Public Transit Access

Key Findings and Issues

The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) has identified the safety of pedestrian crossings adjacent bus stops as a concern. The concern is with stops located along high-speed arterials having widely-spaced traffic signals, low pedestrian volumes, and few opportunities for either protected or marked crossings. The TCRP is looking to fund a study entitled Safe Roadway Crossings for Bus Passengers, with the objective of producing a bus stop traffic signal warrant for pedestrian crossings. The warrant would be included in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Researchers and pedestrian safety advocates have also observed that, in many cities, pedestrian-vehicle crashes are concentrated near transit stops, including bus stops and light-rail stations.

Policies, Plans and Actions

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA), in their efforts to preserve safe, TRAX light-rail operations, provides a list of motorist and pedestrian safety "reminders." It is not known if the UTA or any of the other transit operators in Utah are monitoring pedestrian safety in the vicinity of transit stops.

Recommendations

As indicated above, research is being initiated on safety of pedestrians while accessing public transportation. To contribute to the research, a recommendation would be to examine Utah's pedestrian-vehicle crash data for incidents occurring at and near transit stops. The examination would include both bus and light-rail services. Such a study might lead to suggestions for pedestrian safety improvements at and near transit stops. One of the difficulties of the analysis would be in confirming that the pedestrian involved was either accessing or leaving a transit stop at the time of the crash.

Railroad Crossings

Key Findings and Issues

Pedestrian-train collisions at railroad-highway grade crossings in Utah occur infrequently. Between 1997 and 2000, one pedestrian fatality occurred at a public rail-highway crossing. Trespasser collisions (pedestrian-train incidents not at railroad-highway grade crossings) in Utah occur with some regularity. The annual number of trespasser fatalities in Utah was between 1 and 3 from 1997 to 2000. During those same years, the annual number of nonfatal trespasser incidents was between 1 and 5 (Federal Railroad Administration 2000).

Policies, Plans and Actions

Operation Lifesaver was established to educate the public about railroad crossing and right-of-way safety, promote enforcement of traffic laws at grade crossings, and encourage research on railroad safety. The Utah Chapter of Operation Lifesaver is involved in these activities, including the annual publication of train collision data.

Recommendations

Pedestrian safety education should give attention to proper railroad track crossing techniques. Pedestrians should be encouraged and warned to be alert when walking along or across railroad tracks away from standard at-grade crossings. Trespasser incidents should be investigated for possible safety improvements.

Regional Planning

Key Findings and Issues

The MAG adopted the Utah County Non-Motorized Trails Plan in November 1996. The impetus for the development of the plan was, at the time, the non-attainment status of Utah County's air quality. The plan identifies an extensive network of trails that are mapped and funded annually. The MAG's planning efforts included the development and application of the PFI, as well as pedestrian trip-end estimation. Eldridge (1998) considered the MAG's non-motorized planning efforts to be the most significant yet completed in Utah.

One of the ongoing duties of the WFRC is to forecast travel demand in the Salt Lake City-Ogden area. In an effort to update its model, the WFRC completed a travel model recalibration study in 1994. The WFRC determined that adequate data were not available to properly represent non-motorized trips in the model. That is, no correlation was found between non-motorized trips and the levels of pedestrian friendliness, as measured using the PFI.

The Cache MPO produced a long-range pedestrian-bicycle plan in June 1999. The plan identified areas of high pedestrian activity, recommended safety and awareness programs, described funding sources, and listed both short-term and long-term projects.

Policies, Plans and Actions

Based on their findings in the recalibration study, the WFRC recommended, in the interim, that their model use non-motorized trip-end ratios developed for the Provo-Orem region by MAG. For future forecasting needs, the WFRC recommended that adjustments to zonal average non-motorized trip-end ratios be made based on estimated changes to each traffic analysis zone's PFI.

