citta_6 leandro marques_da_costa_paper

CITTA 6th Annual Conference on Planning Research

RESPONSIVE TRANSPORTS FOR SMART MOBILITY 1

ROAD SAFETY AND HEALTY CITIES: THE SEIXAL CASE

STUDY

LEANDRO, HUGO & MARQUES DA COSTA, NUNO

Centro de Estudos Geográficos (CEG) – Instituto de Geografia e Ordenamento do Território (IGOT)

Universidade de Lisboa, [email protected] ; [email protected]

Phone/fax numbers: + 351 217940218

Abstract The reduction of road fatalities, as a factor of the community’s well-being improvement is one of the objectives for the

promotion of the healthy city. Being the pedestrian injury crashes (PIC) more relevant in an urban environment it is

fundamental for its understanding know the conditions in which they occurred. This paper presents a statistic survey

made in the Seixal municipality, revealing some of the factors that can help to explain the incidence of PIC, giving us

some clues as point to measures that should be taken for the promotion of a safer and healthier city.

Keywords: healthy city; road fatalities; pedestrian injuries; road design

1. Introduction

PIC’s are a problem that affects the modern society and that, not being a rare occurrence, tends to be

considered a normal event, not much different from a mere road accident between two road vehicle with

just material damages (Meirinhos, 2010). As a result of this normality, just the road accidents with some

dimension end up receiving the media attention, to which a single major road accident involving a large

number of vehicles without any injuries has more journalistic interest than several PIC, some of them

fatalities, in a small 500 meter stretch of road over a given period of time, like a single year. Due to this

lack of visibility, at a social level, pedestrian safety tends to be the “poor relative” of road safety research.

Therefore, there isn’t much literature about this subject, when compared to the research of road vehicle

accidents.

In September 1978, at the Alma Ata’s International Conference on Primary Health Care, it is declared that

the good health condition cannot be defined solely as the absence of health or of disease but as a

complete state of physical, mental and social well-.being. This health concept, much more comprehensive

and integrating, was on the origin of the development of the movement of the healthy cities, almost a

decade later, after the Ottawa Charter (Simões, 2007).

On the current administration scenarios, mobility and public transportation are one of the pivotal themes of

the municipal officials. Equity, environmental impacts and road accidents make three of the main

components of the management of mobility and transportation (cf. Marques da Costa, 2007) which, in a

more direct way, are related to the well-being of the citizens, the main commitment of the healthy cities.

In this paper, we will study the theme of road accidents, namely the PIC and their relation with the

construction of a healthier city.

2. Literature revue and overview

As the Society develops itself, the concept of Public Health broadens, beyond the simple prevention of

infectious diseases and food poisoning, to include many more other specific aspects of the collective

health, in a perspective that a good collective health is essential for a sustainable economic growth (WHO,

2009). In that context, the PIC have started to be considered a public health problem, due to the

H Leandro, N Marques da Costa. Road Safety and Healthy Cities: The Seixal case study

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consequences of the contact between a road vehicle and a pedestrian, which, invariably, is the one who is

more penalized, with the added problem that certain age groups tend to be more vulnerable to PIC. In this

scenario, spatial planning, in its several aspects, from the street and road design to the incentives for

public transport use (Gaivoto, 2010) and the psychology as a way to understand the behaviours of the

different actors and how to raise their awareness to this reality (Rosário, 2009), are essential tools to allow

the understanding of any statistical and geographical data related to this them. This is especially important

with the growing urban population that, on the next 30 years, is expected to reach 6 billion people, with the

challenges associated with it, not only with regard to the relation between pedestrians and road vehicles

but also at several other levels of Public Health, as described by Takano (2003).

