A Guide for Reducing Collisions Involving Pedestrians - Guidance for Implementation of the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan: Volume 10

Author(s):

Zegeer, Charles, V. et al.

Organization:

Transportation Research Board

Rating:

Very Useful

Abstract:

The primary audience for A Guide for Reducing Collisions Involving Pedestrians is safety practitioners interested in reducing vehicle/pedestrian injuries. It could be of use to community activists, transportation departments, and traffic engineers, particularly Section V, which provides a rich source of ideas. (Designers may wish to refer to PEDSAFE: Pedestrian Safety Guide and Counter Measure Selection System or to Pedestrian Facilities Users Guide by the same author; they have much of the same information but with more emphasis on design.) About 1/3 of the book is analytical, about 1/2 is design strategies. The final section is a bibliography, unfortunately un-annotated. The book implicitly embraces the concept that designing for people of all abilities is part of good design; accessible design is integrated into the text as nothing special. On the other hand, access is so underplayed it could be overlooked.

Annotation:

A Guide For Reducing Collisions Involving Pedestrians, "Volume 10 of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program Report 500: Guidance for Implementation of the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan" This is a product of the Transportation Research Board. The title of the monograph accurately describes its scope, covering studies, types of solutions, and implementation strategies. Much of the material in this book is in several other documents that are also authored by Professor Zegeer (reviewed herein): PEDSAFE: Pedestrian Safety Guide and Counter Measure Selection System, How to Develop a Pedestrian Safety Action Plan, and Pedestrian Facilities Users Guide. This book and the latter two books more or less are sequential, this being the second book.While the primary audience for A Guide for Reducing Collisions Involving Pedestrians may be safety practitioners interested in reducing vehicle/pedestrian injuries, Section V should be on the shelf of every traffic engineer and every city/town/county transportation department; it's a "what to do" chapter laying out ways to address specific situations where conflict between vehicle and pedestrians might occur. Designers might wish to refer to the above-mentioned Pedestrian Facilities Users Guide, which has much of the same information but with more emphasis on design.

The book is divided into seven sections. While the first four sections are primarily of academic interest, containing the rationale and statistical backing for the monograph, Section III organizes pedestrian-vehicle crashes into 12 "crash-type" groupings. Section V, 60% of the book, presents design strategies for addressing these 12 crash types, and is the most germane to the issue of integrating accessible design into the literature. Section VI gives implementation procedures, and the final section is an unnanotated bibliography.

A drawback of the document is that it refers one to another source of information instead of giving a specific piece of information. Sometimes these are appendices, sometimes other publications. This keeps the size of the document down but it means that, in order to learn more, one has to undertake a search. For instance, none of the 38 appendices is included. Some of the referenced materials are reported to be online but unavailable because of restricted access to the site.

Section V is the meat of the document. As well as providing a rich source of ideas, it also excels in the way the information is presented -- a skeletal outline form of category within category within category. The author starts with four objectives: reduce pedestrian exposure to vehicles, improve sight distance and visibility, reduce motor vehicle speed, and improve safety awareness and behavior. The first three of these objectives are relevant to planning and design; the last, while not pertaining to design per se, is necessary for the improvement of the pedestrian realm and could be of use to pedestrian advocates. For those planners leery of taking a risk, the authors have indicated whether the efficacy of a solution has been proven; tried, but on which the jury is still out; or experimental.

Section V is designed to be very responsive and specific to the goals a reader identifies. One starts by choosing an objective; then selects a solution. For example, the objective is ‘Reduce pedestrian exposure.’ There is a choice of five strategies. Then assume that you decide on installing a pedestrian signal as your strategy. Then more detail is offered for that strategy: Install a pedestrian signal. Under this selection you get a detailed discussion of pedestrian signals: where and when they should be installed, the confusion about walk/don't walk, a discussion about crosswalks, five paragraphs about signal timing, seven paragraphs about accessible pedestrian signals, another page on signal enhancements, and a discussion on right-on-red. Each of these sub-sections gives you several places to which you may refer for more information, at least one being a city or town. Then in 10-point type, you get a detailed discussion of the effectiveness (case histories and studies), keys to success, potential difficulties, associated needs, policy issues, implementation time, training required, and legislative needs. Finally, while the authors intend "a design for people of all abilities" to be implicit in "a good design strategy," the manual would have been improved if this message had been more explicit. Accessible design is seamlessly integrated into the text as nothing special. The risk is that accessibility is so underplayed as to risk being overlooked. None-the-less, the volume should be of substantial value to community activists, transportation departments, and traffic engineers.

Number of Pages:

131

Illustrations?

Yes

Material Type:

Book

Notes:

Key Resource for community activists, transportation departments, and traffic engineers.

Key Document?

Yes

Categories:

National Standards, National Policy and Process, Advocacy & Planning, Schematic Design

Keywords:

Pedestrian Safety, Human Performance

Strengths:

• Incorporates criteria for designing for all people of into general criteria. I.e., designing for the widest range of abilities is implicit in good design.
• Most criteria is performance criteria accompanied by rationale.
• Gives examples.

Weaknesses:

Relies heavily on other material and appendices, which may not be available to reader.

Suggestions for Future Editions:

Record Last Updated:

July 2006