Citation

Pietrantonio H, Tourinho LFB. Transp. Plann. Tech. 2006; 29(3): 183-216.

Affiliation

Department of Transportation Engineering, Edifício de Engenharia Civil, Cidade Universitaria, Brazil

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/03081060600810923

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article discusses and applies methods for developing diagnostic parameters for pedestrian traffic safety problems using the traffic conflict analysis technique (TCT) to a study of pedestrian crossings at urban signalized intersections in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The development of parameters has two tasks: the selection of an adequate classification of conflicts and/or segmentation of crossings, and the determination of parameters for the classes (including recommended confidence levels). Based on the US Federal Highway Administration guides for the study of vehicular conflicts, the pedestrian conflict count limits (abnormally high level of counts for problem detection) and the ratio of accidents per million conflicts (risk index and accident forecasting rate) are developed for the types of urban crossings observed in the signalized intersections of the study. Statistical methods are applied with a new decision-based criterion that could select the best classification/segmentation and the recommended confidence level to be used in applied work. Results obtained from the application of such methods to the case study are presented and discussed as an example application.