In the entire World, it is estimated that, every year, 1.2 million people lose their life in road accidents (Faria,

2008). In Portugal, in the year 2010, 741 people have died in road accidents, 14% of which (104) due to a

PIC. In this case, the study intends to be focused, mainly, on the urban environment, which characterizes

many of the areas of the Seixal municipality. The pedestrian deaths in urban roads represented, in

Portugal, in 2007, about 39% of the deaths related to urban roads in opposition to values between 14%

and 18% on the other roads (Faria, 2008). On the other hand, Faria also demonstrates that 97,7% of the

accidents can be chargeable to human factors, with excess speed as the main cause (33,6%). This data

demonstrate the existence of this problem, the origin of which seems to be in the “forced” coexistence

between pedestrians and road vehicles, due to the way cities were designed, making the sharing of some

spaces, between both, unavoidable. The pedestrian, due to its fragility, occupies the bottom of the traffic

pyramid (where the heavy vehicles occupy the top), “exiled on its own territory and submitted to the will of

the others [road users], even of cyclists” (Meirinhos, 2009:6).In this way, pedestrians and road vehicles,

have to dispute the space, creating conflicts in that process, either of physical nature (space dispute),

either of political nature (according to the different personal and collective interests) being this interests

“directly connected to the position that the person occupies on the traffic”. Considering that the elimination

of those conflicts it is impossible, it will be possible the “partial elimination” trough a multidisciplinary

approach (Campozano, 2008 citing Vasconcelos, 1985), as referred previously.

Figure 1, Private car use (passenger/km) in some EU Countries and GNP of Portugal, at current prices, 1995 - 2008 (source: INE / Eurostat)

Formatada: Legenda, Esquerda



The accidents involving pedestrians are a phenomenon of a predominantly urban nature, where there are

a far greater number of pedestrian movements and the space conflicts are greater. In opposition, the

number of accidents outside the urban areas is smaller but the injuries tend to be more severe as road

speeds are usually greater outside urban areas (Zegger and Bushell 2010). In the Portuguese case, the

lack of recognized collective mobility solutions, that have not adapted to the new realities of labour (more

flexible and decentralized), even in large metropolitan areas, encourages, or even requires, the use of

private cars in many displacements. This is associated with the facility of acquisition of private road

vehicles that enabled the multiplication of families with more than one car, something that can only be

defeated by the existence of a good public transport network (Gaivoto, 2010). On the other hand, it is not

wrong to consider that, in an environment where public transport do not provide a good service, less

favoured population are forced to travel longer distances on foot thus, involving an increased number of

crossings thereby, increasing the risk of PIC.

Figure 2, Origin/Destination matrix (by municipality) with the most used transportation mode in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. (legend translation, top to bottom: private car; train, bus, on foot, others, not relevant). (Source: Vala, 2001)

The solutions proposed and implemented to mitigate this problem are varied but, the problems

encountered at the human level are several as, in addition to their own fallibility (inherent to the human

nature), the behaviour of road users is strongly influenced by rooted cultural practices. Therefore

necessary to also act within the "material component" (as described by Faria, 2008) since pedestrians and

cyclists, are not subjected to a "specific training for context of road interaction" and not need a license to

do so (Meirinhos . 2,009). Thus, of the various aspects, on the material components to be intervened, we

highlight the spatial planning component and, within it, the traffic calming measures, which in a general

way, "involve reducing the speed of vehicles, increase road safety and improved quality of life" (Meira,

2006).


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3. Road accidents and the Healthy Cities

In recent decades we have witnessed the rapid rise of the road vehicle numbers and of its use for daily

journeys. According to data from Transport Statistics of the European Union 2012, between 1990 and

2010, the number of road vehicles, in Portugal, increased from about 1.9 million to more than double to

nearly 4.5 million in 2010, corresponding to a rate average annual growth of 4.52%. Compared to the

average of the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU27), the growth rate of the Portuguese fleet

was twice more than the EU27 average, which was 1.92% in the same period. Following this trend, the use

of cars in Portugal grew similarly, rising from 40 billion passenger-kilometre in 1990 to 84 billion in 2010,

corresponding to an average annual growth rate of 3.76%.

