An exploration into younger and older pedestrians' risky behaviours at train level crossings

James E Freeman; Mitchell McMaster; Andry Rakotonirainy

doi:10.3390/safety1010016

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An exploration into younger and older pedestrians' risky behaviours at train level crossings

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

An exploration into younger and older pedestrians' risky behaviours at train level crossings

James E Freeman, Mitchell McMaster and Andry Rakotonirainy

Safety, Vol.1, pp.16-27

2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/safety1010016

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Abstract

Public Health and Health Services

pedestrian behaviour

train level crossings

rule violations

qualitative research

Background: Younger and older pedestrians are both overrepresented in train-pedestrian injury and fatality collision databases. However, scant research has attempted to determine the factors that influence level crossing behaviours for these high risk groups. Method: Five focus groups were undertaken with a total of 27 younger and 17 older pedestrian level crossing users (N = 44). Due to the lack of research in the area, a focus group methodology was implemented to gain a deeper exploratory understanding into the sample's decision making processes through a pilot study. The three main areas of enquiry were identifying the: (a) primary reasons for unsafe behaviour; (b) factors that deter this behaviour and (c) proposed interventions to improve pedestrian safety at level crossings in the future. Results: Common themes to emerge from both groups regarding the origins of unsafe behaviours were: running late and a fatalistic perspective that some accidents are inevitable. However, younger pedestrians were more likely to report motivators to be: (a) non-perception of danger; (b) impulsive risk taking; and (c) inattention. In contrast, older pedestrians reported their decisions to cross are influenced by mobility issues and sensory salience. Conclusion: The findings indicate that a range of factors influence pedestrian crossing behaviours. This paper will further outline the major findings of the research in regards to intervention development and future research direction.

Details

Title: An exploration into younger and older pedestrians' risky behaviours at train level crossings
Authors: James E Freeman (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
Mitchell McMaster (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
Andry Rakotonirainy (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
Publication details: Safety, Vol.1, pp.16-27
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2015
DOI: 10.3390/safety1010016
ISSN: 2313-576X; 2313-576X
Copyright note: Copyright © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Organisation Unit: Road Safety Research Collaboration; School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Law and Society; Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99451116602621
Output Type: Journal article
Research Statement: false

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