What are the challenges of pedestrian safety from the viewpoints of traffic and transport stakeholders? A qualitative Study

Haghighi, Morteza; Aghdam, Fatemeh Bakhtari; Sadeghi-Bazargani, Homayoun; Nadrian, Haidar · 2020 · Crossref

DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-41143/v1

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Summary

This qualitative study investigates the challenges to pedestrian safety from the perspective of traffic and transport stakeholders in Tabriz, Iran. Motivated by the high vulnerability of pedestrians in road traffic crashes, particularly in developing countries where interventions often prioritize driver safety, the research aims to identify specific obstacles to pedestrian safety. These findings were intended to inform the design of a community-based Pedestrian Safety Promotion Program. The researchers employed a conventional content analysis approach, conducting semi-structured individual interviews with 24 key stakeholders selected via purposive sampling. Participants included experts from the Ministry of Health, traffic police, the Ministry of Science, and the Urban Traffic Organization. Data collection continued until theoretical saturation was reached after 24 interviews, with an average duration of 45 minutes per session. Data were analyzed using MAXQDA software, ensuring validity through credibility, conformability, transferability, and dependability criteria. The analysis identified six primary categories of challenges. First, "Challenges related to pedestrians" included a lack of care for personal safety, low community demand for infrastructure improvements, habitual unsafe behaviors, poor traffic literacy, and inadequate risk perception. Second, "Challenges related to drivers" involved poor risk perception regarding speed, traffic rule violations, and distracted driving. Third, "Management system challenges" highlighted improper urban planning, lack of inter-sectoral collaboration, poor evidence-based policy making, and an absence of a health-oriented perspective in traffic management. Fourth, "Environmental infrastructure challenges" encompassed the lack of safe pedestrian lanes, inadequate traffic signs and lighting, poor aesthetic design of crossings, and sidewalk obstructions. Fifth, "Educational and media challenges" pointed to the exclusion of pedestrian rights from driving curricula, lack of school-based safety training, and insufficient mass media campaigns. Finally, "Challenges of legislation and enforcement" revealed poor legislation regarding pedestrian fines and weak enforcement of existing laws. The study concludes that pedestrian safety is a complex, multi-factorial issue overshadowed by a core deficiency: the lack of a unified traffic management system with sufficient authority and a health-oriented approach. The authors recommend that policymakers adopt evidence-based strategies and utilize media support to address these multifaceted barriers. By integrating these stakeholder perspectives, the study provides a foundation for developing comprehensive interventions that go beyond individual behavior modification to address systemic, infrastructural, and legislative gaps.

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• vru crash typology