Pedestrians' performance and satisfaction

Abstract

In the framework of the PQN project, assessments have been carried out to arrive at real figures on the pedestrians’ performance and satisfaction. The results regarding key figures are: • About 50% of the pedestrians have limited abilities and about 10% of the population has severe difficulties walking and sojourning in public space. • Pedestrian mobility concerns door-to-door trips (mono-modal walking) and trips to and from other modes (multi-modal trips); time spent in traffic and distances covered are about the same. • The normal action radius of a pedestrian is about 1 kilometre; an average (European) citizen walks 250 door-to-door trips per year and 1,800 times to and from other modes. In total, pedestrians cover about 300 kilometres and spend about 100 hours per person per year on walking. • Sojourning in public space is an important indicator for quality of public space; it encourages all kinds of activities that humans need for their well-being. The average amount of time spent on sojourning is about 300 hours per person per year. • Hospital data and medical assistance data show that single pedestrian accidents (falls) induce three to nine time as many casualties as pedestrian-vehicle crashes. • The total number of victims for Europe amounts to at least 1.6 million injured pedestrians per year in Europe (equals more than 3,000 casualties per million inhabitants). • The total number of pedestrians killed varies from 9 fatalities per million inhabitants in the Netherlands to (more than) 46 in Poland. In the Netherland the number of vehicle related fatalities per million inhabitants is 6; the number of fatalities from falls is 3. • The total incidence of pedestrian injuries is 320 per million inhabitants (over 175,000 severely injured Europeans). Of this, 250 per million casualties result from falls (135,000 Europeans) and 75 per million from pedestrian-vehicle collisions (27,000 Europeans). The elderly run extreme risk. • For security, the number of incidents is less normative than the fear and emotions it evokes. Compared to traffic accidents and falls, the actual risk of getting injured or killed in a criminal incident is low; the real number of criminal acts in public space is stable over the years. • Satisfaction is related to the fulfilment of one’s wishes, expectations, or needs, and it reflects the pleasure derived from this. There is little research carried out on pedestrian satisfaction. Major issues for policy making with regard to the pedestrian performance and satisfaction are: • Large numbers of people have real trouble performing ‘walking and sojourning’ tasks. Because of ageing of the population the numbers will increase substantially. • With regard to safety, particularly the prevention of falls is important; this is also an age related problem. • There is too little awareness that without walking transportation is not possible. • The vicious circle of no data – no awareness – no priority - no research – no data, needs to be broken. The lack of data/information on walking and sojourning is imminent; some crucial concepts and statistical units need to be redefined and internationally applied