Prioritizing Pedestrian Safety Improvement Locations: A Spatial Analytical Approach Using Network Kernel Density Estimation

Abstract

Walking for transportation is a critical component of any strategy for smart growth. Regular levels of moderate physical activity have been shown to dramatically reduce many chronic illnesses and replacing automobile trips over short distances preserves scarce resources, reduces carbon dioxide emissions and improves local air quality. One major challenge to expanding the role of walking for transportation is safety. Each year in the U.S. tens of thousands of pedestrians are injured or killed in collisions with automobiles. Identifying areas where pedestrian infrastructure can be improved is therefore an important task for traffic engineers and planners. This study uses a GIS spatial analysis known as Network Kernel Density Estimation (NetKDE) to highlight areas in the City of Seattle which experienced high densities of pedestrian-vehicle collisions between 2008 and 2012. The results of this spatial analysis are compared with pedestrian demand and a number of high-priority pedestrian safety improvement areas, corridors, and intersections are suggested.