Smart Crosswalks for Advancing Road Safety in Urban Roads: Conceptualization and Evidence-Based Insights from Greek Incident Records

Urban intersections are critical for pedestrian safety, as they usually account for high rates of traffic-related injury and fatalities. This study assesses smart crosswalks as an alternative approach to improve road safety that is inherently aligned with the development of intelligent transportation system technology. After a brief background on this technological advance, this study proceeds with the analysis of long-term crash records from Greek urban roads, concentrating on pedestrians’ behavior in incidents involving road crossing. Thereafter, challenges related to the adoption of an implementation framework are identified. The results confirmed the vulnerability of pedestrians, especially during cases with no specific crossing areas, based on a considerable number of available recorded crashes from a publicly available Greek database. Substantial reductions over the analysis period (i.e., years 2005–2022) in pedestrian-based incidents with injuries and fatalities at a rate of 44% and 52%, respectively, provide evidence-based insights that infrastructural interventions like improved crosswalk design can be translated into measurable benefits for pedestrian safety. Key factors toward a wider applicability framework for even safer interventions through smart crosswalks include maintenance strategies, user education, and systematic integration of funding into urban mobility plans.