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Qualitative Field Observation of Pedestrian Injury Hotspots: A Mixed-Methods Approach for Developing Built- and Socioeconomic-Environmental Risk Signatures

Road traffic injuries constitute a significant global health burden; the World Health Organization estimates that they result in 1.35 million deaths annually. While most pedestrian injury studies rely predominantly on statistical modelling, this paper argues for a mixed-methods approach combining sp...

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Autores principales: Schuurman, Nadine, Walker, Blake Byron, Swanlund, David, Amram, Ofer, Yanchar, Natalie L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7143108/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32244976
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17062066
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author Schuurman, Nadine
Walker, Blake Byron
Swanlund, David
Amram, Ofer
Yanchar, Natalie L.
author_facet Schuurman, Nadine
Walker, Blake Byron
Swanlund, David
Amram, Ofer
Yanchar, Natalie L.
author_sort Schuurman, Nadine
collection PubMed
description Road traffic injuries constitute a significant global health burden; the World Health Organization estimates that they result in 1.35 million deaths annually. While most pedestrian injury studies rely predominantly on statistical modelling, this paper argues for a mixed-methods approach combining spatial analysis, environmental scans, and local knowledge for assessing environmental risk factors. Using data from the Nova Scotia Trauma Registry, severe pedestrian injury cases and ten corresponding hotspots were mapped across the Halifax Regional Municipality. Using qualitative observation, quantitative environmental scans, and a socioeconomic deprivation index, we assessed hotspots over three years to identify key social- and built-environmental correlates. Injuries occurred in a range of settings; however, clear patterns were not observed based on land use, age, or socio-economic status (SES) alone. Three hotspots revealed an association between elevated pedestrian injury and a pattern of geographic, environmental, and socio-economic factors: low- to middle-SES housing separated from a roadside attraction by several lanes of traffic, and blind hills/bends. An additional generalized scenario was constructed representing common risk factors across all hotspots. This study is unique in that it moves beyond individual measures (e.g., statistical, environmental scans, or geographic information systems (GIS) mapping) to combine all three methods toward identifying environmental features associated with pedestrian motor vehicle crashes (PMVC).
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spelling pubmed-71431082020-04-14 Qualitative Field Observation of Pedestrian Injury Hotspots: A Mixed-Methods Approach for Developing Built- and Socioeconomic-Environmental Risk Signatures Schuurman, Nadine Walker, Blake Byron Swanlund, David Amram, Ofer Yanchar, Natalie L. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Road traffic injuries constitute a significant global health burden; the World Health Organization estimates that they result in 1.35 million deaths annually. While most pedestrian injury studies rely predominantly on statistical modelling, this paper argues for a mixed-methods approach combining spatial analysis, environmental scans, and local knowledge for assessing environmental risk factors. Using data from the Nova Scotia Trauma Registry, severe pedestrian injury cases and ten corresponding hotspots were mapped across the Halifax Regional Municipality. Using qualitative observation, quantitative environmental scans, and a socioeconomic deprivation index, we assessed hotspots over three years to identify key social- and built-environmental correlates. Injuries occurred in a range of settings; however, clear patterns were not observed based on land use, age, or socio-economic status (SES) alone. Three hotspots revealed an association between elevated pedestrian injury and a pattern of geographic, environmental, and socio-economic factors: low- to middle-SES housing separated from a roadside attraction by several lanes of traffic, and blind hills/bends. An additional generalized scenario was constructed representing common risk factors across all hotspots. This study is unique in that it moves beyond individual measures (e.g., statistical, environmental scans, or geographic information systems (GIS) mapping) to combine all three methods toward identifying environmental features associated with pedestrian motor vehicle crashes (PMVC). MDPI 2020-03-20 2020-03 /pmc/articles/PMC7143108/ /pubmed/32244976 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17062066 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Schuurman, Nadine
Walker, Blake Byron
Swanlund, David
Amram, Ofer
Yanchar, Natalie L.
Qualitative Field Observation of Pedestrian Injury Hotspots: A Mixed-Methods Approach for Developing Built- and Socioeconomic-Environmental Risk Signatures
title Qualitative Field Observation of Pedestrian Injury Hotspots: A Mixed-Methods Approach for Developing Built- and Socioeconomic-Environmental Risk Signatures
title_full Qualitative Field Observation of Pedestrian Injury Hotspots: A Mixed-Methods Approach for Developing Built- and Socioeconomic-Environmental Risk Signatures
title_fullStr Qualitative Field Observation of Pedestrian Injury Hotspots: A Mixed-Methods Approach for Developing Built- and Socioeconomic-Environmental Risk Signatures
title_full_unstemmed Qualitative Field Observation of Pedestrian Injury Hotspots: A Mixed-Methods Approach for Developing Built- and Socioeconomic-Environmental Risk Signatures
title_short Qualitative Field Observation of Pedestrian Injury Hotspots: A Mixed-Methods Approach for Developing Built- and Socioeconomic-Environmental Risk Signatures
title_sort qualitative field observation of pedestrian injury hotspots: a mixed-methods approach for developing built- and socioeconomic-environmental risk signatures
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7143108/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32244976
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17062066
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