Guidebook on Identification of High Pedestrian Crash Locations

PDF Version (4.22 MB)

Foreword

The overall goal of the Federal Highway Administration’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Research Program is to improve safety and mobility for pedestrians and bicyclists. The program strives to make it safer and easier for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers to share roadways through the development of safer crosswalks, sidewalks, and pedestrian technologies as well as through the expansion of educational and safety programs.

This report documents a five-step, data-driven process to identify high pedestrian crash locations and to anticipate the locations where pedestrians are most at risk. The output of applying the process is a prioritized list of potential locations on the roadway system where safety countermeasures can have the greatest impact. The research that led to this guidebook is documented in the report Development of Guidebook on Identification of High Pedestrian Crash Locations.⁽¹⁾

This report should be of value to engineers, planners, and other community authorities who share an interest in safeguarding the lives of roadway users, especially pedestrians.

Monique R. Evans, P.E., CPM
Director, Office of Safety
Research and Development

SI* (Modern Metric) Conversion Factors

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
  
  
• CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION AND RESOURCES
  • INTRODUCTION
  • PURPOSE
  • RESOURCES
  • PROCESS TO IDENTIFY HIGH PEDESTRIAN CRASH LOCATIONS
    
    
• CHAPTER 2. SELECT APPROACH
  • OVERVIEW
  • APPROACHES CURRENTLY USED TO IDENTIFY PROBLEM LOCATIONS
  • THIS DOCUMENT
    
    
• CHAPTER 3. GATHER DATA
  • OVERVIEW
  • DATA
    • Crash Data
    • Roadway Data
    • Exposure Data
      
      
  • SUPPLEMENTAL DATA SOURCES
  • ANALYSIS PERIOD
    • Number of Years in Analysis
    • Number of Years to Repeat Analysis
      
      
• CHAPTER 4. PLAN ASSESSMENT
  • OVERVIEW
  • SELECT SCALE
    • Points (Intersections)
    • Segments
    • Facilities
    • Area
    • System
      
      
  • SELECT PERFORMANCE MEASURES
    • Crash Frequency—Count
    • Crash Frequency—Density
    • Crash Rate
    • Crash-Type Distribution
    • Crash-Severity Distribution
    • Safety Index
    • Challenges with Existing Performance Measures
    • Grouping Network Elements to Determine Reference Population Norms
      
      
  • SCREENING METHODS
    • Simple Ranking
    • Sliding Window
    • Peak Searching
    • Grid
    • Polygons
    • Visual
      
      
• CHAPTER 5. CONDUCT ASSESSMENT
  • OVERVIEW
  • AVAILABLE TOOLS
  • ASSIGNING CRASHES TO NETWORK ELEMENTS
    • Crash Concentration
    • Intersection Buffer
      
      
  • CRASHES TO EXPOSURE
    
    
• CHAPTER 6. PRIORITIZE SITES
  • OVERVIEW
  • ADJUSTMENTS
  • TOOLS
  • EXAMPLES
  • SURROGATES
    
    
• CHAPTER 7. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS
  • SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL A—EXAMPLE OF SAFETY INDEX
  • SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL B—SCREENING METHOD EXAMPLES
    • Site Identification Analysis
    • Sliding Window Screening for 6th Street
      
      
  • SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL C—ONLINE MAPS
  • SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL D—ADVICE FROM PREVIOUS STUDIES
    
    
• GLOSSARY
  
  
• REFERENCES

LIST OF FIGURES

• Figure 1. Graphic. Steps to identify high pedestrian crash locations
• Figure 2. Graphic. Types of safety data
• Figure 3. Graphic. Substeps within plan-assessment step
• Figure 4. Graphic. Examples of system elements⁽¹⁸⁾
• Figure 5. Graphic. Examples of performance measures for crashes on a segment
• Figure 6. Equation. Typical crash-rate equation used with vehicle volume
• Figure 7. Graph. Example of severity-level differences between a major city and other similar major cities
• Figure 8. Graphic. Example of sliding window screening
• Figure 9. Graphic. Example of a grid over Austin, TX
• Figure 10. Graphic. Example of a crash-density grid
• Figure 11. Graphic. Example of proximity polygons
• Figure 12. Graphic. Example of a heat map
• Figure 13. Flowchart. Conceptual elements of a GIS application
• Figure 14. Graphic. Aggregation of pedestrian crashes
• Figure 15. Graphic. Example of buffers around intersections
• Figure 16. Graphic. Pedestrian preliminary assessment of Austin-area pedestrian crashes
• Figure 17. Graphic. Pedestrian preliminary assessment of area near downtown Austin, TX
• Figure 18. Graphic. Identification of locations of concern using small grids
• Figure 19. Graphic. 6th Street corridor area of analysis
• Figure 20. Graphic. Sliding windows shown as transparent, overlapping oblongs for 6th Street corridor analysis
• Figure 21. Graphic. Sliding window analysis results
• Figure 22. Graphic. Segments of concern identified from the sliding window analysis
• Figure 23. Graphic. One of the areas of concern—includes critical intersections on 6th Street at Nueces Street, San Antonio Street, Guadalupe Street, Lavaca Street, and Colorado Street
• Figure 24. Graphic. Two segments of interest along 6th Street: Trinity through Red River Street and Sabine Street to I-35 Service Road

LIST OF TABLES

• Table 1. Distribution of pedestrian crashes by severity levels for several cities

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS