Research

Integrating police reports with geographic information system resources for uncovering patterns of pedestrian crashes in Denmark

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Abstract

Promoting walking goes a long way in contributing to the sustainability and health of future cities and regions, and improving pedestrian safety is essential for building more sustainable and healthier communities. As the problem is multifaceted in nature, this study looks at patterns of pedestrian crashes from a perspective that goes beyond the traditional investigation of pedestrian characteristics and behaviour by analysing the contribution of built environment, land use, and traffic conditions. Moreover, this study goes beyond the traditional analysis of traditional police reports by integrating them with rich geographic information system resources. This study analysed a sample of 7469 crashes between a pedestrian and another road user that occurred in Denmark between 2006 and 2015. The crash locations were geocoded and matched to a detailed traffic network, a transport planning model, and several resources detailing building and land use composition. Latent class analysis uncovered patterns of pedestrian crashes for both the fully identified records and the substantial amount of hit-and-run records. Findings from this study reveal a major red thread in the lack of hazard awareness for both pedestrians and road users and suggest solutions from both the behavioural and the infrastructure perspectives. Major needs are (i) educating pedestrians about the risks related to drinking and then walking along major roads in the darkness, (ii) making crossings for pedestrians and approaches for road users easier to understand and to access in order to reduce unnecessary conflicts, and (iii) designing traffic calming solutions around major shopping and leisure locations in dense city centres.