Pedestrian road safety in relation to urban road type and traffic flow

Abstract

The paper presents an analysis of the relationship between pedestrian road safety, urban road type and motorists' traffic flow. A suitable index for the evaluation of the walkability level of an urban street is the pedestrian traffic flow and the walking behavior. The researchers examined six urban streets of various types in the city of Volos (a medium-sized Greek city, 130,000 inhabitants). They collected data of the pedestrian traffic flow and their legal or illegal walking behavior for each road segment of the examined streets. Furthermore, they collected data of motorists' traffic flow in the same road segments of the streets in the study area. The combination of those data with the administrative ranking of each road can indicate a walkability level of an examined street or a specific route and reveal pedestrians' mobility and safety issues. This study supports that walking behavior differs for various road types. Pedestrians with the highest rate of legal behavior were presented in main arterials (91.8%) and the lowest one in local streets (53.7%). Low level of motorized traffic flow in combination with maintenance and mobility problems in pedestrian infrastructure incites pedestrians to walk in the street thus underestimating their safety issues. Promotion of pedestrian mobility emphasizing in safety issues can change the modal split in favor of vulnerable road users, increase the sustainability index of an urban area and improve the citizens' quality of life. © 2017 The Authors.