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Wu Y, Hu X, Ji X, Wu K. Exploring associations between built environment and crash risk of children in school commuting. ACCIDENT; ANALYSIS AND PREVENTION 2023; 193:107287. [PMID: 37729750 DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2023.107287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2023] [Revised: 07/23/2023] [Accepted: 09/04/2023] [Indexed: 09/22/2023]
Abstract
Understanding how built environment are associated with crash risk (CR) in school commuting is essential to improving travel safety through land use and transportation policies. Scholars often assume that this relationship is consistent across space, but this may lead to inconsistent estimates. To address this issue, using data in Shenzhen, China, the data covers traffic accident data of children taken from police incident reports and supplemented with local land use, transportation network and specific school information. The measurement model of crash scale was conducted to represent crash severity, and the CR was further quantified. The study applies three models, spatial dubin model (SDM), geographically weighted regression (GWR), and mixed GWR (MGWR), to explore spatio-temporal heterogeneity relationships between built environment attributes and CR of children in school commuting. The findings reveal that the crash scale can better represent crash severity of school commuting than a single indicator. Policy interventions should be targeted at specific spatial scales, school types, and time windows to effectively improve travel safety. However, there are some common findings. It is recommended to use a scale of 200 m to explain the relationship between the variables. The MGWR model outperforms the other two models. To reduce CR, it is important to consider lower road network density, a reasonable layout of educational facilities, fewer bus routes, and more on-street parking spaces. Our findings can help to enrich the understanding of associations between land use and CR of children, as well as offer local planning and operating guidance for creating child-friendly environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaxin Wu
- School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
| | - Xiaowei Hu
- School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China.
| | - Xiaofeng Ji
- Faculty of Transportation Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650504, China.
| | - Ke Wu
- Hongyousoft Co. Ltd, Karamay 834000, China
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Amiour Y, Waygood EOD, van den Berg PEW. Objective and Perceived Traffic Safety for Children: A Systematic Literature Review of Traffic and Built Environment Characteristics Related to Safe Travel. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:ijerph19052641. [PMID: 35270325 PMCID: PMC8910047 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19052641] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2021] [Revised: 01/29/2022] [Accepted: 02/21/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
The literature on children’s active transportation has shown the influence of the built environment characteristics on walking and crashes. Various reviews have examined those two questions. One influence on walking is the perception of traffic safety. However, it is not clear how, or even if, the built environment affects such perceptions. This research aims to understand which traffic and built environment characteristics influence objective and subjective/perceived traffic safety for children based on the analysis of previous studies in the field. Two types of research were used: the first examines the association between traffic and built environment characteristics and child pedestrian and/or cyclist collisions/injuries; the second relates to the perception of safety by parents and children for active transportation and, where studied, its relationship with built environment characteristics. A systematic review was conducted using five electronic databases. The total number of articles retrieved was reduced to 38 following the eligibility criteria and quality assessment, where 25 articles relate to injuries among children and 13 articles pertain to perception of safety. The results showed that high traffic volume and high vehicle speed are the main reasons children and parents feel unsafe when children use active travel, which matches the main findings on objective safety. Few articles on perception of safety related to the objective built environment were found. However, consistent findings exist. The presence of sidewalk was related to the safety of children. The presence of a crossing guard was positively related to perceived safety but was associated with higher rates of injuries among children. Intersection density was related to unsafe perceptions but was not statistically associated with objective traffic safety. Additionally, population density was found to be positively related to injuries among children, but not to perception of safety. The results help policy strategy to enhance the safety of children when using active transport modes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasser Amiour
- Department of Civil, Geological, and Mining Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada;
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +1-438-226-5918
| | - E. O. D. Waygood
- Department of Civil, Geological, and Mining Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal, Montreal, QC H3T 1J4, Canada;
| | - Pauline E. W. van den Berg
- Department of the Built Environment, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands;
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Rothman L, Howard A, Buliung R, Macarthur C, Richmond SA, Macpherson A. School environments and social risk factors for child pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions: A case-control study. ACCIDENT; ANALYSIS AND PREVENTION 2017; 98:252-258. [PMID: 27770691 DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2016.10.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2016] [Revised: 10/05/2016] [Accepted: 10/13/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Child pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions (PMVCs) have decreased in Canada in the past 20 years. Many believe this trend is explained by the rise in automobile use for all travel. Initiatives to increase walking to school need to consider PMVC risk. Potential risk factors related to walking to school, the built environment and social factors were examined for schools with historically high child PMVC rates. METHODS Child PMVCs (age 4-12 years) from 2000 to 2013 and built environment features were mapped within school attendance boundaries in the City of Toronto, Canada. Case and control schools were in the highest and lowest PMVC quartiles respectively. Observational counts of travel mode to school were conducted. Logistic regression evaluated walking to school, built environment and social risk factors for higher PMVC rates, stratified by geographic location (downtown vs. inner suburbs). RESULTS The mean PMVC rates were 18.8/10,000/year (cases) and 2.5/10,000/year (controls). One-way street density (OR=4.00), school crossing guard presence (OR=3.65) and higher social disadvantage (OR=1.37) were associated with higher PMVCs. Higher residential land use density had a protective effect (OR=0.56). More walking was not a risk factor. While several built environment risk factors were identified for the inner suburbs; only social disadvantage was a risk factor within older urban neighbourhoods. CONCLUSIONS Several modifiable environmental risk factors were identified for child PMVCs. More walking to school was not associated with increased PMVCs after controlling for the environment. School social disadvantage was associated with higher PMVCs with differences by geographic location. These results have important implications for the design of roadways around schools.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda Rothman
- Faculty of Health-School of Kinesiology & Health Science York University, Norman Bethune College, 4700 Keele St., Room 337 Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada; Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Ave., Toronto M5G 1X8, Canada.
| | - Andrew Howard
- Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Ave., Toronto M5G 1X8, Canada.
| | - Ron Buliung
- Department of Geography, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road, SB3104, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada.
| | - Colin Macarthur
- Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Ave., Toronto M5G 1X8, Canada.
| | - Sarah A Richmond
- Faculty of Health-School of Kinesiology & Health Science York University, Norman Bethune College, 4700 Keele St., Room 337 Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada; Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Ave., Toronto M5G 1X8, Canada.
| | - Alison Macpherson
- Faculty of Health-School of Kinesiology & Health Science York University, Norman Bethune College, 4700 Keele St., Room 337 Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada.
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Amram O, Schuurman N, Yanchar NL, Pike I, Friger M, Griesdale D. Use of geographic information systems to assess the error associated with the use of place of residence in injury research. Inj Epidemiol 2015; 2:29. [PMID: 26550555 PMCID: PMC4630250 DOI: 10.1186/s40621-015-0059-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2015] [Accepted: 10/15/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background In any spatial research, the use of accurate location data is critical to the reliability of the results. Unfortunately, however, many of the administrative data sets used in injury research do not include the location at which the injury takes place. The aim of this paper is to examine the error associated with using place of residence as opposed to place of injury when identifying injury hotspots and hospital access. Methods Traumatic Brian Injury (TBI) data from the BC Trauma Registry (BCTR) was used to identify all TBI patients admitted to BC hospitals between January 2000 and March 2013. In order to estimate how locational error impacts the identification of injury hotspots, the data was aggregated to the level of dissemination area (DA) and census tract (CT) and a linear regression was performed using place of residence as a predictor for place of injury. In order to assess the impact of locational error in studies examining hospital access, an analysis of the driving time between place of injury and place of residence and the difference in driving time between place of residence and the treatment hospital, and place of injury and the same hospital was conducted. Results The driving time analysis indicated that 73.3 % of the injuries occurred within 5 min of place of residence, 11.2 % between five and ten minutes and 15.5 % over 20 min. Misclassification error occurs at both the DA and CT level. The residual map of the DA clearly shows more detailed misclassification. As expected, the driving time between place of residence and place of injury and the difference between these same two locations and the treatment hospital share a positive relationship. In fact, the larger the distance was between the two locations, the larger the error was when estimating access to hospital. Conclusions Our results highlight the need for more systematic recording of place of injury as this will allow researchers to more accurately pinpoint where injuries occur. It will also allow researchers to identify the causes of these injuries and to determine how these injuries might be prevented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ofer Amram
- Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC Canada
| | - Nadine Schuurman
- Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC Canada
| | | | - Ian Pike
- Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada ; BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit, Child and Family Research Institute, BC Children's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Michael Friger
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Donald Griesdale
- Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology & Therapeutics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
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Rothman L, Perry D, Buliung R, Macarthur C, To T, Macpherson A, Larsen K, Howard A. Do school crossing guards make crossing roads safer? A quasi-experimental study of pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions in Toronto, Canada. BMC Public Health 2015; 15:732. [PMID: 26227508 PMCID: PMC4520271 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-015-2065-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2014] [Accepted: 07/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The presence of school crossing guards has been associated with more walking and more pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions (PMVCs) in area-level cross-sectional analyses. The objectives of the study were to (1) Determine the effect on PMVC rates of newly implemented crossing guards in Toronto, Canada (2) Determine where collisions were located in relation to crossing guards throughout the city, and whether they occurred during school travel times. Methods School crossing guards with 50 m buffers were mapped along with police-reported child PMVCs from 2000–2011. (1) A quasi-experimental study identified all age collision counts near newly implemented guards before and after implementation, modeled using repeated measures Poisson regression adjusted for season and built environment variables. (2) A retrospective cohort study of all child PMVCS throughout the city to determine the proportions of child PMVCs which occurred during school travel times and at guard locations. Results There were 27,827 PMVCs, with 260 PMVCs at the locations of 58 newly implemented guards. Repeated measures adjusted Poisson regression found PMVCs rates remained unchanged at guard locations after implementation (IRR 1.02, 95 % CI 0.74, 1.39). There were 568 guards citywide with 1850 child PMVCs that occurred at guard locations. The majority of child PMVCs occurred outside school travel times (n = 1155, 62 %) and of those that occurred during school travel times, only 95 (13.7 %) were at a guard location. Conclusions School crossing guards are a simple roadway modification to increase walking to school without apparent detrimental safety effects. Other more permanent interventions are necessary to address the frequency of child PMVCs occurring away from the location of crossing guards, and outside of school travel times.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda Rothman
- Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Canada. .,Faculty of Health-School of Kinesiology & Health Science, York University, Toronto, Canada.
| | - Daniel Perry
- Orthopaedic Surgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. .,Division of Health Sciences, Warwick Medical School, Warwick University, Coventry, UK.
| | - Ron Buliung
- Department of Geography, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Canada.
| | - Colin Macarthur
- Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Canada. .,Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. .,Health Policy Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
| | - Teresa To
- Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Canada. .,Health Policy Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. .,Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
| | - Alison Macpherson
- Faculty of Health-School of Kinesiology & Health Science, York University, Toronto, Canada.
| | - Kristian Larsen
- Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Canada. .,Department of Geography, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Canada.
| | - Andrew Howard
- Child Health Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Canada. .,Orthopaedic Surgery, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. .,Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. .,Health Policy Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
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Yiannakoulias N, Scott DM. The effects of local and non-local traffic on child pedestrian safety: A spatial displacement of risk. Soc Sci Med 2013; 80:96-104. [DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2012] [Revised: 11/13/2012] [Accepted: 12/03/2012] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Yiannakoulias N, Bland W, Scott DM. Altering school attendance times to prevent child pedestrian injuries. TRAFFIC INJURY PREVENTION 2013; 14:405-412. [PMID: 23531264 DOI: 10.1080/15389588.2012.716879] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The purpose of this research was to determine whether modifying school start time schedules can be used to reduce children's exposure to traffic on their morning walks to school. METHODS We use models of pedestrian and motor vehicle commuting to estimate the frequency of encounters between child pedestrians and motor vehicles at intersections throughout the City of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. We use a simple heuristic to identify the school-specific start times that would most reduce the local frequency of encounters between motor vehicles and pedestrians. RESULTS Our analysis suggests that it may be possible to achieve an almost 15 percent reduction in the total number of encounters between child pedestrians and motor vehicles during the morning commute by staggering school start times such that the periods of high pedestrian activity are temporally staggered from periods of high motor vehicle activity. Our analysis suggests that small changes in school start times could be sufficient to see noteworthy reductions in pedestrian exposure to traffic. CONCLUSIONS Changing school times may be an effective, inexpensive, and practical tool for reducing child pedestrian injuries in urban environments. Enhanced transportation models and community-based interventions are natural next steps for exploring the use of school-specific scheduling to reduce the risk of child pedestrian injury. Further research is required to validate our models before this analysis should be used by policy makers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikolaos Yiannakoulias
- School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S4K1.
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Morency P, Gauvin L, Plante C, Fournier M, Morency C. Neighborhood social inequalities in road traffic injuries: the influence of traffic volume and road design. Am J Public Health 2012; 102:1112-9. [PMID: 22515869 DOI: 10.2105/ajph.2011.300528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES We examined the extent to which differential traffic volume and road geometry can explain social inequalities in pedestrian, cyclist, and motor vehicle occupant injuries across wealthy and poor urban areas. METHODS We performed a multilevel observational study of all road users injured over 5 years (n=19,568) at intersections (n=17,498) in a large urban area (Island of Montreal, Canada). We considered intersection-level (traffic estimates, major roads, number of legs) and area-level (population density, commuting travel modes, household income) characteristics in multilevel Poisson regressions that nested intersections in 506 census tracts. RESULTS There were significantly more injured pedestrians, cyclists, and motor vehicle occupants at intersections in the poorest than in the richest areas. Controlling for traffic volume, intersection geometry, and pedestrian and cyclist volumes greatly attenuated the event rate ratios between intersections in the poorest and richest areas for injured pedestrians (-70%), cyclists (-44%), and motor vehicle occupants (-44%). CONCLUSIONS Roadway environment can explain a substantial portion of the excess rate of road traffic injuries in the poorest urban areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Morency
- Direction de santé publique de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
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