Self-reported pedestrian falls in 15 countries worldwide

• Authors: ŠUCHA Matúš; ŠRAGOVÁ Eva; SURIAKOVÁ Beáta; RISSER Ralf; MAZALOVÁ Romana; OVIEDO-TRESPALACIO Oscar; WŁODARCZYK Ania; DE AQUINO Sibele Dias; RUSLI Rusdi; USECHE Sergio A.; MARTÍNEZ-BUELVAS Laura; DA SILVA Maria de Fátima Pereira; ÇELIK Ali Kemal; PARK Joonha; BASTOS Jorge Tiago; ENEA Violeta; DORANTES ARGANDAR Gabriel; RAMEZANI Samira; BARBOZA-PALOMINO Miguel; YUAN Quan; RINNE Tiina; NATIVIDADE Jean Carlos; WANG Yonggang
• Year of publication: 2024
• Type: Article in Periodical
• Magazine / Source: Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
• MU Faculty or unit: Faculty of Social Studies
• Web: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369847824001785?casa_token=xMHMcJWnAIoAAAAA:_iZsX2VtPoRKEeKqt6DGKqdMECmnvG8rHBFAJ8UCVVHf9qA70rFQi8ZMfdyKk1nDGhKerjR4558
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2024.07.009
• Keywords: pedestrians; walking; falls; traffic safety; active traffic modes

Attached files

• Sucha_et_al.__2024__-_Self-reported_pedestrian_falls_in_15_countries_worldwide.docx
• Sucha_et_al.__2024__-_Self-reported_pedestrian_falls_in_15_countries_worldwide.pdf

• Description: Many factors are associated with pedestrian injuries and accidents. If a pedestrian is injured in an outdoor public space, we are talking about a “pedestrian fall”. Pedestrian falls are a more common cause of pedestrian injuries than traffic crashes but have received less attention and the literature on this topic is scarce. This work aims to describe at a general level the prevalence and consequences of pedestrian falls and injuries, to make international comparisons of pedestrian falls, to identify risk factors and not least to examine the relationships between the prevalence of falls and pedestrian risk behaviour. A total of 6,373 participants from 15 countries were recruited to participate in this study. To collect data a questionnaire was used. We used a short version of the Pedestrians Behaviour Scale (PBS) to cover the risky behaviour of pedestrians. To identify groups of countries with a similar pedestrian transport situation, a hierarchical cluster analysis was performed. The analysis produced four groups of countries based on pedestrians’ safety level, popularity of walking and GDP. As for the results, we can conclude that young people and older people are more frequently involved in falls and that women report more frequent involvement in falls than males. However, the risk of getting injured in a fall is not higher than that of men. Frequent walking is associated with a lower risk of falling while walking. In contrast to this, physical activity increases such risk. The prevalence of falls and injuries seems to be weakly related to pedestrians’ risky behaviour, thus other factors such as safety infrastructure probably play an important role.