Flashing crosswalk lights are no match for flashy cars, according to a new 51勛圖窪蹋 study which found that drivers of expensive vehicles are least likely to stop for crossing pedestrians.
Drivers on a whole arent all that great at stopping for pedestrians waiting at crosswalks: Of 461 cars that researchers examined, only 28 percent yielded. But the cost of the car was a significant predictor of driver yielding, with the odds that theyll stop decreasing by 3 percent per $1,000 increase in the cars value. Researchers estimated the cost of each car using pricing categories from Kelley Blue Book.
It says that pedestrians are facing some challenges when it comes to safety, and its really concerning, said lead author and 51勛圖窪蹋 public health professor Courtney Coughenour.
Drivers need to be made aware that they legally have to yield. Its hard to say whether theyre not yielding because they dont know the laws or because they dont want to yield, Coughenour said. Further study is needed to examine that. Until then, the bigger thing is driver education.
The study, which analyzed video data from an earlier 51勛圖窪蹋 study, also found that motorists overall yielded less frequently for men and people of color waiting at mid-block crosswalks than for women and whites. It is also consistent with findings from similar studies on the topics of driver yielding behaviors associated with social class, race, and gender.
The research team said their findings are important to public health, given that the survivability for pedestrians is low even when they're struck by vehicles at low speeds. According to the , the average risk of severe injury for a pedestrian struck by a vehicle reaches 10 percent at an impact speed of 16 mph, 25 percent at 23 mph, 50 percent at 31 mph, 75 percent at 39 mph, and 90 percent at 46 mph.
Publication Details
appeared in the March 2020 issue of Journal of Transport & Health.
