Pedestrian fatality risk in accidents at unsignalized zebra crosswalks in Poland

Poland has the second worst pedestrian fatality rate in the European Union. In the years 2007-2012,9101 pedestrians were killed and 71 328 injured on Polish roads. Almost 30% of pedestrian injury accidents took place at unsignalized zebra crosswalks. Based on police accident database, the worst problem in terms of numbers of fatalities occurs in built-up areas, on two-way undivided roads and at mid-block locations. Especially at risk are older people almost 73% of pedestrians killed were 55 years or older. In order to show the effect of various factors on pedestrian fatality risk, a binary logit model with interaction terms was developed. The model shows that the following factors increase the probability of pedestrian's death at unsignalized zebra crosswalks: darkness, especially with no street lighting, divided road, two-way road, non built-up area, mid-block crosswalk location and summer time period. Speed limit is a crucial factor: probability of death increases by 37% with every 10 km/h rise in the speed limit. Fatality risk increases also with victim's age and is higher for male pedestrians. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.