Recommendations

The WFRC recommendations are a reasonable compromise to the data inadequacy concerns mentioned above. It is evident, though, that the collection of additional data on walking would be useful. The data would include walk origin and destination, trip purpose, and trip frequency information. As discussed in Cottrell (2001), an ongoing concern is that the amount of walking done by the typical individual has been gradually decreasing since the 1970s. Any changes in pedestrian safety statistics should be evaluated in terms of changes in the cumulative amount of walking. For example, the trend in a measure such as crashes per thousands-of-miles-walked might provide a more accurate picture of pedestrian safety than crash rates that are based on population or VMT. The difficulty of obtaining the required data on walking is recognized. Further recommendations on how best to collect the data would require additional study.

The MAG's and the Cache MPO's non-motorized planning efforts are exemplary. The development of similar regional pedestrian-bicycle plans is recommended for Utah's other urban regions, including Salt Lake City-Ogden and St. George. Such plans would establish benchmarks and objectives, while also enhancing the understanding of existing needs. For example, Eldridge (1998) discusses a latent demand for pedestrian travel. The hypothesis is that a number of pedestrian trips are not taken because adequate pedestrian facilities are not available. The presumption is that private motor vehicles are used in place of walking. Assessments of both the latent and the future demand for walk trips would involve home-based travel surveys, workplace travel surveys, and forecasts based on changes in Utah's demographics.

Safety and Liability Concerns

Key Findings and Issues

Nationally, in 1999, 47 percent of all pedestrian injuries and 79 percent of all pedestrian fatalities occurred in collisions with motor vehicles away from intersections. The conclusion is that lower speeds are prevalent at intersections, such that pedestrian-vehicle impacts are less severe than at midblock locations. Further, these statistics allude to the severity of high-speed crashes that are prevalent along suburban arterials and rural highways. Males represented 59 percent of all injured pedestrians and 70 percent of all pedestrian fatalities; these figures are disproportionate to the percent of males in the population. The riskiest hours of the day for pedestrians are between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.; 25 percent of all pedestrian fatalities occurred during this time. On weekends, pedestrians were killed at the rate of 1.4 per hour between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. (Traffic Safety Facts 1999). Some other findings, based on various research studies, are as follows (Agran et al. 1994; Bell et al. 1980; Braddock et al. 1991; Centers for Disease Control 1997; Cottrell 2001; Dougherty et al. 1990; Ehrlich 1985; Ferguson et al. 1995; Lane et al. 1994; Mueller et al. 1987; Mueller et al. 1990; Olson et al. 1993; Rivara et al. 1989):

• In the state of Washington, 69 percent of 5,248 injured pedestrians were hit during dry weather, 28 percent were hit during wet weather, and 3 percent were hit during snow or icy conditions. Pedestrian activity may have been lighter during inclement weather.
• The most vulnerable areas for pedestrians are typically where pedestrians have the greatest exposure: low-income tracts, tracts in which there is a high percentage of female-headed households, and tracts in which there is a large number of persons per household.
• One study found that the child pedestrian-vehicle crash rate on Halloween, between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m., is four times that at other times of the year.
• Data on mean walking speeds indicate that elderly pedestrians may need up to 50 percent more time to cross a street than younger pedestrians.
• Several authors suggest that the greatest impacts on pedestrian mortality would be through traffic safety improvements, modifications to vehicular body designs, and child pedestrian safety education.
• Low-speed child pedestrian crashes, in which the child is run over by a backing or other slow-moving vehicle, is an ongoing problem. In a review of data from St. Louis, Mo., of 13 children run over by vehicles, only one was over age 6.
• One author found that pedestrian-vehicle collisions increase dramatically during the first few weeks following the changeover from daylight savings time to standard time.
• High pedestrian fatality rates are associated with dark areas where there is no artificial lighting.
• The following pedestrian safety enhancements were estimated to reduce pedestrian-vehicle collisions by 29 percent or more at the respective sites: illumination of an intersection, conversion from two-way to one-way streets, ordinances governing the location and treatment of pedestrians at bus stops, and ordinances governing ice cream vendors.

The legal responsibilities of a public agency in the event of a pedestrian-vehicle crash are dependent upon the specifics of the incident. In most cases, either the driver or the pedestrian is held at fault for the collision. Any lawsuits or settlements remain limited to the parties involved. A public agency or private property owner could potentially be liable in a slip, trip and fall incident, or when facilities are inadequate (poor or no lighting, missing or no warning signs, etc.). An extensive review of pedestrian safety and liability matters was beyond the scope of this research.

