Nighttime pedestrian fatalities: A comprehensive examination of infrastructure, user, vehicle, and situational factors

Ferenchak, Nicholas N.; Abadi, Masoud Ghodrat

doi:10.1016/j.jsr.2021.07.002

Cited by 27 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Findings from past research agree that increased pedestrian fatalities are correlated with infrastructure, vehicle, and person characteristics. Specifically, pedestrian fatality increases have concentrated on roads with speed limits in the 40–45 mph range, roads identified as arterials, and roads with more than four lanes ( 1 , 3–5 ). The age of pedestrians killed has consistently increased over recent years and Black and Native American pedestrians are disproportionately killed in the U.S. ( 1 , 6 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, pedestrian fatality increases have concentrated on roads with speed limits in the 40–45 mph range, roads identified as arterials, and roads with more than four lanes ( 1 , 3–5 ). The age of pedestrians killed has consistently increased over recent years and Black and Native American pedestrians are disproportionately killed in the U.S. ( 1 , 6 ). Increased exposure and the promotion of walking, jogging, and running as exercise are possible contributors to the increase in pedestrian fatalities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, past research has found that pedestrian safety is very much an urban issue. Ferenchak and Abadi found that 99.7% of additional post-2010 pedestrian fatalities were categorized as urban ( 1 ). But, given that FARS only has a simplistic urban/rural dichotomy, the definition is imprecise at best.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A paper from 2022 analyzing U.S. pedestrian fatalities found critical connections between roadway design and population patterns that disproportionately affect Native American and Black populations ( 6 ). Furthermore, older pedestrians are more susceptible to injury, and the average age of pedestrians killed has been increasing over the last 15 years ( 1 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Past research has explored characteristics of these pedestrian fatalities including the people, vehicles, and roadways involved ( 1 , 2 ). But where are these crashes occurring and what are the spatial characteristics of the locations of these fatalities?…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Longitudinal Spatial Trends in U.S. Pedestrian Fatalities, 1999–2020

Sanchez Rodriguez,

Ferenchak

2023

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation R

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The number of pedestrian deaths from motor vehicle crashes in the U.S. has risen 59% since 2009. Several studies have researched crash characteristics—such as the people, vehicles, and roadways involved—when examining this sharp increase. But where are these fatalities occurring and what spatial characteristics of these locations could be influencing this trend? We looked at pedestrian fatality data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System and socioeconomic, demographic, and built environment data from the U.S. Census and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Smart Location Database for the study period of 1999–2020. After inputting the data into QGIS, we made graphs with 95% confidence intervals to analyze longitudinal trends in crash location characteristics and created heat maps of pedestrian fatality locations in nine large U.S. cities to compare clustering in the beginning of the study period (1999–2002) with clustering at the end (2017–2020). The results of this study indicate that pedestrian fatalities are moving away from downtown areas (with a 63.0% decrease in study cities’ downtowns) and are now happening more in suburbs (a 32.1% increase outside downtowns). Many of these suburbs are post-war suburbs that were built in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s and have low population and road densities and low levels of pedestrian commuting. Additionally, these fatalities are happening in neighborhoods with high proportions of minority residents, low educational attainment, and high poverty rates that are more than 60% above the national average.

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