Factors influencing resident’s estimate of traffic-related phenomena in their street

This paper examines whether a resident's estimate of five traffic-related phenomena (accident frequency, incident frequency, difficulty of crossing the street, traffic flow, and speed level) in their neighborhood may depend on factors such as gender, age, how frequently they walk along the street or on characteristics of the street. The material consists of survey data from 919 residents living along four major arterial streets in Malmo, Sweden, where the respondents were instructed to make estimates with their specific street in mind. The results show that respondents who stated that they often walk along their street seemed to make higher estimates of the occurrence of the tested factors. When involving people in the planning process, this implies that it might be important to control for walking frequency when asking people about phenomena in their traffic environment. The results also indicate that the respondents were quite able to relate their estimates to the specific street.