Race and income disparities in pedestrian injuries: Factors influencing pedestrian safety inequity

Abstract

Pedestrian injuries are growing as a share of traffic injuries. Further, pedestrian injury risk is not experienced equally across sociodemographic groups. National data and prior research shows that Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) and lower-income people bear a disproportionate burden. This study employs an ecological analysis to explore pedestrian safety disparities in Oregon, incorporating crash data, roadway and land use factors, and sociodemographic data. The analysis examines factors associated with increased pedestrian injuries and fatalities, as well as the impact of model specification including urban area random effects and mixed- versus fixed-effects models. Lower median income and higher proportions of BIPOC residents are found to be associated with more pedestrian injuries. These variables may be proxies for other traffic exposure and deficient built environment variables, which may reflect a lack of historic investment in the neighborhoods where these populations are concentrated.