A study of fatal pedestrian crashes at rural low-volume road intersections in southwest China

ABSTRACT

Objective: Although intersections correspond to a small proportion of the entire roadway system, they account for a disproportionally high number of fatal pedestrian crashes, especially on rural roads situated in low- and middle-income countries. This article examines pedestrian safety at rural intersections and suggests applicable accident prevention treatments by providing an in-depth analysis of 28 fatal pedestrian crashes from 8 low-volume roads in southwest China.

Methods: The driving reliability and error analysis method (DREAM) is a method to support a systematic classification of accident causation information and to facilitate aggregation of that information into patterns of contributing factors. This is the first time that DREAM was used to analyze pedestrian–vehicle crashes and provide suggestions for road improvements in China.

Results: The key issues adversely affecting pedestrian safety can be organized in 4 distinctive thematic categories, namely, deficient intersection safety infrastructure, lack of pedestrian safety education, inadequate driver training, and insufficient traffic law enforcement. Given that resources for traffic safety investments in rural areas are limited, it is determined that the potential countermeasures should focus on low-cost, easily implementable, and long-lasting measures increasing the visibility and predictability of pedestrian movement and reducing speeding and irresponsible driving among drivers and risk-taking behaviors among pedestrians.

Conclusions: Accident prevention treatments are suggested based on their suitability for rural areas in southwest China. These countermeasures include introducing better access management and traffic calming treatments, providing more opportunities for pedestrian education, and enhancing the quality of driver training and traffic law enforcement.

KEYWORDS:

• Pedestrian accidents
• rural low-volume roads
• intersection crashes
• DREAM
• China and developing countries

Additional information

Funding

The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51508033), the National Science and Technology Pillar Program of China during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan Period (Grant No. 2014BAG01B06), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 310821172201 and 310821172202), and the Key Laboratory of Transportation Industry–Highway Traffic Safety Technology Project (Grant No. 2015RST07).