Analysis of pedestrian crashes in Iran using fault tree technique

Pedestrians comprise the most vulnerable road users. The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive view over the mechanism related to pedestrian crashes and identify the most important events that contribute to crash occurrence. In the current study, the data related to 94123 pedestrian-involved crashes occurred in Iran during 2009 through 2012 were explored and the Fault tree technique was employed as the analysis tool. Using the crash data, the probabilities for different basic events in the fault tree were assessed. Then, the most likely events leading to pedestrian crashes were identified. Based on the results, some of the most important events that had led to pedestrian crashes were “driver inatten tion”, “backing”, "vision obscured by moving vehicles”, “right of way violation” and “driver failure to control the vehicle”. Finally, based on the most significant contributory factors identified, several precautionary mea sures were suggested to reduce the pedestrian crash risk. Results indicate that the fault tree analysis could be used as an appropriate tool for identifying the most significant contributory factors that lead to crash occurrence.