Data on mobility and safety

The urban expansion, the motorization, the work and shopping concentration in the cities outskirts have caused a constant increase in the travelling distances. Therefore, walking is getting more and more difficult and dangerous. On the other hand, there is a great diversity of pedestrians with different requests or needs when using the urban and non-urban space, depending on their age, their movement capacity and the kind of trips they need to make, where and how (carrying any bundle or without any weight). On the other hand, as a road users group, they all share some basic safety and mobility requirements related with the environment quality and attractiveness, accessibility, signalization, comfort and capacity, interconnectivity and ease of movements in general. When those requirements are not fulfilled, some pedestrians´ groups are more affected than others (children, old people…). Good information on the actual conditions of pedestrians´ mobility and safety and better information on their own perceived difficulties and wishes can help to detect what are the basic needs to be met, so the most vulnerable road users can easily choose to walk more frequently. The city and all it spaces must be accessible (accessibility norms) for all the citizens, independently of their age and different characteristics. The space they have to use when they walk out of towns also has to be easy, attractive and safe. Until now, available knowledge of the walking conditions and the safety of those road users have been incomplete and lacking in quality. The walkability of the pedestrians´ environment could be improved if policy makers had correct and detailed information on the actual quality needs of pedestrians in general and the specific needs of different groups of these road users.