Midblock Pedestrian Crash Predictions in a Systemic, Risk-Based Pedestrian Safety Process

Author(s):  
Wesley Kumfer ◽  
Libby Thomas ◽  
Laura Sandt ◽  
Bo Lan

Although pedestrian fatalities and injuries in the United States decreased for decades at a rate similar to vehicule occupant fatalities, recent years have seen substantial increases in the pedestrian fatality counts and rate. Most concerning is that the growth in pedestrian fatalities seems to be outstripping any gains in safety. There may be many contributing factors to these increases, including changes in population dynamics, vehicular design, and travel trends, but under more traditional, crash-focused roadway safety management practices, systemic risk patterns are difficult to discern and address. Moreover, locations of risk for pedestrians may be overlooked because important, network-level data types are not collected or analyzed, and pedestrian crashes are often relatively infrequent at specific locations. This paper presents the results of efforts to develop the data profile and analysis methods for a risk-based, systemic pedestrian safety approach. Using 8 years of segment data from the entire street network of the city of Seattle, the research team developed safety performance functions for two types of collision between motor vehicles and pedestrians. These predictive models were used, in conjunction with identified risk factors and countermeasures effectiveness data, to develop a systemic screening tool to identify sites that may benefit from treatment. The end goal of this research is a framework that allows practitioners to identify and prioritize locations within a jurisdiction that are risky for pedestrians and to identify and implement effective, appropriate treatments at many such locations.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 113-113
Author(s):  
Shuangshuang Wang ◽  
Nina Silverstein ◽  
Chae Man Lee ◽  
Frank Porell ◽  
Beth Dugan

Abstract The number of pedestrian crashes in the United States has increased by 35 percent from 2008 to 2017. Among all pedestrian fatalities in 2017, 48% were pedestrians aged 50 and older, which suggests a disproportionate threat to older residents’ health and safety. Massachusetts has a large older population and is experiencing increased numbers of older pedestrian crashes. This research identified risk factors and community characteristics contributing to older pedestrian crashes and suggests leveraging the state’s age-friendly efforts to speed the implementation of countermeasures. Based on ten-year statewide crash data (2006-2015) and community indicators from the 2018 Massachusetts Healthy Aging Data Report, this study examined 4,472 crashes across Massachusetts that involved pedestrians age 55 and over. The leading reasons for crashes were driver’s inattention, driver’s failure to yield right of way, and driver’s issues with visibility. Older pedestrians were hit while walking in the road, often in crosswalks at intersections. Many factors were found to contribute to older pedestrian crashes: time of day (rush hour), time of year (winter), and community factors (higher rates of disabilities, higher percentage of racial minority residents, higher number of cultural amenities, and lack of dementia-friendly community efforts. Greater awareness of older pedestrian safety risks is needed. Communities highlighted in this research warrant priority attention from planning, health, aging services, and transportation authorities to improve older pedestrian safety.


Author(s):  
Elissa Goughnour ◽  
Daniel Carter ◽  
Craig Lyon ◽  
Bhagwant Persaud ◽  
Bo Lan ◽  
...  

Pedestrian safety is an important public health issue for the United States, with pedestrian fatalities representing approximately 16% of all traffic-related fatalities in 2016. Nationwide, transportation agencies are increasing their efforts to implement engineering-based improvements that increase pedestrian safety. These agencies need statistically rigorous crash modification factors (CMFs) to demonstrate the safety effectiveness of such countermeasures, and to apply in benefit–cost analyses to justify their implementation. This study focused on developing CMFs for two countermeasures that show promise for improving pedestrian safety: protected or protected/permissive left-turn phasing, and leading pedestrian intervals (LPIs). Data were acquired from four North American cities that had installed one or both of the countermeasures of interest: Chicago, IL; New York City, NY; Charlotte, NC; and Toronto, ON. The empirical Bayes before–after study design was applied to estimate the change in expected crash frequency for crashes following treatment. The protected left-turn phasing evaluation showed a benefit in reducing vehicle–vehicle injury crashes, but did not produce statistically significant results for vehicle–pedestrian crashes. For those crashes a disaggregate analysis did reveal that this treatment could be especially beneficial where pedestrian volumes exceed 5,500 per day. The LPI evaluation showed a statistically significant reduction in vehicle–pedestrian crashes with an estimated CMF of 0.87.


