Road Safety Attitudes and Perceptions of Pedestrians in Europe

The objective of this research is the analysis of road safety attitudes and perceptions of pedestrians in Europe using data from the pan-European SARTRE-4 survey. The SARTRE-4 survey, co-funded by the European Commission, was conducted in 19 European countries, namely 18 EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden) and Israel. A total sample of 1,000 road users was interviewed in each country, using a common questionnaire, with questions on road safety attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, motives etc. The questionnaire was designed with the same structure and methodology as in the previous SARTRE surveys, so that trends over time could be monitored. However, unlike the previous SARTRE surveys, which were devoted exclusively to drivers of passenger cars, the SARTRE-4 survey has been extended to other road users, namely motorcyclists, pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users. In this paper, the responses of pedestrians with respect to their road safety attitudes and perceptions are analyzed, including the perceived risk of walking compared to other transport modes, the perceived risk of speeding vehicles, alcohol, distraction and fatigue, the acceptance of enforcement and penalties, as well as of dedicated safety measures for pedestrians (e.g. 30km/h-zones, sidewalks and crosswalks). Moreover, additional questions specific to pedestrians are analyzed, concerning their motivations for not using a car or a motorcycle, their travel habits and behaviours (e.g. road crossing behaviour, compliance, distractions such as the use of mobile phone), their perceived level of service (e.g. safety, security, facilities available) and their interactions with other road users. Finally, the effects of country characteristics and personal characteristics (e.g. age, gender, annual distance travelled) on the examined attitudes and perceptions are also examined. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of the Programme Committee of he, Transport Research Arena 2012