Improving strategic policies for pedestrian safety enhancement using classification tree modeling

• The study to improve pedestrian safety policies in Korea using a classification tree technique.
• The current policies regarding pedestrian age and movement needed to be preferentially refined.
• Posted speed limit, road class, driver violation and vehicle types interacted with pedestrian safety enhancement as the second priority.
• Road facility, law enforcement, and education policies required for further pedestrian safety enhancement.

Pedestrian safety enhancement is a key component in reducing traffic fatalities in the Republic of Korea. The purpose of this study was to review, validate, specify, and prioritize Korea’s strategic policies for pedestrian safety enhancement using the classification tree method to model pedestrian injury severities. The findings show that pedestrian age and movement type are the two primary variables contributing to pedestrian fatalities and severe injuries. Traffic operation, road class, crash location, driver violation, and at-fault vehicle type are all secondary variables associated with pedestrian fatalities and severe injuries. Factors that contributed to crashes were compared with strategic polices for senior zones and school zones, road safety facilities, safe walking environments, and legal obligations of the driver in order to understand why certain polices are ineffective versus effective. Consequently, this study provides prescriptive analysis and specific insights pertaining to strategic policies for pedestrian safety enhancements, which can be employed in other countries for the similar purpose. For further research, this study suggests combining several other data-mining techniques with nationwide data collection.