Author(s):  
Lishengsa Yue ◽  
Mohamed Abdel-Aty ◽  
Yina Wu ◽  
Samiul Hasan ◽  
Ou Zheng

An active pedestrian safety system (APSS) would be more effective by considering the implications of crash contributing factors. In addition, the APSS needs to be tested and evaluated in the field; therefore, a comprehensive scenario library is necessary. In this study, 135 pedestrian crash reports were investigated. The driving reliability and error analysis method was first applied to identify the contributing factors that can be potentially solved by the APSS function; then, the association rules method was adopted to analyze the joint effect of contributing factors and roadway facility features on injury/fatal pedestrian crashes. The results showed that “inattention,”“failure intention prediction,”“reduced visibility,” and “temporary/permanent obstruction of view” were the first four most frequent contributing factors. Moreover, injury/fatal pedestrian crashes resulting from “failure intention prediction” and “temporary/permanent obstruction of view” were more likely to occur at a location with more than three lanes, a curb shoulder, and a posted speed limit of 40–45 mph. Further, based on the crash contributing factors, the APSS’s functional design is suggested to provide conflict-time-based warning information, pedestrian movement prediction, and detection and tracking of moving objects behind the obstruction. The APSS’s sensing ability is required to detect the vehicle’s nearby area and to be adaptive to poor lighting conditions. Finally, a scenario library was proposed for field testing/evaluation of the APSS. The scenario library has 10 sub-scenarios with detailed object configurations as well as required testing/evaluation items for the APSS. This study’s findings would be helpful for automobile manufacturers to improve the APSS.


Author(s):  
Subasish Das ◽  
Apoorba Bibeka ◽  
Xiaoduan Sun ◽  
Hongmin “Tracy” Zhou ◽  
Mohammad Jalayer

Recent statistics show that around 20% of all pedestrian fatalities (1,002 out of 5,376) in 2015 were pedestrians over the age of 65. There is a need to identify issues associated with elderly pedestrian crashes to develop effective countermeasures. This study aimed to determine the key associations between contributing factors of elderly pedestrian crashes. The authors analyzed three years (2014 to 2016) of elderly pedestrian fatal crashes from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System in the United States by using empirical Bayes (EB) data mining. The findings of this study revealed several association patterns with high crash potential for elderly pedestrians that include backing vehicle-related crashes for female pedestrians (especially those aged 79 and above), segment-related crashes at night for 65 to 69 year-old male pedestrians, crossing an expressway at night for male pedestrians, especially the 65 to 69 year group, failure to yield while crossing at intersections, and crashes occurring in the dark with poor street lighting. The findings of this study could help authorities determine effective countermeasures for this group of vulnerable road users.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (9) ◽  
pp. 256-264
Author(s):  
Stefka Ilieva Koleva

This literature review explores some common factors contributing to Never Events in surgery. Despite significant patient safety efforts, serious preventable surgical events that turn into Never Events continue to exist. Various search databases were used to collect relevant contemporary data within the time parameters 2008–2019. The literature revealed numerous studies from the United States of America and worldwide, and the need for more current research from the United Kingdom on the subject. The key findings emphasise that communication failure, situational awareness, fatigue, lack of healthcare professionals and surgical caseload are common contributing factors to Never Events. The implications of these findings for practice highlight that despite multidisciplinary approaches, technologies, policies and strategies, Never Events are a common phenomenon in surgery. To minimise their occurrence, more robust and reliable safety management systems need to be in place within healthcare organisations. In depth understanding of cognitive Human Factors and non-technical skills need to be encouraged through education, training and continuous evaluation of success and failure.