Despite the rapid growth in both the road vehicle fleet and in its use, road accidents with victims have

decreased, either due to the improvement of the road infrastructure, either due to the improvement of the

car systems of active and passive safety of vehicles or by improvement of the civic behaviour of road

users. However, despite this downward trend, Portugal still has road accidents with victims rates much

higher than the EU27 average, either when weighted by population (88 vs 62 deaths per million

inhabitants), the car park (210 vs 131 deaths per million passenger cars) or by passenger-kilometre (110

vs 64 deaths per billion passenger-kilometre).

In 2010 were registered in Portugal 35 426 road accidents with casualties which, resulted in 937 deaths

and 46,365 wounded. Despite the reduction in the number of accidents, 21% less than in 1990, and

particularly of the number of fatalities (which decreased to less than a half in two decades), road safety will

continue to be a central concern of the entities responsible for road management. The significant social

impact, particularly on individuals and families directly affected by road accidents (Gifford & Steg, 2007)

largely justify this political option.

Taking into account the number of victims, by category of road users, we observed that 12.6% of the

victims are pedestrians. This value is even more relevant if we consider only the fatalities, where

pedestrians represent 20.8%, i.e. for each five deaths on the roads one is a pedestrian. These are the

most vulnerable users of the road, as highlighted by the World Health Organization (Peden et al., 2004).

Resulting of the dispute between pedestrians and car traffic for road use, PIC are accidents that occur

predominantly in urban areas where increased population density and road traffic intensity increase this

conflict. Moreover, due to the characteristics and reduced circulation velocity in urban areas, accident

victims are predominantly the ones resulting from PIC since the remaining accidents normally result in

material losses only.

The road accidents with victims have recognized negative effects on the welfare of citizens and today are

already recognized by the World Health Organization as a public health problem (Peden et al., op. cit.).

Consequently, the achievement of a healthy city must, necessarily, pass through intervention at the level of

mobility management and of the control and road accident mitigation in urban areas.

4. Methodology

The data on PIC in Seixal municipality, in 2008 and 2009, was obtained from the website of the Civil

Government of Setúbal and, for the year 2007 directly, from the Seixal municipality, having been compiled

a database that was subsequently corrected for data inaccuracies and duplications. At a later stage were



selected the roads with five or more pedestrian accidents in Seixal, with a recognition visit to this roads

having been done at a later stage.

Later, in selected pedestrian crossings of those roads, a visual survey was conducted about conditions of

the crossing and the behaviour of pedestrians. We must emphasize that the intention of this was to survey

the behaviour of pedestrians and drivers and not an exhaustive survey of the conditions of the crossings

and routes, something that was not within the scope of this investigation.

Observations were made over a period of 15 minutes and recorded in an observation form composed of

two parts. In the first part we noted the conditions of the crossing, the way pedestrians used pedestrian

crossing and the apparent age (> 20, 20-64 or 65 years). On the second part, we counted the passing

vehicles and the attitude of the drivers upon the intention of a pedestrian using the crossing (namely if it

yielded or not).

It has also conducted a survey to 155 residents, workers or students in the Seixal municipality, considering

four big age groups:

• Up to 19 years - a group statistically susceptible to PIC

• 20 to 39 years - the statistical data indicate that this is the age group with higher mortality due to road

accidents, with special focus on the ages of 20 to 24 years and 25 to 29 years (J. Faria 2008) .

• From 40 to 64 - This is an age group where there is less susceptibility to accident deaths (J. Faria 2008).

• 65 or more years - This is another age group with high susceptibility to deaths due to road accidents (J.

Faria 2008).

Besides the age, we surveyed about the possession, or not, of a driving license, and the gender of the

surveyed. The survey consisted of three closed-answer questions about the use of pedestrian crossings,

namely one about the mandatory use of pedestrian crossings and two about the process of crossing.

