Citation

Li D, Ranjitkar P, Zhao Y, Yi H, Rashidi S. Traffic Injury Prev. 2017; 18(4): 427-430.

Affiliation

Opus International Consultants Ltd, The west haven , 100 Beaumont Street, Auckland 1010 , NEW ZEALAND.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/15389588.2016.1207762

PMID

27657363

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users due to the lack of mass, speed, and protection, compared against other types of road users. Adverse weather conditions may reduce road friction and visibility, and thus increase crash risk. There is limited evidence and a considerable discrepancy about impacts of weather conditions on injury severity in the literature. This paper investigated factors affecting pedestrian injury severity level under different weather conditions based on publicly available accident database of Great Britain.

METHOD: Accident data from Great Britain was analyzed, which is publicly available through the STATS19 database. Factors associated with pedestrian, driver and environment were investigated using a novel approach that combines classification and regression tree with random forest approach.

RESULTS: Significant severity predictors under fine weather conditions from the models included speed limits, pedestrian age, light conditions and vehicle maneuver. Under adverse weather conditions, the significant predictors were pedestrian age, vehicle maneuver and speed limits.

CONCLUSIONS: Elderly pedestrians are associated with higher pedestrian injury severities. Higher speed limit values increase the pedestrian injury severity. Based on the research finding recommendations are provided to improve pedestrian safety.

Language: en