ACCIDENT TYPE DESIGNATIONS AND LAND USE DATA IN PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENT ANALYSIS (ABRIDGMENT)

An improved perception of the characteristics of pedestrian accidents is demonstrated through the application of accident type designations. Four accident types accounted for over 75 percent of the accident history: midblock cross, intersection cross, midblock dartout, and intersection dash. The young (ages 1 through 9) were overrepresented in the midblock dartout history, and the elderly (60 and over) were overrepresented in the intersection cross history. Specific accident types were also found to occur more often adjacent to residential and commercial-or-financial land uses. Two thousand pedestrian accidents would be required to generate statistical reliability for the more obscure accident types. The application of accident type analysis at specific sites appears limited to locations with either a large number of accidents or accidents confined to only a few types.