONS:The results show that besides traffic and pedestrian volumes, intersection characteristics contribute to pedestrian injuries. The reduction of traffic lanes, parking prohibition near intersections and implementation of appropriate pedestrian refuge areas would improve pedestrian safety.KEY WORDS: Injuries; pedestrian; major roads; intersections; urban health La traduction du résumé se trouve à la fin de l'article.

A scoping review on the relations between urban form and health: a focus on Canadian quantitative evidence

“…There was consistent evidence for an association between connectivity and route features (e.g., transportation route, traffic and pedestrian signals, tracks, trails, pathways, and sidewalks, street pattern, connectivity and intersections, road and path characteristics) and injury ( Table 2). Connectivity and route features both increased and decreased the risk of pedestrian and cyclist injury (summary of Weight status Chiu et al (2015) 65 Creatore et al (2016) 63 Glazier et al (2014) 42 Lebel et al (2012) 66 Pouliou and Elliott (2010) 41 Ross et al (2007) 67 Wasfi et al (2016) 68 Berry et al (2010) 69 70 Cripton et al (2015) 71 Forbes and Habib (2015) 72 Harris et al (2013) 73 Klassen et al (2014) 74 Miranda-Moreno et al (2011) 75 Morency et al (2012) 76 Morency et al (2015) 77 Richmond et al (2014) 78 Rifaat and Tay (2009) 79 Rifaat et al (2011) 80 Rifaat et al (2011) 81 Romanow et al (2012) 82 Rothman et al (2010) 83 Rothman et al (2012) 84 Strauss et al (2015) 64 Teschke et al (2012) 85 Teschke et al (2016) 86 Zahabi et al (2011) 87 -Weight status Pouliou and Elliott (2010) 41 Glazier et al (2014) 42 Pouliou et al (2014) 46 Prince et al (2011) 88 Prince et al (2012) 89 Continued on the following page 94 Chum and O'Campo (2013) 43 Chum and O'Campo (2015) 44 Depression/anxiety Gariepy et al (2014) 47 Gariepy et al (2015) 48 Gariepy et al 2015…”

Qualitative Field Observation of Pedestrian Injury Hotspots: A Mixed-Methods Approach for Developing Built- and Socioeconomic-Environmental Risk Signatures

“…Street Parking: Street parking has a demonstrated effect on pedestrian injury as it modifies pedestrian behavior. Morency et al [28] found that pedestrian injury rates are higher at intersections with cars parked within five meters of their perimeter. Dommes et al [33] found that pedestrians were more likely to violate the signal at intersections if cars were parked legally around them, yet if cars were parked illegally surrounding the intersection, pedestrians would instead exercise more caution when deciding to cross [34].…”

“…Intersections: The design of intersections also affects PMVC risk. It is widely agreed that four-legged intersections are more dangerous for pedestrians than their three-legged counterparts [15,18,28,29], and that adding more approaches only exacerbates PMVC rates [18,30]. While in some cases this may be a reflection of traffic volume, adding more approaches to an intersection may increase its complexity, making it more dangerous for pedestrians.…”

“…The presence of public transportation infrastructure appears to have a mixed effect on pedestrian injury. Some have found the presence of transit stops to be associated with an increase in the number of crashes in a given area [15,28,30,41], while others have found that transit access is associated with significantly reduced injury severity [31]. It is possible that areas with transit attract more pedestrian traffic, thereby resulting in more PMVCs, but that collisions in these areas occur at a lower speed due to drivers being alert to the greater pedestrian presence and thereby reducing the severity of injuries.…”

ALF-Score: Network-Based Walkability

“…In this example, all other nodes could form number of different orders as long as they remain true to their respective submission. To name a few possible outcome: [1,2,3,4,6,7,8,5], [1,6,7,8,2,3,4,5], [1,2,6,3,7,4,8,5]. We can observe node 1 is maintaining the least rank while node 5 is the highest in all generated outcomes.…”