Missouri Systemic Countermeasures to Improve Pedestrian Safety

MoDOT project # TR 202010aMissouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) has successfully implemented systemic safety countermeasures in the past to reduce fatal and serious injury crashes related to roadway departure. MoDOT initiated this research project to address the increasing trend in pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries in Missouri. The focus of the project is to develop a Missouri Pedestrian Safety Countermeasure Tool based on analysis of pedestrian-involved crash data and identification of situational trends. This matrix-based tool identifies those peer groups (segments and intersections) that have the highest risk of pedestrian crashes and the countermeasures based on a particular set of roadway criteria (traffic volume, speed limit, and number of lanes) that can be applied across various jurisdictions. The Pedestrian Safety Countermeasure Tool includes multiple peer groups for road segments, signalized intersections, and unsignalized intersections. Overall, the study found that the following priority peer groups provide the greatest impact for reducing pedestrian crashes through implementation of the Pedestrian Safety Countermeasure Tool. 1.Urbanized 4-Leg Signalized (Z4S) Intersection on Undivided Roads (Priority 1). 2.Urbanized 2-Lane Undivided (Z2U) Road Segments (Priority 1). 3.Rural 2-Lane Undivided (R2U) Road Segments (Priority 1). 4.Urbanized 3-Leg Signalized (Z3S) Intersections on Divided Roads (Priority 2). Specific traffic volume and speed limit ranges have higher occurrences of pedestrian crashes. GIS maps were developed for each Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) area to facilitate implementation. Modifications to policies can further enhance pedestrian safety in Missouri