Prioritizing pedestrian safety interventions and preparing a plan of action <br />Attachment C <br />Attachment B <br />What is the travel behaviour ofpedestrians and other road users? <br />The travel behaviour of pedestrians and other road users is useful in understanding <br />local pedestrian traffic activity and associated risk. The situational assessment needs <br />to establish (8): <br />• the number of pedestrians in a given area, on specific streets or in key pedestrian <br />zones; <br />• pedestrian speeds; <br />• pedestrian road-crossing behaviour, including running or hesitating; <br />• pedestrian-motorist interaction, including pedestrian-vehicle conflicts; <br />• profile of vehicle fleet; <br />• vehicular traffic volumes and speeds, including assessment of compliance with <br />speed limits; <br />• alcohol involvement for both pedestrians and motorists (see Box 3.3); and <br />• pedestrian use of clothes or materials to enhance visibility, especially at dawn, dusk <br />and dark night-time hours. <br />Information on pedestrian and other road user behaviour can be collected using the <br />following methods (8,zz): <br />• pedestrian counts; <br />• vehicle counts; <br />• observational studies; <br />• surveys, for example, on risk factor or knowledge, attitudes and perceptions; <br />• speed cameras and speed measuring radar units; and <br />• continuous video recording at intersections. <br />50 <br />BOX 3.3: Assessing the alcohol-relatedness of crashes <br />Data on alcohol-involved (i.e. positive blood alcohol <br />content (BAC)) or alcohol-impaired (i.e. BAC above a <br />predetermined limit, e.g. 0.05 g/dl) vehicle-pedes- <br />trian crashes give an indication of the role of alcohol <br />impairment in pedestrian traffic risk, though this <br />information does not necessarily function as a proxy <br />for impaired walking and driving in the general road <br />user population. To address alcohol-related crashes, <br />it is important to establish the locations where <br />impaired driving and walking occur most frequently, <br />the time of day and day ofweek when impaired driving <br />and walking are most likely to occur, and the age, sex <br />and socioeconomic status of impaired drivers and <br />pedestrians. However, since in most jurisdictions <br />testing for BAC has privacy and legal rights implica- <br />tions, routine monitoring is not always possible. <br />The following methods may be used to gather infor- <br />mation on alcohol and pedestrian traffic risk: <br />• Review police statistics on alcohol-related vehi- <br />cle-pedestrian crashes. Depending on the legal <br />requirements for alcohol testing in the jurisdiction <br />under consideration, data may be available only <br />for fatal crashes or only for drivers. <br />• Examine admission data from hospital emergency <br />departments. <br />• Review data from random breath-testing opera- <br />tions or sobriety checkpoints. <br />• Conduct a roadside survey (self-reported <br />behaviour). <br />• Review research reports and papers on BAC <br />analysis. <br />Source: 12. <br />Page 196 <br />