Pedestrian- and driver-related factors associated with the risk of causing collisions involving pedestrians in Spain

• Few studies have been designed to analyze factors related to the risk of causing a collision between a pedestrian and a vehicle.
• We propose an indirect approach to identify and compare some pedestrian- and driver-related factors related to the risk of causing collisions.
• The risk of causing road crashes involving pedestrians in urban areas was higher in certain subgroups of pedestrian and drivers.
• These subgroups should be targeted by preventive strategies aimed at decreasing the rate of urban road crashes involving pedestrians in Spain.

This study aimed to quantify the association between pedestrian- and driver-related factors and the risk of causing road crashes involving pedestrians in urban areas in Spain between 1993 and 2011. From the nationwide police-based registry of road crashes with victims in Spain, we analyzed all 63,205 pairs of pedestrians and drivers involved in crashes in urban areas in which only the pedestrian or only the driver was at fault. Logistic regression models were used to obtain adjusted odds ratios to assess the strength of association between each individual-related variable and the pedestrian’s odds of being at fault for the crash (and conversely, the driver’s odds of not being at fault).The subgroups of road users at high risk of causing a road crash with a pedestrian in urban areas were young and male pedestrians, pedestrians with psychophysical conditions or health problems, the youngest and the oldest drivers, and drivers with markers of high-risk behaviors (alcohol use, nonuse of safety devices, and driving without a valid license). These subgroups should be targeted by preventive strategies intended to decrease the rate of urban road crashes involving pedestrians in Spain.