The Relationships between Social Deprivation, Pedestrian and Driver Actions and Exposure in Road Casualty Accidents at Mid-Block Crossings

摘要

The European Transport Safety Council reports that 'many studies have found that low social status is associated with a higher rate of involvement in road traffic accidents. This has been found consistently in studies in Great Britain, Sweden, Canada and the United States of America. Thus, the preponderance of evidence suggests that low social status is associated with a higher risk of becoming involved in road accidents than high social status' (page 33 ETSC 2007). In July 2002, the UK Department for Transport (DfT 2004) enhanced its road safety targets to specifically tackle the significantly higher number of casualty accidents that occur in disadvantaged areas. In this context, it is desirable for practitioners to consider the impact of specific road safety measures on different socio-economic groups. One of these frequently employed road safety measures is the installation of either Zebra or signalised mid-block crossings. The current UK assessment guidelines note that 'it has not yet been proved possible to make general predictions about how the accident incidence or rates at a site might change following the introduction or change of type of crossing' (page 3 DfT 1995). This paper reports on a study which utilised the STATS 19 road accident database and the National Census database to provide an insight into deprivation and pedestrian road casualty accidents at such installations.