Shore & Beach ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 83-91
Author(s):  
Tim Carruthers ◽  
Richard Raynie ◽  
Alyssa Dausman ◽  
Syed Khalil

Natural resources of coastal Louisiana support the economies of Louisiana and the whole of the United States. However, future conditions of coastal Louisiana are highly uncertain due to the dynamic processes of the Mississippi River delta, unpredictable storm events, subsidence, sea level rise, increasing temperatures, and extensive historic management actions that have altered natural coastal processes. To address these concerns, a centralized state agency was formed to coordinate coastal protection and restoration effort, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA). This promoted knowledge centralization and supported informal adaptive management for restoration efforts, at that time mostly funded through the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA). Since the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in 2010 and the subsequent settlement, the majority of restoration funding for the next 15 years will come through one of the DWH mechanisms; Natural Resource and Damage Assessment (NRDA), the RESTORE Council, or National Fish and Wildlife Foundation –Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund (NFWF-GEBF). This has greatly increased restoration effort and increased governance complexity associated with project funding, implementation, and reporting. As a result, there is enhanced impetus to formalize and unify adaptive management processes for coastal restoration in Louisiana. Through synthesis of input from local coastal managers, historical and current processes for project and programmatic implementation and adaptive management were summarized. Key gaps and needs to specifically increase implementation of adaptive management within the Louisiana coastal restoration community were identified and developed into eight tangible and specific recommendations. These were to streamline governance through increased coordination amongst implementing entities, develop a discoverable and practical lessons learned and decision database, coordinate ecosystem reporting, identify commonality of restoration goals, develop a common cross-agency adaptive management handbook for all personnel, improve communication (both in-reach and outreach), have a common repository and clearing house for numerical models used for restoration planning and assessment, and expand approaches for two-way stakeholder engagement throughout the restoration process. A common vision and maximizing synergies between entities can improve adaptive management implementation to maximize ecosystem and community benefits of restoration effort in coastal Louisiana. This work adds to current knowledge by providing specific strategies and recommendations, based upon extensive engagement with restoration practitioners from multiple state and federal agencies. Addressing these practitioner-identified gaps and needs will improve engagement in adaptive management in coastal Louisiana, a large geographic area with high restoration implementation within a complex governance framework.


1992 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Tyson

Several authors have suggested that a particular managerial component was needed before cost accounting could be fully used for accountability and disciplinary purposes. They argue that the marriage of managerialism and accounting first occurred in the United States at the Springfield Armory after 1840. They generally downplay the quality and usefulness of cost accounting at the New England textile mills before that time and call for a re-examination of original mill records from a disciplinary perspective. This paper reports the results of such a re-examination. It initially describes the social and economic environment of U.S. textile manufacturing in New England in the early nineteenth century. Selected cost memos and reports are described and analyzed to indicate the nature and scope of costing undertaken at the mills in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the late 1820s and early 1830s. The paper discusses how particular cost information was used and speculates why certain more modern procedures were not adopted. Its major finding is that cost management practices fully measured up to the business complexities, economic pressures, and social forces of the day.


2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (13) ◽  
pp. 1423-1428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris A. Rees ◽  
Lois K. Lee ◽  
Eric W. Fleegler ◽  
Rebekah Mannix

School shootings comprise a small proportion of childhood deaths from firearms; however, these shootings receive a disproportionately large share of media attention. We conducted a root cause analysis of 2 recent school shootings in the United States using lay press reports. We reviewed 1760 and analyzed 282 articles from the 10 most trusted news sources. We identified 356 factors associated with the school shootings. Policy-level factors, including a paucity of adequate legislation controlling firearm purchase and ownership, were the most common contributing factors to school shootings. Mental illness was a commonly cited person-level factor, and access to firearms in the home and availability of large-capacity firearms were commonly cited environmental factors. Novel approaches, including root cause analyses using lay media, can identify factors contributing to mass shootings. The policy, person, and environmental factors associated with these school shootings should be addressed as part of a multipronged effort to prevent future mass shootings.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document