Analysis of Pedestrian Crashes with a View Towards Mitigation by Connected Vehicle Technologies

A comprehensive analysis of pedestrian crashes occurring at intersections was conducted with an underlying hypothesis that mitigation of vehicle-to-pedestrian crashes will be more challenging than mitigation of vehicle-to-vehicle crashes when connected/automated vehicles come to fruition. Pedestrian safety is important when discussing connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) technology because, with full autonomy, the human driver is no longer making all the decisions for the vehicle. The number of crashes after CAV implementation will reduce because crashes occurring due to improper driver behaviors will be eliminated. Drivers influenced by alcohol, drugs, or medications will not be behind the wheel trying to make cognitive driving decisions. Although most of these crash types will not be eliminated until 100% CAV penetration is reached. According to the crash types and factors discussed in the dataset, the reduction of crashes could be as much as 40% resulting in over $278 million in savings for Florida. This reduction can be increased with behavioral changes in pedestrians as well. Increasing proper use of sidewalks, crosswalks, and waiting for walking phases at intersections will also improve pedestrian safety even without the implementation of CAVs. This paper describes the factors of pedestrian crashes through descriptive analysis of Florida crash data, ADAS applications to help with pedestrian detection, and the reduction of vehicle-pedestrian crashes by implementing ADAS applications leading to fully connected and autonomous technologies, specifically in urban environments.

Keywords:Pedestrians; Pedestrian safety; CAV technologies; Safety; Sensing technology; Advanced driver assistance systems