Prioritizing pedestrian safetv interventions and preparing a olan of action Attachment C <br />Attachment B <br />3.2 How to assess the pedestrian safety situation <br />The pedestrian safety situational assessment should cover a range of topics related <br />to the magnitude of the problem, risk factors and existing policies and programmes <br />(see also Modules i and z). The assessment must take care to identify issues that <br />are hidden or require deeper analysis, as well as those that are obvious or easy to <br />discover (r). This section provides information on how to conduct a situational <br />assessment by suggesting methods for specific aspects to be assessed. <br />A situational assessment of pedestrian safety entails the following activities: <br />. describing the magnitude, trends and patterns of pedestrian fatalities and injuries; <br />. analysing risk and protective factors for pedestrian injuries and fatalities; <br />. examining the times and places where pedestrian injuries and fatalities occur; <br />. describing the modes of transport involved in conflicts with pedestrians; <br />. identifying and assessing existing pedestrian safety programmes and institutions to <br />identify gaps and areas to improve as well as those to maintain; and <br />. identifying contextual factors related to politics, environment, economics and <br />capacity that may facilitate or hinder the implementation of pedestrian safety <br />measures. <br />Key contributions to the situational assessment will come from various existing <br />data sources, including from agencies responsible for roads and transportation, <br />law enforcement, urban and regional planning, public health, finance, as well as <br />from road safety nongovernmental organizations. Additional data in the form <br />of observational studies, surveys and/or road safety audits may be required to <br />supplement existing data sources. <br />3.2.1 Assessing the magnitude, trends and patterns of pedestrian <br />fatalities and injuries <br />Accurate data on the extent of the pedestrian safety problem are essential to define <br />the problem and develop appropriate measures. The types of data needed for the <br />assessment can be grouped into minimum and complementary data (see Table 3.1). <br />The minimum data set includes information on the what, where, when and why <br />dimensions of pedestrian injuries (z). In addition, it is important to have background <br />information on population, transport and socioeconomic indicators of the <br />setting under investigation. These additional data provide information needed for <br />computing indicators for comparison. <br />Police departments and health facilities provide most of the data used in pedestrian <br />injury analysis and prevention. There may be other data sources such as vital <br />registration records, insurance companies, nongovernmental organizations, academic <br />institutions, scientific studies, hospital-based injury surveillance systems or the <br />ministry of health, each with its own type of data and quality issues. The situational <br />44 <br />Page 190 <br />