Pedestrians’ Injury Severity in Traffic Accidents in Spain: A Pedestrian Actions Approach

Abstract

Road traffic accidents are currently between the seventh and tenth leading cause of death in the world, with approximately 1.35 million people killed per year. Despite extensive efforts by governments, according to the World Health Organization, road accidents still cause far too many deaths, especially among pedestrians, cyclists and two-wheel motor vehicle riders, who together account for almost 50% of road traffic fatalities. In particular, Spain had 410,974 traffic accidents between 2016 and 2019, involving 722,516 vehicles and 61,177 pedestrians with varying degrees of injury. This study uses the Bayesian network method to understand how the pedestrians’ responsibility and actions at the time of the traffic accident affect the injury suffered by said pedestrian, also considering the variables of the road infrastructure and vehicles at the accident site. The results confirm that the variables linked to the unsafe behavior of pedestrians, and their responsibility in traffic accidents, increase the risk of suffering serious or fatal injuries during an accident; for example, if a pedestrian is distracted this increases his/her probability of suffering a severe injury (27.86%) with respect to not being distracted (20.73%). Conditions related to traffic in high-speed areas, areas with no or poor lighting, and areas lacking sidewalks, also record increases in pedestrian injury, as is the case in the age group of pedestrians over 60 years of age.