Investigating Spatial Correlations Between Land Use and Pedestrian Injury Severity in Crashes Occurring Away From Intersections in Northwest Florida

Roadway crashes are an increasing concern worldwide, and pedestrians are among the most vulnerable road users because of several special characteristics, including their fragility. While focusing on pedestrian-involved crashes that occurred far away from intersections, a more systematic investigation is needed to determine whether there is a relationship between the severity of these crashes and the land use types surrounding the crash locations. To investigate this issue, a network-based logistic regression model was employed to assess the impact of the distance between pedestrian-involved crash locations and the centroid of an associated land use of various types. In addition, a set of logistic models was developed to assess the effect of traffic- and environment-related factors, such as daylight and the average annual daily traffic (AADT), on the severity of crashes occurring around each land use. Several types of land use appeared to be influential in predicting pedestrian-involved crash severity. The probability of a severe pedestrian-involved crash increased around commercial land use types including retail stores or night clubs whereas it decreased around university campuses. Moreover, among the crash attributes, daylight contributed to the severity of pedestrian-involved crashes regardless of the surrounding land use type while average traffic was found to be a statistically significant factor for the crashes that occurred particularly around parking lots and office buildings. Pedestrian-involved crashes mostly occurred in the vicinity of office buildings during daylight hours, and the pedestrians were less likely to be severely injured. The findings provided valuable insight into the measurements concerning pedestrian safety with respect to various types of land use.