A Review of the Traffic Safety Culture in Europe to Improve Pedestrian Safety In the U.S.: Lessons from France and Sweden

Abstract

In the U.S., current pedestrian-vehicle crash prevention strategies are mostly focused on engineering interventions rather than measures for preventing unsafe road behavior (i.e. speeding and drunk-driving). This thesis aims to identify factors that affect pedestrian safety and explore how France and Sweden, as examples, have substantially reduced the number of pedestrian fatalities by implementing road safety programs. Based on the review of thirty-five existing studies that examined the factors associated with pedestrian-vehicle crashes, seven critical factors are classified as follows: driver factors, pedestrian factors, vehicle factors, neighborhood level environment factors, street level environment factors, other environment factors, and law/regulation/educational factors. However, the existing literature did not fully address the issues of measures for altering driver behaviors, allocating level of responsibility on road safety, improving built environmental factors, and safety campaigns and educational programs. In order to fill the research gaps, case studies of road safety programs in France and Sweden were conducted. Based on the case reviews, the main lesson for the U.S. is to alter the traffic safety culture of the society.