Alicea León, Lynnette

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    Analysis and evaluation of crashes involving pedestrians in Puerto Rico
    (2004) Alicea León, Lynnette; Colucci Ríos, Benjamin; College of Engineering; Quintana Díaz, Julio O.; Luyanda Villafañe, Felipe; Department of Civil Engineering; Bartolomei-Suárez, Sonia
    Pedestrians represent one of the most serious problems of traffic crash fatalities in the United States and Puerto Rico. In terms of pedestrians fatalities Puerto Rico had three times more fatalities (34.7%) as compared to the United States (11%-12%). This research was focused on evaluating pedestrian crashes with emphasis on urban highways of Puerto Rico. To accomplish this goal, (1) a literature review was performed to understand pedestrians behavior and identify crash patterns in US, Europe, and Latin America, (2) gather crash databases in US and PR, (3) preliminary analysis, (4) observational studies, (5) interviews with professionals associated with highway safety, (6) statistical analysis; (7) validate the results analyzing newspaper articles, and (8) identification of countermeasures and recommendations. The statistical tools used were descriptive statistics, box plots, cross-tables, and Chi-Square. The 1997, 1998, and 2002 crash data provided by the Office of Accident Analysis of the DTPW were used for this study. The results showed that 70% of pedestrian crashes occurred in urban areas, 98.5% in locations other than intersections, and 73% in level tangent highway sections. In addition, males (67%) are more represented than females (33%), 69.3% pedestrian fatalities occurred between 6:00 PM and 6:00 AM, and 70% of the pedestrians affected were between 24 and 71 years of age with a pick in age interval “36 to 71” years old (48%). Furthermore, pedestrian males are more exposed to the danger and special care must be taken with elderly pedestrians (older than 45 years old) and young pedestrians (between 12 to 23 years old). Special attention must be given to educational campaigns, first time pedestrians in tourist areas, signing and markings, school zones, residential, and commercial areas. The recommendations in short, medium, and long terms included the implementation of more aggressive educational campaigns, installation of pedestrian barriers and fencing, installation of pedestrian signs on selected corridor strips, amendment of Law #22, and the use of traffic calming techniques.