Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The association of distraction and caution displayed by pedestrians at a lighted crosswalk

  • Published:
Journal of Community Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The rates of deaths and injuries among pedestrians have fallen in recent years, but still remain public health problems as about 5000 pedestrians die each year. Because pedestrians have been shown to be responsible or partially responsible for many of the crashes in which they are involved, we sought to assess the relationship of distracted walking and performing routine cautionary behaviors of pedestrians crossing a busy street in a southwestern city at an intersection, adjacent a university. The behavior of 866 individuals was recorded by trained observers as pedestrians walked across a 105-foot wide street served by a stop light and zebra painted crosswalk. We defined distracted pedestrians as those wearing headphones, talking on a cell phone, eating, drinking, smoking or talking as they crossed the street. Caution was measured by looking left and right, and entering the crosswalk only when the white proceed light was illuminated. We found that only 13.5% of walkers looked left and right and entered the crosswalk while the white light was flashing. Approximately 20% of walkers were distracted as they crossed the street. Regression analysis indicated that distraction was negatively, but weakly associated with displaying cautious pedestrian behaviors. Because traffic lights were routinely ignored and lack of caution was predicted by distraction, we suggest that inexpensive education efforts target pedestrians near college campuses.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. P Kandela (1998) ArticleTitleRoad-traffic accidents Lancet. 352 1483 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0140-6736(05)61321-9 Occurrence Handle1:STN:280:DyaK1M%2FktFSluw%3D%3D

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Safe USA: Walking Safely. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/safeuse/walk/walking.htm. Accessed July, 2004

  3. InstitutionalAuthorNameTraffic Safety Administration (2003) Pedestrian roadway fatalities National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Springfield, VA

    Google Scholar 

  4. Office United States Department of Health and Human Services, Healthy People 2010, 2nd ed. Understanding and Improving Health and Objectives for Improving Health. Washington, DC: U.S. 2000. Available at: http://www.healthypeople.gov/ Accessed July 2004

  5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overweight and Obesity. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/. Accessed July, 2004

  6. WA Harrell (1993) ArticleTitleThe impact of pedestrian visibility and assertiveness on motorists yielding J Soc Psycho 133 353–360

    Google Scholar 

  7. WA Harrell (1992) ArticleTitleDelays in traffic and motorists yielding to pedestrians Percept Mot Skills 75 451–455

    Google Scholar 

  8. W Harrell (1994) ArticleTitleEffects of pedestrians’ visibility and signs of motorists’ yielding Percept Mot Skill. 78 355–362 Occurrence Handle1:STN:280:ByuB1MvitFY%3D

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. R VanHouten RG Tharp (1992) ArticleTitleThe influence of signs promoting motorists to yield before marked crosswalks on motor vehicle-pedestrian conflicts at crossroads with flashing amber Accid Anal Prev 24 217–225 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0001-4575(92)90001-Y Occurrence Handle1:STN:280:By2B1MjgvVY%3D Occurrence Handle1376601

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. T Boyce (2000) ArticleTitleA community-wide intervention to improve pedestrian safety Environ Behav 32 IssueID4 502–520 Occurrence Handle10.1177/00139160021972630

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Analysis NCS. Pedestrian roadway fatalities. Springfield, VA: US Department of Transportation; 2003. DOT HS 809 456

  12. GA Peters BJ Peters (2001) ArticleTitleThe distracted driver J R Soc Health 121 IssueID1 23–28 Occurrence Handle1:STN:280:DC%2BD3M3ntFGluw%3D%3D Occurrence Handle11329694

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. D Redelmeier R Tibshirani (1997) ArticleTitleAssociation between cellular telephone calls and motor vehicle collisions N Engl J Med 336 IssueID7 453–458 Occurrence Handle10.1056/NEJM199702133360701 Occurrence Handle1:STN:280:ByiC28%2Fpt1Y%3D Occurrence Handle9017937

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. G Simpson (1989) ArticleTitleDo breath tests really underestimate blood-alcohol concentration J Anal Toxicol 13 IssueID2 120–123 Occurrence Handle1:CAS:528:DyaL1MXhs1Olt74%3D Occurrence Handle2604767

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Squires M. Road Warrior: Walking can be deadly. Las Vegas Review Journal. July 12, 2002, p c2

  16. N DeVeauuse K Kim C Peek-Asa D McArthur J Kraus (1999) ArticleTitleDriver compliance with stop signs at pedestrian crosswalks on a university campus J Am Coll Health 47 IssueID6 269–272 Occurrence Handle1:STN:280:DyaK1M3ps12nsA%3D%3D Occurrence Handle10368561

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. J Stevenson (2001) ArticleTitlePedestrian clearance intervals J Visual Impair Blind 95 237–239

    Google Scholar 

  18. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Windows: Advanced Statistics, Release 6.0. Chicago, IL 1993

  19. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Safety Facts Available at: http://www.iihs.org/safety_facts/qanda/peds.htm Accessed July, 2004

  20. D Preusser A Lund (1988) ArticleTitleAnd keep on looking: a film to reduce pedestrian crashes among 9 to 12 year olds J Safety Res 19 177–185 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0022-4375(88)90021-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. O Duperrex I Bunn F Roberts (2002) ArticleTitleSafety education of pedestrians for injury prevention: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials Br Med J 324 1129–1131

    Google Scholar 

  22. Squires M. Yielding to pedestrians: Program aims to make streets safer. Las Vegas Review Journal. July 10, 2002, p. 1b, 5b

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Timothy J. Bungum DrPH.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bungum, T.J., Day, C. & Henry, L.J. The association of distraction and caution displayed by pedestrians at a lighted crosswalk. J Community Health 30, 269–279 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-005-3705-4

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-005-3705-4

Keywords

Navigation