1. THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT
Adult Pedestrians in the Night Time Economy

2. Context
In 2013 we published a report with PACTS that looked at the problem of pedestrian casualties.
Lots of improvement have been made in in-vehicle safety but until recently few had the potential to benefit pedestrians
Pedestrian casualties still make up almost ¼ of all those KSI on our roads
Recent trends show that there have been great reductions in child pedestrian casualties, down 48% over the last decade, but adult pedestrian casualties have gone down by less than half this percentage.
From our research with PACTS we know that adult pedestrians are very often involved in collisions in the evening and that alcohol impairment is high in the list of contributory factors.
Together with RSGB we started work on an in-depth review of the crash DNA, previous research, possible interventions and existing work in the area of adult pedestrians at night.
Rather than go through all of the report in detail however we are going to highlight the main findings and consider what can be done to tackle the problem using the evidence available.

3. Gender
This is the who, what, how, where, when and is the first thing we always do when designing an intervention.
Often we start with the collision circumstances but here we are going to concentrate on people first in this presentation
As with many report we find that men outnumber women, in this case it’s roughly a two-thirds male to one-third female split.
This is however quite a bit different to the distribution for daytime adult pedestrian casualties with the risk for men going up by almost 20%

4. Age
It won’t surprise any of you to realise that risk is higher amongst younger adults. This is almost certainly a reflection of the numbers of people in these age groups who are out at night as pedestrians, although actual numbers are impossible to ascertain so we can’t calculate a true rate.
The rise could also be due in part to behavioural differences between the age groups, something we will address in a moment
One of the important things to note is the big rise in casualty distributions versus daytime collisions.
Those in the youngest age bracket (16-24 years old) see a 34% increase in casualty distribution at night time compared to the day when compared to all other age groups.

5. Mosaic
The Mosaic profiling was done at type level thanks to the amount of data available and it brought up five main types as being over-represented and at-risk
The wheel diagram here is reproduced in the report and shows where there are shared characteristics between the types
We find that there are several things in common:
Unemployed / Student
Deprivation
Budget Supermarkets
Low / no car ownership
Feel unsafe at night
You can also see that a few of the types have other things in common too although they may not be universal

6. IMD
The link between IMD and pedestrian casualties has been established for some time
Child casualties tend to be even more deprived than adult casualties, although the trend is still very strong for adults as you can see
There is a significant increase in risk at night as well for the most deprived groups

7. Contributory Factors
Pedestrian casualties themselves contribute in some way to just over 75% of collisions at night, up by 7% from the daytime figure
Alcohol impairment more than doubles at night-time, 2/3rds for drugs
Dangerous actions increase by 2/3rds also
Drivers who hit pedestrians at night are more likely to be under the influence of alcohol, be driving at speed over the limit, and be driving aggressively compared to the daytime.

8. Crash DNA
Hourly distributions show a reducing trend throughout the evening and into the night
The drop-off is much slower than seen for other casualty groups however with significant numbers still injured after 9pm

9. Month
A quick look at the monthly distributions shows peaks in the autumn and winter months
This is broadly in line with other collision data however and does not vary significantly from the norm

10. Crossing Facilities
One of the significant features we analysed was crossing facilities
The significant majority were injured well away from pedestrian crossings
There was a big rise those injured near a crossing compared to daytime and a decrease in those injured on a crossing
Encouraging better use of existing facilities could therefore be one way to reduce casualties

11. Road Class
Reviewing where on the road network these crashes occur gives us the results we would expect
It’s predominantly and issue in urban areas with A roads featuring prominently and at slightly elevated risk levels compared to daytime
Casualties on high-speed roads M, A(M) increase significantly but the numbers are very low

12. Regional Variation
London dominates the picture and has increased risk at night compared to the daytime.
Scotland, Wales and the North-East have even larger increases at night

14. Previous Research Common Factors At weekends Between 6pm and 11pm
Where the casualty is aged between 16 and 34 years old
Where the casualty is male
Where the casualty is deprived
Where the casualty is impaired by alcohol
Where the casualty is wearing dark clothing
Where the casualty undertook dangerous actions in the carriageway
Where the related driver was impaired by alcohol, driving aggressively and/or were exceeding the speed limit
We looked at many different research studies from around the world to see if others had reviewed the problem as well
They made very good reading and the key point are summarised in the report
Here are the things that were common to our report and the international research

15. Previous Research Other Findings Lack of awareness of impairment
Risky crossing behaviour
Difficulty judging speed and distance
Areas with a high density of pubs & clubs
History of alcohol abuse
International researchers also looked at other information about impaired adults

16. Interventions Engineeering Enforcement
Separation of pedestrians from motor vehicles by fences
Reducing speed limits
Fencing or other facilities to separate pedestrians and motor vehicles in areas where bars cluster
Adequate lighting to assist drivers in seeing pedestrians at night
Traffic calming devices
Enforcement
Drunkenness
Jaywalking
As usual there are three types of solution under the ‘Three E’s’
Engineering may be the most useful and removing vehicles from the streets altogether would be even better!
Other than general laws about drunken behaviour, there is little that can be done as jaywalking is not an offence in our country

17. Interventions Education Drunk-Walkers do not think they are at risk
More worried about assault
Getting drunk is normal behaviour, telling people not to drink won’t work
Very drunk people will not retain advertising or awareness messages
Educating a person who willingly puts themselves into danger is quite difficult
Getting an impaired person to take on a message (and remember it) is also quite tricky!
There is evidence that there is low awareness of risk and therefore improving this could assist other measures.

18. Existing Campaigns Use trains and buses: Transport info website
Organise a lift
Book a taxi or mini-bus: Taxis NSW
Stay overnight at a place nearby
Wear bright, light clothes at night so you are more visible to drivers and riders
Drink & Drug Driving
Interruption events
Direct conversations with target groups
Evaluated

19. Fun Theory
“The thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better”
Developed by Volkswagen
International awards scheme
Speed Camera Lottery
Bottle Bank Arcade
The Play Belt

20. Fun Theory
Around 2 months ago we were sat in a meeting, going through the initial findings and trying to think about what a successful campaign would look like
We used all of the information about the problem (drunk, young adults, at night, not using crossings) and looked at the kinds of messages that may work with the target audience
We also considered what drunk people were interested in
More alcohol
Food
Loud music
Sex
And then we thought of how we could re-purpose one of the best road safety tools we possess – The Crossing Patrol