An exploratory study of pedestrian crossing speeds at midblock crossing in India using LiDAR.

OBJECTIVE: Understanding pedestrian road crossing behavior is essential from the perspectives of traffic flow and pedestrian safety. Limited research is available on pedestrian behavior in low- and middle-income countries. The main objective of this study is to understand pedestrian-vehicle interactions during midblock crossings in heterogeneous traffic conditions. Specifically, this study aims to understand whether pedestrians alter their crossing behavior depending on the type of approaching vehicles. METHODS: To better understand pedestrian road crossing behavior at midblock crossings, an instrumented vehicle collected data from Kanpur, a large city in Uttar Pradesh, India. Because light detection and ranging provides point clouds at high frequency, an algorithm was developed to identify and track vehicles and pedestrians. Specifically, 2 types of interactions at midblock crossings were studied: car-pedestrian and motorized bike-pedestrian. The walking speed profiles and trajectories of the pedestrians were analyzed. RESULTS: The results show that pedestrians are more willing to engage in risky road crossing behavior in front of motorized bikes than in front of cars. Pedestrian walking speed profiles were unaffected by motorized bikes, but for cars, pedestrians tended to increase their speed in the first half of road crossing and then decrease in the second half. CONCLUSIONS: Pedestrian crossing speed profiles play an essential role in understanding pedestrian midblock crossing behavior. The speed data for pedestrians at various points of crossing are challenging to capture, but this study shows that LiDAR can be used to capture detailed pedestrian movements. The findings from this study demonstrate the importance of considering vehicle heterogeneity when analyzing pedestrian risk exposure and designing pedestrian crossing facilities.

Is seat belt usage by front seat passengers related to seat belt usage by their drivers?

INTRODUCTION: Unrestrained drivers and passengers are involved in a significant amount of fatalities and injuries in motor-vehicle crashes in the United States. While the literature documents the effectiveness of seat belt usage in reducing crash outcomes, such as fatalities and the severity of injuries, there is a need to evaluate the impact of seat belt usage by drivers and passengers in their respective vehicles. These findings could help develop effective education and enforcement strategies to enhance occupant safety. METHOD: This paper summarizes a study comparing seat belt usage rates of drivers and passengers based on whether or not the driver uses a seat belt. Observational data from 50 sites in the state of Nevada over 3 years are used for analyses. The data are stratified based on the gender of the driver and passengers in the front seat of the vehicle and are based on area type (rural or urban). RESULTS: A comparison of the rates of seat belt usage across for the aggregated data and for various types of disaggregation and statistical analyses to compare the rates of seat belt use among passengers based on the use of seat belts by drivers confirms that when drivers use seat belts, their respective passengers are much more likely to use seat belts. Further, if drivers do not use seat belts, their passengers are not likely to use seat belts. This observation is comparable for male drivers and female drivers, and also for male passengers and female passengers. Further, there are no differences for combinations of the genders of the drivers and passenger (i.e., both male or female, or one male and one female). IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: These results suggest that education and enforcement strategies would benefit most by working toward increasing seat belt usage rates among drivers.

Importance of awareness in improving performance of emergency medical services (EMS) systems in enhancing traffic safety: A lesson from India.

OBJECTIVE: India has been slow in implementing a central emergency medical services (EMS) system across the country. "108 services" is one of the most popular services that is functional under the public-private partnership model. Limited available literature shows that despite access to services, many traffic crash victims are transported using private vehicles. The objective of this study is to understand the effectiveness of 108 services from a traffic safety perspective. METHOD: A questionnaire survey is conducted to understand the awareness of EMS and their function. Using traffic-related fatalities as the dependent variable, a fixed effect panel data model is developed to analyze the effectiveness of the 108 services in improving the traffic safety. RESULTS: The results from the survey show that, in general, people are not aware of the 108 services. A majority of the population prefers taking victims to the hospital using their personal vehicles or any other vehicles available compared to calling an ambulance. Results from panel data analysis show that despite having an efficient system, these services failed to make significant improvement in the safety of road users in the states in which their services were subscribed. DISCUSSION: The lack of awareness of an important safety service is alarming. This could be a major reason for lower utilization of 108 services for transporting victims of traffic crashes. This article shows the importance of having efficient awareness campaigns to improve the efficiency of any similar programs that are aimed to enhance the safety of a region.

Effectiveness of media and enforcement campaigns in increasing seat belt usage rates in a state with a secondary seat belt law.

OBJECTIVE: In 2005, in terms of seat belt usage rates, Nevada ranked third nationally and first among states with secondary seat belt use enforcement laws in the United States. An effective combination of a media-based education and enforcement campaign helped in this regard. The objective of this article is to document the effectiveness of enforcement and media-based education and outreach campaigns on the seat belt usage rates in Nevada, a state with a secondary seat belt usage law. METHODS: Observational data on seat belt usage and passenger fatality data are used to evaluate the effectiveness of enforcement campaigns and media-based education and outreach campaigns. Data based on observations of about 40,000 vehicles in each of the years 2003 to 2005 were analyzed. RESULTS: Statistical analyses show that a significant increase in seat belt usage rates among both drivers and passengers for both genders resulted from the accompanying the media and enforcement campaigns. CONCLUSIONS: The results from this study indicate that effective and well-planned media/enforcement campaigns can have a significant impact on seat belt usage rates even in a state where the enforcement of seat belt laws can only be as a secondary violation. They validate and expand on findings from other efforts documented in the literature. These results demonstrate that, if coordinated properly, media and enforcement campaigns work very effectively in increasing seat belt usage rates even in states with secondary seat belt laws.