Distraction behaviors of pedestrians in the city of Tabriz

Abstract

Background: Traffic accidents represent the greatest economic burden across the world. Pedestrian behaviors are very important due to the higher risk of road injuries among them, the purpose of this study was to investigate of the Traffic Safety behavior of Pedestrians in Tabriz city. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study to data were collected by observation and checklist. In this study, the statistical population was all pedestrians in Tabriz 2nd district to 557 pedestrian through census method and filming on a daily basis for six days and certain hours for 15 minutes of filming from any intersections were studied. After filming, the information was extracted from the checklist and analyzed using soft spss22. Results: In this study, most people were in the age group of approximately 18-34 years (61.6%) And male pedestrians were more than women (55.1%). According to the findings of this study, 24.3 percent of pedestrians crossed the street, regardless of traffic signs and 20.6% when crossing the intersection and the street had at least one type of distraction (mobile, hand-held, etc.) The most common cause of distraction was talking with a friend (11.3%) and then using mobile (3.6%). And overall 13.5 percent of pedestrians had unsafe traffic behavior during the crossing of the street that 8.1% of them were accompanied by a type of distraction. Also, according to the findings of this study, there was a significant relationship between distraction and unsafe behavior and age group with pedestrian distraction (p <.05). Conclusion: By identifying the factors associated with unsafe traffic behaviors and the role of distraction factors in the unsafe behaviors of pedestrians, Behavioral and educational interventions should be used to promote safe pedestrian behavior and to change the pedestrian -related rules.