IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i14p11000-d1193484.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pedestrian Safety in Road Traffic in the Era of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in the Example of Szczecin

Author

Listed:
  • Katarzyna Sosik-Filipiak

    (Faculty of Engineering and Economics of Transport, Maritime University of Szczecin, 11 H. Pobożnego Str., 70-507 Szczecin, Poland)

  • Piotr Ostrowski

    (Institute of Political Science and Security Studies, University of Szczecin, 71-79 Krakowska Str., 71-017 Szczecin, Poland)

  • Stanisław Iwan

    (Faculty of Engineering and Economics of Transport, Maritime University of Szczecin, 11 H. Pobożnego Str., 70-507 Szczecin, Poland)

Abstract

Safety of road users is one of the priority tasks of state institutions and local government authorities. Compared to other EU member states, Poland is characterized by a low level of road safety. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than half of road fatalities affect vulnerable road users (VRU). Most interactions in the vehicle–VRU relationship occur in built-up areas. Limiting the public’s mobility related to the spread of the COVID-19 virus led to changes in road traffic, which was reflected in the level of safety of individual road users. As part of a clear emphasis on the issue of VRU protection, the aim of this article is to examine the level of pedestrian safety in urban space at the time of restrictions on the public’s mobility in Poland during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and after lifting the limitations, based on the example of Szczecin. The authors put forward two research hypotheses: (1) the level of road safety is influenced by the intensity and saturation of the transport network; (2) the intensity of road traffic determines the occurrence of a greater number of road accident consequences. This study analyses traffic accident data over three periods—2017–2018, 2019–2020, and 2021—to identify pedestrian safety trends. The research shows that the intensity of road traffic has a significant impact on the occurrence of road accidents. The reduced road traffic due to the movement restrictions has kept the severity of road accidents moderate. In the post-pandemic period and the gradual lifting of the mobility restrictions, the number of road accidents increased while their consequences decreased.

