Pedestrian safety index for evaluating street facilities in urban areas

peer reviewedThe majority of current evaluation methods for assessing pedestrian safety conditions on streets only consider limited facilities that cannot cover all of the safety needs of pedestrians with different ages and abilities. These models are not developed based on sufficient facilities at the micro-level. Several of these studies are limited to evaluating safety at intersections. However, pedestrians also require safety along street segments and in intersections. Accordingly, the objectives of this study are to conceptualize the pedestrian safety index (PSI), which evaluates facilities along the streets for pedestrians. To estimate this PSI, a point system method is proposed that compares existing conditions to a standard. This method can be used to identify existing problems and to propose improvements. In addition, the pedestrian safety enhancements described using this method can enhance the safety of older and disabled pedestrians that suffer the most from a lack of facilities. Although this practical model uses international standards to become universally applicable, one collector street in Singapore is chosen to test the model. Because this study tries to cover various street facilities, the designers can use these results to implement safe routes for pedestrians. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd