An Exploration into Younger and Older Pedestrians’ Risky Behaviours at Train Level Crossings

Safety

James Freeman¹  Mitchell McMaster¹  Andry Rakotonirainy² 

[1] Centre for Accident and Road Safety–Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, 130 Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, ALD 4059, Australia;Centre for Accident and Road Safety—Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, 4059, Australia; E-Mail:

关键词: pedestrian behaviour;    train level crossings;    rule violations;    qualitative research;   

DOI  :  10.3390/safety1010016

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Background: Younger and older pedestrians are both overrepresented in train-pedestrian injury and fatality collision databases. However, scant research has attempted to determine the factors that influence level crossing behaviours for these high risk groups. Method: Five focus groups were undertaken with a total of 27 younger and 17 older pedestrian level crossing users (N = 44). Due to the lack of research in the area, a focus group methodology was implemented to gain a deeper exploratory understanding into the sample’s decision making processes through a pilot study. The three main areas of enquiry were identifying the: (a) primary reasons for unsafe behaviour; (b) factors that deter this behaviour and (c) proposed interventions to improve pedestrian safety at level crossings in the future. Results: Common themes to emerge from both groups regarding the origins of unsafe behaviours were: running late and a fatalistic perspective that some accidents are inevitable. However, younger pedestrians were more likely to report motivators to be: (a) non-perception of danger; (b) impulsive risk taking; and (c) inattention. In contrast, older pedestrians reported their decisions to cross are influenced by mobility issues and sensory salience. Conclusion: The findings indicate that a range of factors influence pedestrian crossing behaviours. This paper will further outline the major findings of the research in regards to intervention development and future research direction.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.