An Analysis of Associations between Neighborhood Road Networks and Pedestrian Traffic Accidents : Focused on the TAAS (2012-2014) in Seoul, Korea

Abstract

The complexity, connectivity, and continuity of road network structure affect the speed of vehicle and drivers‘ vision and driving behavior, which strongly determines pedestrian safety. Thus more objective and in-depth research is required to identify the association between road network and pedestrian safety. In this context, this study examines the relationship between neighborhood environment including road network structure and pedestrian safety using the TAAS (2012-2014) data. We utilize negative binominal regression model. Unlike previous studies, this study includes exposure variables such as pedestrian volume, population, and road congestion level and objective measures of road network structure such as average geodesic distance, network betweenness centrality, average clustering coefficient. Key finding and implications can be organized as follows. First, pedestrian traffic accidents on community living zone road is strongly associated to road network structure of neighborhood-level. Second, we confirm that pedestrian volume and traffic condition are important variables for pedestrian accidents. Third, pedestrian traffic accidents are strongly associated with commercial land use and public transportation systems including median exclusive bus station. This study suggests policy implications for neighborhood road network design in urban planning and design projects and for pedestrian safety.