U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations
REPORT |
This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information |
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-21-087 Date: October 2021 |
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-21-087 Date: October 2021 |
PDF Version (2.40 MB)
Technical Report Documentation Page
1. Report No.
FHWA-HRT-21-087 |
2. Government Accession No. | 3 Recipient's Catalog No. | ||
4. Title and Subtitle
An Exploration of Pedestrian Safety Through the Integration of HSIS and Emerging Data Sources: Case Study in Charlotte, NC |
5. Report Date
October 2021 |
|||
6. Performing Organization Code | ||||
7. Author(s)
Ian Hamilton (ORCID: 0000-0003-0949-5495), Kristin Kersavage (ORCID: 0000-0002-3601-7766), R.J. Porter (ORCID: 0000-0001-8535-3451), Keith Smith (ORCID: 0000-0003-4520-8473), Josie Sanchez (ORCID: 0000-0002-6901-9899), Vikash Gayah (ORCID: 0000-0002-0648-3360), Kimberly Eccles (ORCID: 0000-0001-7522-9609) |
8. Performing Organization Report No. | |||
9. Performing Organization Name and Address
Vanasse Hangen Brustlin |
10. Work Unit No. | |||
11. Contract or Grant No.
DTFH61-11-C-00050 |
||||
12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address
Office of Research and Design |
13. Type of Report and Period Covered
Report; February 2020–January 2021 |
|||
14. Sponsoring Agency Code
HRDS-20 |
||||
15. Supplementary Notes
The Contracting Officer's Representative is Ana Maria Eigen (HRDS-20). |
||||
16. Abstract
This report built on a geospatial pilot effort by the Highway Safety Information System (HSIS) using data from Charlotte, NC. The main objective of this study was to spatially integrate HSIS data with multi-jurisdictional and emerging datasets to analyze two measures of pedestrian safety performance: the severity of a pedestrian crash that has occurred, and the probability that a pedestrian crash will occur. The study explored several high-priority research topics in safety data and analysis, including pedestrian crash analysis, probe data integration and analysis, and geospatial HSIS data integration. The project team developed a pedestrian count model to predict pedestrian volumes at locations without pedestrian counts and integrated speed information from probe data to supplement other roadway and contextual transportation data from several agencies. Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, employment, land use, sidewalk presence, transit access, and roadway and intersection characteristics all significantly contributed to pedestrian volume predictions. The project team identified numerous significant factors that influenced pedestrian crash severity and probability. These factors included those identified in previous research, as well as new relationships between pedestrian volumes and vehicular traffic that have implications for pedestrian safety-in-numbers concepts. Results showed that higher pedestrian volumes resulted in both lower crash severities and probabilities, but the safety benefit was reduced by higher vehicle volumes. Higher speeds, higher traffic volumes, larger vehicles striking the pedestrian, pedestrian impairment, and older pedestrian ages were all indicative of higher probabilities of a pedestrian crash resulting in a fatality or serious injury. By adding a direct measure of speed from probe data (and given the known importance of speed to crash injury severity), the pedestrian crash severity model excluded commonly used speed surrogates without sacrificing model fit. The probability of a pedestrian crash occurring on a road segment was affected by segment length, interactions of pedestrian volumes and traffic volumes, and interactions of posted speed limit, median presence, and number of lanes. This study highlights the applicability of integrating HSIS with emerging safety data resources to inform data-driven and performance-based approaches to road safety management. |
||||
17. Key Words
Highway Safety Information System, data integration, pedestrian safety, pedestrian exposure, probe data, speed |
18. Distribution Statement
No restrictions. This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161. |
|||
19. Security Classification (of this report) Unclassified |
20. Security Classification (of this page) Unclassified |
21. No. of Pages
63 |
22. Price
N/A |
Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) | Reproduction of completed page authorized |