In addition to the survey, an open questionnaire was delivered to some drivers with over 10 years of

driving experience, to which only 19 drivers answered. This questionnaire surveyed on the behaviour of

road users, drivers and pedestrians, and the road characteristics, as perceived by them.

5. Pedestrian Injury Crashes, the Seixal case

5.1. The Seixal municipality characteristics

The Seixal is a municipality of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML), located on the south bank of the Tagus

River, with a resident population of 157 981, corresponding to a population density of 1688 inhabitants per

km2, according to the provisional results of the Census 2011. The daily population movements recorded in

the municipality are characterized by polarization of the movements to Lisbon which, in 2001, attracted

about one third of the active population residing in the municipality. The private vehicle was the transport

mode, used for travel between home and place of work or study, for more than 40% of residents in Seixal

in 2001. This followed the trend observed in AML (and the whole national territory) with the sharp increase

in the use of individual transport for everyday journeys. The dispersion of the employment in the AML may

have contributed to this car use increase, as identified by Vala (2003). This dispersion was not

accompanied by the reorganization of public transport, in the AML, causing the growth of the use of

individual transport due to the lack of alternatives.


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In 1981 the private car was responsible for less than 10% (9.4%) of commuting (to work or school) in

Seixal, 21.0% in 1991 and 40.4% in 2001 (Marques da Costa, 2007). This growth has naturally contributed

to the deterioration of health conditions of the population due to the generation of higher pollutant

emissions and noise increase but also increasing pressure on the road network, thereby enhancing the

occurrence of PIC.

The road network of the municipality is characterized by the presence of EN 10 (National Road 10) that

cross the Seixal municipality, from Northwest to Southeast, parallel to the A2 (Highway 2), connecting it to

the neighbouring municipalities of Almada and Barreiro. Additionally, the EN 378 (National Road 378)

crosses the municipality, north to south, linking Seixal to Sesimbra. These two roads run through areas of

high densities of population, functional units of trade and services, making this the focus of the most

notorious conflicts between pedestrians and road traffic in the municipality. This situation is particularly

evident, not only in section of the EN10 between A2 access, in Fogueteiro, and Amora as it is, equally

significant, in initial leg of EN 378, in Seixal, and across the parish of Fernão Ferro. These road sections

have the characteristics of streets, completely integrated in the urban fabric. Thus, these roads serve

simultaneously for local traffic and for regional traffic, generating a conflict of interests between the drivers,

enhancing the possibility of disregard of the traffic rules, namely excess speed (circulating above the

signed or ruled speed limit) or, more often, excessive speeding (circulating at a speed within the signed or

ruled speed limit but above the speed deemed safe for the actual circulating conditions (i.e. heavy traffic,

rain, etc.).

Figure 3, Seixal Municipality and location of roads with 5, or more, PIC between 2007 and 2009 (source: Seixal municipality / Author)



5.2. Pedestrian Injury Crashes distribution

The survey of the pedestrian accidents occurred in Seixal in 2007, 2008 and 2009 identified 299 PIC in the

municipality roads. This survey was conducted using the information gathered from the municipality,

regarding the data for the year 2007 (121 records), and with from the Civil Government of Setúbal, for the

years of 2008 (74) and 2009 (104).

Of the number of accidents, recorded in the three years, it was possible to identify twelve sections of road

with a number of occurrences greater than or equal to five PIC. Altogether, these road sections , were

responsible for 115 occurrences, i.e. two in five pedestrian accidents occurred in the twelve sections

identified.

Table 1, Streets/Roads, of the Seixal municipality, with 5, or more, PIC in the 2007 - 2009 period.Fi, refers to the absolute number of PIC; fi% refers to the percentage of the total number of PIC in the Seixal municipality (source: Seixal municipality)

Roads / Streets Parish Fi fi (%)

EN 10 Av. 1º Maio Amora 24 8,0

EN 10 Av. 25 de Abril Amora/Corroios 22 7,4

Rua Foros de Amora Amora 13 4,3

Rua 25 de Abril (Cruz de Pau) Amora 12 4,0

Av. Afonso Costa Amora 7 2,3

Av. Liberdade Fernão Ferro 6 2,0

Av. República Seixal 6 2,0

Av. Dr. Arlindo Vicente Arrentela 5 1,7

Av. Rui Grácio Corroios 5 1,7

EN378 Fernão Ferro 5 1,7

Rua de Cacheu Amora 5 1,7

Rua da Cordoaria Amora 5 1,7

Total 115 38,5

The occurrence of PIC was particularly common along the EN 10 in the parishes of Amora and Corroios.