Policies, Plans and Actions

A detailed review of specific linkages between the preceding findings and pedestrian safety policies in Utah was not conducted. The following recommendations presume that these issues need to be addressed.

Recommendations

The findings and issues discussed above suggest the need for multiple interventions. These would include pedestrian safety education and increased awareness of the individual concerns. Some further mitigating strategies are as follows:

Child Pedestrians

To improve child pedestrian safety, it may be important to examine the ages of the children who walk to and from school. Dramatic changes in the child's street-crossing ability occur as the child ages from about six to the pre-teen years. A large proportion of very young children walking to and from school may indicate the need for special provisions. The implementation of this recommendation would involve surveys and interviews of both parents and children. Tight (1988) suggests that child pedestrians are at the greatest risk for a motor vehicle collision within 500 meters of a school. Jordan's (1998) findings are contradictory, but the need for special consideration of the pedestrian crossing provisions within the vicinity of a school is evident. Bass et al. (1992) suggests that late afternoon restrictions on vehicular travel on certain streets might be a way to reduce child pedestrian injuries. It is at this time of the day that children are returning home from school or are outside playing.

A few other recommendations for improving child pedestrian safety follow. First, given that a number of small children are run over by vehicles backing down a driveway, circular driveways might be a countermeasure. Second, reducing motor vehicle speeds (via traffic controls or traffic calming) and the density of curb parking may be safety enhancements. If child pedestrian safety on Halloween is a problem in Utah, intervention may be needed. Intensive community pedestrian safety patrols, organized by community and neighborhood groups, would be one approach. The magnitude of the need for these recommendations would require an up-close assessment of Utah's pedestrian safety data.

Elderly Pedestrians

A potential strategy at crossings that are frequented by the elderly would be to increase the pedestrian green time. (This may be a particularly useful strategy throughout Utah, where the streets in urbanized areas are typically wide). Pedestrian crossing speeds should be based on walking speeds of the elderly. Hoxie and Rubinstein (1994) suggest a design speed of 0.9 m/sec (3.0 ft/sec) for the elderly. Coffin and Morrall (1995) recommended design speeds of 1.0 m/sec (3.3 ft/sec) for midblock crossings and 1.2 m/sec (3.9 ft/sec) for signalized intersections. Further interventions recommended for elderly citizens include specialized traffic controls, signing, enforcement, and pedestrian safety training at senior living centers. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 1996, Utah was projected to have the second-fastest elderly population growth rate in the country between 1995 and 2025 (5.1 percent to 6.9 percent per year). In fact, in 1995, Utah had the highest ratio of youth (under age 20) and elderly (over age 64) to adults in the United States, at 90.1 per 100. This ratio is expected to increase to 97.7 in 2025 (Campbell 1996). These projections indicate that the needs of elderly (and child) pedestrians in Utah will continue to grow.

Other Issues

Given that pedestrian exposure is a problem in low-income tracts, tracts in which there is a high percentage of female-headed households, and tracts in which there is a large number of persons per household, traffic engineering modifications may have the greatest impacts in these areas. The modifications might include signing, traffic controls, traffic calming devices, and on-street parking regulations. Studies of U.S. Census data would be required to isolate the problem areas.

Pedestrians should be made aware of the heightened safety concern at the changeover from daylight savings to standard time. Pedestrians should be reminded of the earlier darkness and be encouraged to increase their vigilance. Also, installation of lighting would be an effective countermeasure at recurring pedestrian-vehicle crash sites at which artificial lighting is poor or non-existent. An in-depth examination of Utah's pedestrian safety data might reveal locations where lighting could have circumvented a collision.

Liability

Although a review of pedestrian safety and liability concerns was not part of this research, such a review might be beneficial. Among the findings would be the legal costs of pedestrian safety incidents, the economic benefits of safety improvements, and a determination and review of who was at fault in various cases.