Insights from a Case-Control Analysis Investigating Pedestrian Safety in Darkness on Higher-Risk Roadways

This paper summarizes the results of a case-control analysis conducted as part of NCHRP 17-97 to investigate how various roadway design and operations, land use, neighborhood sociodemographic, and travel behavior factors differ between locations where a pedestrian was killed or severely injured in dark conditions between 2015 and 2019 (cases) and sites along similar arterial and collector roadways where no pedestrian had been killed or seriously injured in the same time period (controls). Through conditional logistic regression, we found that while pedestrian fatalities in darkness occurred predominantly along urban arterials during this time period, cases along those roadways were significantly more likely to be co-located with convenience stores, grocery stores, liquor stores, and generally low-density commercial. Case locations were also significantly more likely than control locations to have two lanes of traffic (compared with only one) in at least one direction. Discouragingly, only 10% of the cases and controls had any type of pedestrian countermeasure, reflecting the auto-centric nature of these high-risk roadways. Cases were also significantly associated with a higher percentage of Black and Hispanic/Latino residents, underscoring the inequity of our transportation system and the dire need to prioritize traffic safety, transportation, and urban planning efforts, and funding for communities of color and Black and Hispanic/Latino communities in particular.