This national road runs through the consolidated urban fabric in these two parishes, making it a road with

urban characteristics where we can find a whole range of trade functions and services on both sides of the

road, consequently inducing the need for multiple road crossings.

The existence of schools near these arteries, as is the case of the Afonso Costa Avenue, in the parish of

Amora, is another risk factor when associated to the need to cross traffic intensive roads by a large volume

of younger individuals. This risk is increased as, by their physical characteristics, the younger when

starting to cross the roads between parked cars, or street furniture, frequently become invisible to drivers.

The visit to the locations with the highest concentration of PIC, also allowed us to identify another relevant

feature that allow us to explain the high incidence of pedestrian accidents in these road sections. The

straight alignment of the road, accompanied by a lane width lacking of any measure forcing the speed

reduction of road vehicles, is a factor that can induce excess speed or, at the least, excessive speed,

increasing the likelihood of occurrence of PIC and decreasing the chance of survival of the pedestrian in


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case of impact. In fact, the likelihood of survival of a pedestrian, in a PIC, decreases 8 times as the speed

increases from 30 to 50km / h (Peden et al. 2004).

Table 2, Context of the PIC, in the Seixal municipality, in 2007 (source: Seixal municipality)

Situation Fi fi (%) si (%)

Crossing in a pedestrian

crossing 49 40,5 40,5

Crossing outside of a

pedestrian crossing and at less

than 50 meters from a

pedestrian crossing.

17 14,0 54,5

In open road 17 14,0 68,6

Appearing, unexpectedly, on

the road from behind an

obstacle.

11 9,1 77,7

Walking by the roadside or

sidewalk. 9 7,4 85,1

Crossing outside of a

pedestrian crossing and at

more than 50 meters from a

pedestrian crossing.

6 5,0 90,1

Entering or exiting a vehicle 3 2,5 92,6

Crossing in a traffic light

signed pedestrian crossing in

disrespect to the signage

3 2,5 95,0

Walking by the right side of

the roadside 3 2,5 97,5

In a road works area 2 1,7 99,2

Walking by the left side of the

roadside 1 0,8 100,0

Total 121 100,0 -

The analysis of the 121 pedestrian accidents, recorded in 2007, gives us evidence that the majority of

pedestrian accidents occur on the marked pedestrian crossings, commonly known as “zebra crossings”.

The 40.5% recorded are consistent with the data of the National Authority for Road Safety, which reveal

that more than a third of PIC, occurring within Portuguese districts, occurs in pedestrian crossings without

traffic lights. Failure to follow the rules set out in the Highway Code and the relative relaxation, of the

pedestrians, to cross in a place that they perceive as more protected, may help explain the extremely high

values recorded.

On the other hand, the behaviour of the pedestrians also seems to contribute to the occurrence of PIC. In

fact, if we add the occurrences that resulted from crossing outside the pedestrian crossings, less than 50

meters from a signed pedestrian crossing (the distance to a signed pedestrian crossing within which the

pedestrian is required to use the said crossing), outside the vicinity of any crossing, appearing

unexpectedly on the roadway from behind an obstacle or disrespect of traffic lights, we will get a result of

39.6% of the 121 pedestrian accidents occurred in 2007 in Seixal thus also revealing a less careful in the

use of public roads.



Although our observations were brief, with a consequently limited statistical validity, they were made at

various locations and complemented by visits to the roads, which allowed us to observe the uniformity of

behaviours. Although we have determined that pedestrians know, in a reasonably objective way, in what

circumstances it is mandatory to use the pedestrian crossing (98.5% of 155 respondents), during our field

work it was not unusual verify that any pedestrian that had the opportunity to cross the road safely at the

location they were (and if appropriate to the direction of travel), they would cross the road, regardless of

the existence of a marked pedestrian crossings to less than 50 meters or not. Conversely, when using the

passage marked for pedestrian crossings, they would not always take precautions, before crossing, as

required by the Highway Code. From these behaviours results the bad image that drivers have from

pedestrians, classifying them as undisciplined / distracted / bad / aggressive in over half of the interviews

conducted by Martins (2010). Meirinhos (2009) refers the complaints from drivers to a Police station

commander, which stated that pedestrians cross the road carelessly and himself states that they “lack of

civility and have bad road behaviour" (Meirinhos, 2009:57). When looking up to the questionnaires we

made to some drivers, we verify that 78.9% of them qualifies negatively the behaviour of pedestrians,

when crossing the road. We highlight especially a testimony that qualifies the pedestrians behaviour as

"completely irrational, many touching suicidal behaviour", with other responders not being so expressive

but pointing in the same direction.

Drivers who, consider themselves as, generally, good drivers have also behaviours of risk. Many of these

behaviours violate the principles established by the Highway Code in what relates to the approach of the

pedestrian crossings (namely the ones not protected by traffic lights), by failing to reduce speed, by

overtaking over the pedestrian crossings or even simply by parking their vehicles illegally and thus

blocking the mutual visibility of pedestrians and drivers. All of these behaviours were found consistently in

the streets of Seixal. Traffic conditions, in some cases are very difficult, with pedestrians forced to travel on

the roadway, as a result of indiscriminate parking on the sidewalks or even on the road itself, totally

obstructing road lanes, disrupting the flow of traffic, often without regard for pedestrian crossings which are

not respected by drivers that do not always respect by not giving passage to pedestrians.

Moreover, many of the routes that have been selected have a relatively straight alignment practically

devoid of any traffic calming measures thus not creating incentives to decrease the running speeds. This

raises the possibility of this type of alignment to encourage the increase of speeds practiced and

eventually this can be related to the number of PIC. Looking at the numbers, there is certainly a

relationship between speed and the severity of PIC. In Portugal in 2007, only 24.7% of deaths from PIC

happened in urban roads, with PIC in those roads representing 59.2% of total PIC (Faria, 2008). However,

despite traffic generally runs, apparently, within the speed limits (“... the high volumes of traffic in the cities

does not allow a very high speed ",Baião, 2010:20) the fact is that, as referred previously, an increased

speed from 30 to 50 km / h in a hit enhances the probability of death in about eight times (WHO, 2004).


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Figure 4, Probability of pedestrian death, against the speed of a vehicle, in a PIC (source: WHO)

Thus the straight alignment, stripped out of traffic calming measures, is something that potentiates PIC.

However, a proper and thorough analysis implies, also, the traffic density, the number of crossings, the

road width, the presence of bus stops and schools nearby (Zegger and Bushell, 2008 citing Harwood et

al.).

Figure 5, Speed reduction expectation according to the traffic calming measures (Left to right: No measures; improved horizontal signage; reduction of the road width, roundabouts and right of way changes ; speed bumps)(Source: BHTRANS, 1999)

Another of the findings relates to the age of the victims of PIC. The data shows that 22.3% of victims were

less than 16 years and 21.5% over 65 years. This is consistent with international data as, in Seixal, they

reveal that the younger and the older are the main victims of PIC.

