Pedestrian safety - Global Road Safety Partnership

Pedestrian safety: a road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners
Although signalized intersections appear to be safer for pedestrians than
uncontrolled intersections, they are still dangerous environments for pedestrians. A
major issue at signalized intersections is the conflict between left- or right-turning
vehicles, which require a larger turning radius, as well as the fact that crossing
pedestrians, may be obscured from the driver’s view. The length of time allowed
for pedestrians to complete crossing is also a factor. Though motorists are required
to give priority to pedestrians at signalized intersections, vehicles sometimes start
turning while pedestrians are still crossing (41).
A pedestrian crossing is a point on a road where pedestrians traverse
the road. Pedestrian crossings, sometimes referred to as crosswalks,
may be found at intersections or along road stretches. Marked crossings are
designated by markings on the road, commonly white stripes. Signalized crossings
include automatic traffic signals that indicate to pedestrians when they
should cross.
2: Pedestrian safety in roadway design and land-use planning
Evidence to date indicates that marked pedestrian crossings should not be
implemented without additional safety measures. Pedestrians may falsely believe they
are safer – that motorists are more likely to see them and stop – at marked pedestrian
crossings, and therefore attempt crossing without due caution increasing their
chance of being hit by a motor vehicle (42). A study of 1000 marked crossings and
1000 unmarked comparison sites, all at uncontrolled crossings, found no significant
difference in safety performance unless additional safety features such as automatic
signals were used (43). This study also found that on multi-lane roads carrying over
12 000 vehicles per day, a marked crossing was more likely to increase pedestrian
risk compared to a similar unmarked crossing, unless safety features such as raised
median refuge islands or pedestrian beacons were also installed. On multi-lane roads
carrying over 15 000 vehicles per day, marked crossings were more likely to increase
pedestrian risk even if raised median refuges were provided (43).
2.1.4 High traffic volume roads
Road environments with high traffic volume and inadequate attention to pedestrian
safety have been found to exacerbate pedestrian collisions. One study in Ontario,
Canada, found that the probability of a pedestrian collision with a left-turning
vehicle was influenced by traffic volume (44), while another in a town in China
found that high volumes of traffic, the presence of bus stops and high volumes of
pedestrians crossing all led to increased collision risk for pedestrians (45).
33