Effect of street pattern on the severity of crashes involving vulnerable road users

Road crashes not only claim lives and inflict injuries but also create an economic burden to the society due to loss of productivity. Although numerous studies have been conducted to examine a multitude of factors contributing to the frequency and severity of crashes, very few studies have examined the influence of street pattern at a community level. This study examined the effect of different street patterns on crash severity using the City of Calgary as a case study. In this study, street pattern is classified into four categories: grid-iron, warped parallel, loops and lollipops, and mixed patterns. Their effects on injury risk are examined together with other factors including road features, drivers’ characteristics, crash characteristics, environmental conditions and vehicle attributes. Pedestrian and bicycle crash data for the years 2003–2005 were utilized to develop a multinomial logit model of crash severity. Our results showed that compared to other street patterns, loops and lollipops design increases the probability of an injury but reduces the probability of fatality and property-damage-only in an event of a crash.

Research highlights▶ Although numerous studies have been conducted to examine a multitude of factors contributing to the frequency and severity of crashes, few studies have examined the influence of street patterns on crash severity at a community level, especially crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists. ▶ In this study, street pattern is classified into four categories: grid-iron, warped parallel, loops and lollipops, and mixed patterns. ▶ The effects of different street patterns on crash severity is examined using the City of Calgary as a case study. ▶ Compared to other street patterns, the modern loops and lollipops design increases the probability of an injury outcome but reduces the probability of fatality and property-damage-only outcomes in the event of a crash.