The presence of schools is a factor to take into account when regarding PIC. The Highway Code highlights

this fact by recommending drivers that they specially moderate speed when approaching schools; WHO

stresses that one of the specific situations to consider in road planning are the conflicts between

pedestrians and vehicles, on busy roads, nearby schools (WHO, 2004); the New York City streets in

residential areas and nearby schools are subject to strong calming measures traffic (City of New York,

2009), among other examples. However, our analysis only identifies some cases where there is proximity

of schools to streets with five or more pedestrian accidents between 2007 and 2009. In 2007, of the 30

PIC involving individuals under the age of 20 (ages the victims of 9, 12, 14, 15 and 19), five occurred on

the 1º de Maio avenue (EN10) in the Amora parish, accounting for 36% of pedestrian accidents in that

pathway, between 07:45 and 18:30, on school days. Considering the elderly, and the day care centres, the



2007 data are distributed fairly and not allow us an association between their presence and the number of

pedestrian accidents. However, one must consider that it is normal that middle and high schools, in

suburban areas, have well over a thousand students, while day centres, for the elderly, have a much

smaller size. However, we note that drivers seem to be especially aware that the risk groups are the

elderly and children as, in a question "Considering his experience which the most vulnerable pedestrians?"

with an open answer, 15 of the 19 respondents gave a response that included elderly and children

simultaneously.

We also note that, more than the awareness of the population, the design and maintenance of roads is

something to consider. During the fieldwork, it was impossible not to notice the lack of attention devoted to

the roads by the authorities. What immediately strikes us is the almost complete absence of road

markings, whose importance tends neglected by the authorities (Vicente, 2005), despite having been

demonstrated “by Johansson and Backlund (1970), that the driver focuses much more attention on the

road markings than in the vertical signs, since they have the advantage of remaining visible under certain

conditions such as high traffic density."(Vicente, 2005:3). It is also clear the irregular parking in pedestrian

spaces in an urban area which is clearly not prepared for the levels of car ownership that exist in the

municipality. Also, despite the clear need for reorganization of public space, traffic calming measures are

placed isolated, disconnected from a global policy, existing mainly near schools, many times just a simple

bump or a pedestrian refuge islet on the middle of the road.

5.3. Analysis of the research results

The results indicate that the occurrence of pedestrian accidents cannot be explained alone by human

factors, although this is, often, the easier explanation to find, namely by the authorities responsible for

management, supervision and traffic supervision or by the entities responsible for the prevention of road

accidents.

The results allow us to identify that, beyond the human factor, the design of the streets and roads and the

interventions at the spatial planning level are important elements in the prevention of road accidents. Thus,

after this survey, conducted in Seixal, it was possible to identify four enhancing factors of PIC:

• The human factor, due to the disrespect of pedestrian crossings by both drivers and pedestrians;

• The presence of social and functional units of trade and services along, or near, roads of intensive traffic;

• The inexistence of a clear definition of the road hierarchy;

• Relatively straight road and streets alignment, without any measure that forces the speed reduction on

the roads where conflicts between pedestrians and motorists are more frequent.

6. Conclusions

Human and urban factors play an important role in the decline of road accidents. The awareness of

citizens, pedestrians, drivers, young and elderly, is certainly a key focus on the intervention to combat road

accidents. However, the burden of this cannot just fall on the individual, either it being driver or pedestrian.

The street design and the construction of a more intelligent road are issues on which decision-makers

should be aware. The hierarchy and road signage should be clear and widely perceived by all users. In

areas of significant conflict between pedestrians and motor traffic and when it is not physically possible to


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separate these two circulations, traffic calming measures should be developed, opting for more effective

solutions than simply installing bands perpendicular to the road lanes.

The improved mobility will, necessarily, be achieved by minimizing road accidents. The interventions at the

level of awareness, despite its contribution to safety, will certainly be insufficient, requiring interventions on

the street design and spatial planning. This will require the concerted efforts of various actors that relate to

the management of the roads, transport and mobility, thus allowing an improved mobility. Implemented in

an environmentally responsible manner, this measures, will lead to environmental benefits. This will

contribute to a more sustainable growth, especially if implemented to be "future proof", with the economic

gains associated with the longevity of infrastructure.

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