Abstract

Pedestrian bridges are built for separating pedestrians from motor vehicle traffic and decreasing road traffic accidents. Many studies revealed that pedestrian usage of these pathways depends of many factors that the aim of this study was to analyze the motives for using and not using pedestrian bridges. A cross-sectional study was conducted of a sample of pedestrian users and non-users of pedestrian bridges in December 2014 in Rasht, North of Iran. Four pedestrian bridges were selected that the height of the bridge and the street width under the bridge were practically equal in all bridges but couple of them had escalator. People for the interview were chosen randomly. Data was collected by interviewing with pedestrians by research team. A questionnaire was designed to obtain pedestrians perceptions of bridges and causes of use or non-use of bridge. Data analysis was done by SPSS ver. 18. Respondents for this study were 499 pedestrians (age 34.8±12.2 years, age range 9–76 years). 62.3% male, 26% with academic education and 12% illiterate or low education. 62.5% was pedestrian bridge user, 58.3% with driving license. 27.3% had history of road traffic injuries previously and 27.9% were with positive history of these injuries in their first relatives. The safety belief and heavy traffic were the most reason for using bridge in contrast with time saving and high number of stairs for non-usage of bridge. Having driving license, familiar with pedestrian’s law under pedestrian bridges, crowded traffic time, escalator and fences on the street under the bridge were the most affecting factors on pedestrian bridges usage. For increasing the pedestrians’ bridge use, escalators and fences seem to be a good solution in addition to education of pedestrians and safety of bridges.