Citation

Wier M, Weintraub J, Humphreys EH, Seto E, Bhatia R. Accid. Anal. Prev. 2009; 41(1): 137-145.

Affiliation

San Francisco Department of Public Health, Environmental Health Section, Program on Health, Equity and Sustainability, 1390 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA. Megan.Wier@sfdph.org

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.aap.2008.10.001

PMID

19114148

Abstract

There is growing awareness among urban planning, public health, and transportation professionals that design decisions and investments that promote walking can be beneficial for human and ecological health. Planners need practical tools to consider the impact of development on pedestrian safety, a key requirement for the promotion of walking. Simple bivariate models have been used to predict changes in vehicle-pedestrian injury collisions based on changes in traffic volume. We describe the development of a multivariate, area-level regression model of vehicle-pedestrian injury collisions based on environmental and population data in 176 San Francisco, California census tracts. Predictor variables examined included street, land use, and population characteristics, including commute behaviors. The final model explained approximately 72% of the systematic variation in census-tract vehicle-pedestrian injury collisions and included measures of traffic volume, arterial streets without transit, land area, proportion of land area zoned for neighborhood commercial and residential-neighborhood commercial uses, employee and resident populations, proportion of people living in poverty and proportion aged 65 and older. We have begun to apply this model to predict area-level change in vehicle-pedestrian injury collisions associated with land use development and transportation planning decisions.

Language: en