Suggested Citation

  • Katarzyna Sosik-Filipiak & Piotr Ostrowski & Stanisław Iwan, 2023. "Pedestrian Safety in Road Traffic in the Era of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in the Example of Szczecin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-20, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:14:p:11000-:d:1193484
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/14/11000/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/14/11000/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kuhnimhof, Tobias & Buehler, Ralph & Wirtz, Matthias & Kalinowska, Dominika, 2012. "Travel trends among young adults in Germany: increasing multimodality and declining car use for men," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 443-450.
    2. Kinga Kijewska & João Guilherme Costa Braga França & Leise Kelli de Oliveira & Stanislaw Iwan, 2022. "Evaluation of Urban Mobility Problems and Freight Solutions from Residents’ Perspectives: A Comparison of Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and Szczecin (Poland)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-22, January.
    3. Correia, Gonçalo & Viegas, José Manuel, 2011. "Carpooling and carpool clubs: Clarifying concepts and assessing value enhancement possibilities through a Stated Preference web survey in Lisbon, Portugal," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 81-90, February.
    4. Möllers, Alessa & Specht, Sebastian & Wessel, Jan, 2022. "The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and government intervention on active mobility," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 356-375.
    5. Prieto, Marc & Baltas, George & Stan, Valentina, 2017. "Car sharing adoption intention in urban areas: What are the key sociodemographic drivers?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 218-227.
    6. Asif Raza & Muhammad Safdar & Ming Zhong & John Douglas Hunt, 2022. "Analyzing Spatial Location Preference of Urban Activities with Mode-Dependent Accessibility Using Integrated Land Use–Transport Models," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-31, July.
    7. Selzer, Sina, 2021. "Car-reduced neighborhoods as blueprints for the transition toward an environmentally friendly urban transport system? A comparison of narratives and mobility-related practices in two case studies," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    8. Banister, David, 2008. "The sustainable mobility paradigm," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 73-80, March.
    9. Asif Raza & Ming Zhong & Muhammad Safdar, 2022. "Evaluating Locational Preference of Urban Activities with the Time-Dependent Accessibility Using Integrated Spatial Economic Models," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-33, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hopkins, Debbie & Stephenson, Janet, 2014. "Generation Y mobilities through the lens of energy cultures: a preliminary exploration of mobility cultures," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 88-91.
    2. Yan Zhou & Sangmoon Park, 2020. "The Regional Determinants of the New Venture Formation in China’s Car-Sharing Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-22, December.
    3. Saxena, Aditya & Gupta, Vallary, 2023. "Carpooling: Who is closest to adopting it? An investigation into the potential car-poolers among private vehicle users: A case of a developing country, India," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 11-20.
    4. Quaglione, Davide & Cassetta, Ernesto & Crociata, Alessandro & Marra, Alessandro & Sarra, Alessandro, 2019. "An assessment of the role of cultural capital on sustainable mobility behaviours: Conceptual framework and empirical evidence," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 24-34.
    5. Muhammad Safdar & Arshad Jamal & Hassan M. Al-Ahmadi & Muhammad Tauhidur Rahman & Meshal Almoshaogeh, 2022. "Analysis of the Influential Factors towards Adoption of Car-Sharing: A Case Study of a Megacity in a Developing Country," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-25, February.
    6. Chen, Ching-Fu & Lee, Chia-Han, 2023. "Investigating shared e-scooter users’ customer value co-creation behaviors and their antecedents: Perceived service quality and perceived value," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 147-154.
    7. Molin, Eric & Mokhtarian, Patricia & Kroesen, Maarten, 2016. "Multimodal travel groups and attitudes: A latent class cluster analysis of Dutch travelers," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 14-29.
    8. Sanjay Gupta & Kushagra Sinha, 2022. "Assessing the Factors Impacting Transport Usage of Mobility App Users in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-20, October.
    9. Tzu-Ying Chen & Rong-Chang Jou & Yi-Chang Chiu, 2021. "Using the Multilevel Random Effect Model to Analyze the Behavior of Carpool Users in Different Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-13, January.
    10. Remme, Devyn & Sareen, Siddharth & Haarstad, Håvard, 2022. "Who benefits from sustainable mobility transitions? Social inclusion, populist resistance and elite capture in Bergen, Norway," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    11. Thurner, Thomas & Fursov, Konstantin & Nefedova, Alena, 2022. "Early adopters of new transportation technologies: Attitudes of Russia’s population towards car sharing, the electric car and autonomous driving," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 403-417.
    12. Iftikhar Hussain & Haiyan Wang & Muhammad Safdar & Quoc Bang Ho & Tina D. Wemegah & Saima Noor, 2022. "Estimation of Shipping Emissions in Developing Country: A Case Study of Mohammad Bin Qasim Port, Pakistan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-18, September.
    13. Ransford A. Acheampong & Alhassan Siiba, 2020. "Modelling the determinants of car-sharing adoption intentions among young adults: the role of attitude, perceived benefits, travel expectations and socio-demographic factors," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(5), pages 2557-2580, October.
    14. Ikezoe, Keigo & Kiriyama, Eriko & Fujimura, Shuzo, 2020. "Car-sharing intention analysis in Japan by comparing the utility of car ownership for car-owners and non-car owners," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 1-14.
    15. Bäuerle, Max Juri, 2022. "Striving for low-carbon lifestyles: An analysis of the mobility patterns of different urban household types with regard to emissions reductions in a real-world lab experiment in Berlin," Discussion Papers, Research Group Digital Mobility and Social Differentiation SP III 2022-601, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    16. Groth, Sören, 2019. "Multimodal divide: Reproduction of transport poverty in smart mobility trends," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 56-71.
    17. Qianqian Gong & Jiaming Li & Lingzhi Wu & Miner Zhu & Maoyu Luo & Jingyi Sun & Wenqing Fu & Renfeng Ma & Xianjun Liang, 2023. "Exploring Accessibility and Its Impact in the Mountain City: A Typical Case Study of Nyingchi City, Tibet Autonomous Region, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-20, January.
    18. Saujot, Mathieu & Lefèvre, Benoit, 2016. "The next generation of urban MACCs. Reassessing the cost-effectiveness of urban mitigation options by integrating a systemic approach and social costs," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 124-138.
    19. Thomas Vanoutrive & Ann Verhetsel, 2013. "Classifying transport studies using three dimensions of society: market structure, sustainability and decision making," Chapters, in: Thomas Vanoutrive & Ann Verhetsel (ed.), Smart Transport Networks, chapter 1, pages 1-8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Tornberg, Patrik & Odhage, John, 2018. "Making transport planning more collaborative? The case of Strategic Choice of Measures in Swedish transport planning," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 416-429.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:14:p:11000-:d:1193484. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.