Dataset Information

An investigation of driver, pedestrian, and environmental characteristics and resulting pedestrian injury.

ABSTRACT: Objective: Walking is integral to transportation and physical activity, but safety is a primary concern for pedestrians due to the increasing number of injuries and deaths per year. To address the need for avenues of pedestrian safety improvements, this study's objective is to determine the association among driver and pedestrian characteristics and behavior, environmental characteristics, and the presence of injury resulting from a pedestrian-vehicle crash. Methods: Pedestrian crashes were examined in Ohio from 2013 to 2017 using state crash records. Descriptive statistics as well as univariate and multivariable analyses were performed to estimate the odds of pedestrian injury. Results: Of the 11,241 pedestrian crashes analyzed, 66% resulted in injury. The odds of pedestrian injury increased when the driver was male, the driver was under the influence of alcohol, the cause of the crash was the pedestrian darting, the pedestrian was struck while in the travel lane, the pedestrian was aged 65 or older, the pedestrian was under the influence of alcohol, or under dark conditions on an unlit roadway. Factors that lowered the odds of injury were pedestrian age 0-4 and vehicle maneuvers other than driving straight ahead, such as backing and turning. Conclusion: These findings identify several factors associated with pedestrian injury, and public health efforts that could influence pedestrian safety are discussed.

SUBMITTER: Kemnitzer CR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6706859 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

An investigation of driver, pedestrian, and environmental characteristics and resulting pedestrian injury.

Kemnitzer Caitlyn R CR Pope Caitlin N CN Nwosu Ann A Zhao Songzhu S Wei Lai L Zhu Motao M

Traffic injury prevention 20190610 5

<b>Objective:</b> Walking is integral to transportation and physical activity, but safety is a primary concern for pedestrians due to the increasing number of injuries and deaths per year. To address the need for avenues of pedestrian safety improvements, this study's objective is to determine the association among driver and pedestrian characteristics and behavior, environmental characteristics, and the presence of injury resulting from a pedestrian-vehicle crash. <b>Methods:</b> Pedestrian cra ...[more]

PMID: 31180735

Similar Datasets

Project description:ObjectiveNational data suggest drivers who are younger, older, and have lower socioeconomic status (SES) have heightened crash-related injury rates. Ensuring vulnerable drivers are in the safest vehicles they can afford is a promising approach to reducing crash injuries in these groups. However, we do not know the extent to which these drivers are disproportionately driving less safe vehicles. Our objective was to obtain population-based estimates of the prevalence of important vehicle safety criteria among a statewide population of drivers.MethodsWe analyzed data from the NJ Safety and Health Outcomes warehouse, which includes all licensing and crash data from 2010-2017. We borrowed the quasi-induced exposure method's fundamental assumption-that non-responsible drivers in clean (i.e., only one responsible driver) multi-vehicle crashes are reasonably representative of drivers on the road-to estimate statewide prevalence of drivers' vehicle characteristics across four driver age groups (17-20; 21-24; 25-64, and ≥65) and quintiles of census tract median household income (n = 983,372). We used NHTSA's Product Information Catalog and Vehicle Listing platform (vPIC) to decode the VIN of each crash-involved vehicle to obtain model year, presence of electronic stability control (ESC), vehicle type, engine horsepower, and presence of front, side, and curtain air bags.ResultsThe youngest and oldest drivers were more likely than middle-aged drivers to drive vehicles that were older, did not have ESC, and were not equipped with side airbags. Additionally, across all age groups drivers of higher SES were in newer and safer vehicles compared with those of lower SES. For example, young drivers living in lowest-income census tracts drove vehicles that were on average almost twice as old as young drivers living in highest-income tracts (median [IQR]: 11 years [6-14] vs. 6 years [3-11]).ConclusionsVehicle safety is an important component of seminal road safety philosophies that aim to reduce crash fatalities. However, driver groups that are overrepresented in fatal crashes-young drivers, older drivers, and those of lower SES-are also driving the less safe vehicles. Ensuring drivers are in the safest car they can afford should be further explored as an approach to reduce crash-related injuries among vulnerable populations.

Dataset Information

An investigation of driver, pedestrian, and environmental characteristics and resulting pedestrian injury.

Publications

An investigation of driver, pedestrian, and environmental characteristics and resulting pedestrian injury.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets