Case Study of Pedestrian Incidents in San Antonio

Gabrielle Rodriguez, E.I.T

MCE Student
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antoni, Texas, 78249
Phone: 914-482-8197
Civ894@my.utsa.edu

Amit Kumar, Ph.D. (Corresponding Author)

Assistant Professor
Transportation Engineering
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antoni, Texas, 78249
Phone: 210-458-2641 Fax: 210-458-6475
Amit.kimar@utsa.edu

Submission Date: July 31, 2019

Word Count: 3703 + 8 * Tables and Figures (250 Words Each) = 5703

Submitted for the presentation at the 99th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
to be held in Jan 2020

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ABSTRACT
With such a growing city such as Sn Antonio there are going to be many people trying to get
around the city safely. Unfortunately, there has been some kind of disconnect with intention and
engineering because San Antonio has a very high number of pedestrian crashes on their roads.
The City has realized that this is an issue and has decided to make a goal for itself of having zero
crashes or fatalities on their roads. The City has to now evaluate locations where there have been
many reported crashes and try to engineer countermeasures that will make an impact and show if
because of that countermeasure the number of crashes goes up or starts to come down. These
countermeasures should be based on many different factors, such as community input, the
environment that the accidents occurred in, and even the contributing factor that led to the crash.
They have made some improvements in the number of crashes but there is always room to do
better and have a more impactful decrease in the number of crashes.

INTRODUCTION
The City of San Antonio is the 2nd most populous city in the state of Texas [15] and is projected
to continue growing. With this rise in population that means there are going to be more people who are
trying to get from point A to point B. All while trying to minimize cost and travel time, this is why the
need for different modes of transportation are necessary for such a growing city. In this paper we will be
focusing on active modes of transportation such as walking and bicycling. When the roadway is designed
without the pedestrians in mind there will always be conflicts and these conflicts can lead to serious
injury and even fatalities. From 2011 to 2015, San Antonio recorded 3,978 motor vehicle to pedestrian
crashes city-wide. 219 consisted of a pedestrian fatality and 607 involved an incapacitating pedestrian
injury, and 3,152 crashes without a sever pedestrian injury. [10] These numbers are too high and now it is
up to the city to do a complete overhaul of how they look at pedestrian facilities. There are so many
factors that affect how pedestrians feel while using the facilities provided by the city and they need to be
taken into account if there is going to be any kind of change or progress in reducing these numbers. The
pedestrian should be the priority when it comes to the hierarchy of transportation users because they are
the most vulnerable and don’t have the protection of a car. As well as the fact that the number of motor
vehicles entering a particular intersection is the main determinant of collision frequency, we need to put
the pedestrian first. [1] That is why their input should not be taken lightly because they are the ones using
these facilities on the daily and if they don’t feel comfortable using them then we are going to have even
more autos congesting the roads and causing traffic jams.

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 The purpose of this paper is to see where these incidents are occurring and see if the numbers are
increasing or decreasing and suggest countermeasures that the city can implement, while also focusing on
where the fatalities are occurring and trying to see what affects the environment could have had on the
crash.
LITERATURE REVIEW
When looking at pedestrian crashes there are many factors that can be the cause, such as
visibility, access to other modes of transportation, sidewalk conditions, being under the influence, and
societal norms. According to a study of Seattle crosswalks it was found that 89% of high crash locations
were within 150 ft of a bus stop and 90% of these locations were within 70 ft of a crosswalk. [5] Which
could seem as an odd statistics because if the driver is aware of a bus stop or a crosswalk then the driver
should be more alert of pedestrians getting off the bus or crossing the street, but unfortunately that is not
the case because drivers are impatient and choose to try and pass the bus instead of waiting for the
passengers to get off or on, which limits their visibility of what is going on beyond the bus.
Most published studies agree that the relationship between pedestrian-vehicle collisions and
traffic volume is nonlinear and that pedestrian collision frequency increases as the number of motor
vehicles goes up. [16, 1] At the same time there are studies that also suggest that the relationship between
pedestrian-vehicle collisions and pedestrian volume is nonlinear and that as the number of pedestrian
increases, the risk faced by the pedestrians decreases- it is referred to as “safety in numbers” effect.
[17,18,1] Which makes sense because the more people that are in a group the easier for a driver to see
from far away.
On the other hand, even if the roadway is designed to be safe and keep pedestrians safe it won’t
matter if the driver or the pedestrian are under the influence. In 2015 there were 5,295 pedestrians who
died in traffic crashes in the US, 2,022 (38%) had BAC equal to or greater than 0.08 g/dl in their body.
[19,8] Even those numbers could be wrong because most of the time the pedestrian’s blood alcohol isn’t
taken into consideration because they either pass away or they police assume it’s the driver’s fault and
check their blood alcohol levels. With San Antonio being so dependent on tourism there are so many
parties and bars and restaurants where people can drink and aren’t always responsible and so it is up to
the law enforcement to better patrol areas where there is going to be drinking especially during the
weekend to make sure that pedestrians aren’t walking under the influence and risk causing a crash.
To understand the severity of the crashes we had to look to the Model Minimum Uniform Crash
Criteris-5th Edition that is a guideline provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) and the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). This allowed us to understand the
different definitions of the severity of the crashes. Such as a possible injury is when any injury is reported
or claimed which is not a fatal, suspected serious or suspected minor injury. Examples include momentary

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loss of consciousness, claim of injury, limping, or complaint of pain or nausea. Possible injuries are those
which are reported by the person or are indicated by his/her behavior, but no wounds or injuries are
readily evident
If we as engineers are going to plan safer pedestrian facilities there has to be a way of measuring
the quality of the facilities just as we measure the LOS of roadways we can measure the pedestrian LOS
as laid out by the Highway Capacity Manual, and just as in roadways the PLOS is measured on a scale
from A to F where A is pedestrians moving freely without altering their speed in response to other
pedestrians and LOS F is when all walking speeds are severely restricted and forward progress is made
only by “shuffling”. [7] There are two common methods to estimate PLOS: capacity-based model and
roadway characteristics-based model. The capacity-based model considers sidewalk capacity, volume and
speed of pedestrian and vehicular traffic to asses PLOS. This approach has been widely criticized, as the
model treats pedestrians like cars, and was designed solely based on the context of the US. The roadway
characteristics-based model focuses on the relationship between pedestrian facilities and environmental
factors. [3] After we can evaluate the pedestrian facilities that are in place, we can now think about what
we can do to improve them and better plan for future facilities.
The key to this is community involvement. We need to know what the daily users think are the
issues with the facilities or what they like about the facilities because they are the ones using them every
day. From community forums that are inclusive and bilingual we can come up with solutions such as
more lighting, slower speeds, midblock crossings, or even more connected sidewalk paths.

CONTRIBUTION AND SIGNIFICANCE

Few studies have investigated the effect of geometric design attributes-including road width,
numbers of lanes, presence of marked pedestrian crosswalks, presence of median, types of turn
restrictions, etc.-on collision frequency at intersections. [1] In this study we plan to look at locations of
fatalities and try to determine what changes could be made to prevent future casualties. Also, in this study
we will try to determine the impact that having community forums can have on the development of future
pedestrian facilities. As well as compare the number of crashes from 2016-2018 and how those numbers
compare to the initial report that took into account the years of 2011-2015 and we will be looking to see if
there has been any kind of improvement from any preliminary changes that have been made. Depending
on changes we will also recommend even more countermeasures that might be able to show a more
drastic change in the number of crashes.

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STUDY AREA
The study area is the city of San Antonio, Texas which is in Bexar county. Specifically, we are focusing
on the area that is surrounded by Loop 410. Including Interstate 10, 35, and US 281 and various arterial
and collector roads. See Figure 1 for boundary limits.

Figure 1: City of San Antonio

METHODOLOGY
Data Sources
After reaching out to TXDOT and being in contact with Jeanne Tarrants, we were able to receive .KMZ
and excel files that listed the locations of different crashes from 2016 to 2018. These crashes varied by
location, severity, and by contributing factors. Plotting these crashes on a Google Map helped visualize
where these crashes are occurring and whether there were clusters or hot sport where the crashes were
frequent.

Methodology
With the use of Excel, we were able to create graphs and plots that show the increase or decrease
in the number of crashes and using the Trendline tool we were able to show a linear regression and
forecast whether the number of crashes would increase or decrease. Linear regression is a statistical tool

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used to help predict future values from past values. It is commonly used as a quantitative way to
determine the underlying trend and when prices are overextended. A linear regression trendline uses the
least squares method to plot a straight line through.[20]
The goal is to find the parameter values for the model that "best" fits the data. The fit of a model
to a data point is measured by its residual, defined as the difference between the actual value of the
dependent variable and the value predicted by the model:
r i= y i−f ( xi , β)
The least-squares method finds the optimal parameter values by minimizing the sum, , of squared
residuals:
n
S=∑ r 2i
i=1

An example of a model in two dimensions is that of the straight line. Denoting the y-intercept as
β 0and the slope as β 1, the model function is given by. [21]
f ( x , β ) =β 0+ β 1 x
For the second Task we also used Google Earth and their street view application so that we could
drop into where there were fatalities and take a look at what the existing conditions are and then
recommend countermeasures. We also looked at the crash contributing factors that were recorded by the
police or witnesses, for the crashes. We took into consideration the years 2016, 2017, and 2018 to see if
there were any hot spots.

NUMERICAL RESULTS/ANALYSIS
Results of Task 1: Decrease in Number of Pedestrian Crashes
After collecting the data and making sure to only consider the values that were in our boundaries, we
were able to plot a side by side comparison of the number of crashes based on severity. As seen in Figure
2, we can see that the majority of the crashes are non-incapacitating which means there was evident injury
such as bruises, abrasions, or minor lacerations which do not incapacitate. As per figure 2 we can also see
that if we keep on the path that we are on the crashes should all be on the decline even of some of the
crashes increased in numbers before they decreased. Tables 1 and 2 also shows that the different types of
crashes are on the decline overall.

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 2016-2018
350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0
Fatalities Suspected Serious Non-Incapacitating Not Injured Possible Injury

Figure 2: Severity of Crashes over three Years

2016-2018
350

Pedestrian Fatalities
300 Linear (Pedestrian Fatalities)
Linear (Pedestrian Fatalities)
250 Suspected Serious Injury
Linear (Suspected Serious Injury)
200 Non-Incapacitating Injury
Linear (Non-Incapacitating Injury)
Linear (Non-Incapacitating Injury)
150 Not Injured
Linear (Not Injured)
100 Possible Injury
Linear (Possible Injury)
50

0
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Figure 3: Linear Regression of Crash Severity

Year 2016 2017 Percent Change

Fatal 44 34 -22.727
Suspected Serious 121 101 -16.529
Non incapacitating 278 290 4.317
No Injury 67 43 -35.821
Possible Injury 229 228 -0.437
Table 1: Percent Change from 2016-2017

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 Year 2017 2018 Percent Change
Fatal 34 39 14.706
Suspected Serious 101 80 -20.792
Non incapacitating 290 268 -7.586
No Injury 43 40 -6.977
Possible Injury 228 193 -15.351
Table 2: Percent Change from 2017-2018

Results of Task 2: Fatality Hot Spots

After looking at all the fatalities reported over the three years there were some hot spots, especially on
San Pedro Ave, Culebra Rd, and Austin Highway, as shown in Figures 4-6.

Figure 4: San Pedro Ave

On San Pedro Ave there are five lanes of traffic, two lanes going northbound and two lanes going
southbound with a middle lane for left turns from both directions. The speed limit is 40mph and there are
sidewalks. In this area there are long blocks and lots of businesses and restaurants, there is also sidewalk
crossing and protected left turns. The main causes of crashes were listed as driver inattention and the
pedestrian failed to yield right of way to the vehicle. This area is in desperate need of midblock crossing,
it is obvious that pedestrians would rather cross unsafely to get to their destination then going to the end

8
of the block and using the crosswalk with push buttons. Another counter measure could be medina
refuges so that the pedestrian can cross halfway and then make sure it is safe to continue crossing instead
of trying to cross five lanes of traffic. Also, since the left turns at the intersection are protected and have
the arrow, the signal phasing can also be adjusted giving pedestrians a head start to cross so that those
making a left turn won’t run the risk of running into pedestrians who also have the signal to cross.
Another cause of crashes is that the sidewalk has so many driveways that are cutting through the path of
the sidewalk so there are so many cars coming in and going out.

Figure 5: Culebra Rd

On Culebra Rd there are five lanes of traffic, two lanes going eastbound and two lanes going
westbound with a middle lane for left turns from both directions. The speed limit is 40mph and there are
sidewalks. In this area there are long blocks and lots of businesses and restaurants, there is also sidewalk
crossing and protected left turns. The main causes of crashes were listed as pedestrian failed to yield right
of way to vehicle, driver inattention, and one was due to the influence of alcohol. This area is in desperate
need of midblock crossing, it is obvious that pedestrians would rather cross unsafely to get to their
destination then going to the end of the block and using the crosswalk with push buttons. Another counter
measure could be medina refuges so that the pedestrian can cross halfway and then make sure it is safe to

9
continue crossing instead of trying to cross five lanes of traffic. Also, since the left turns at the
intersection are protected and have the arrow, the signal phasing can also be adjusted giving pedestrians a
head start to cross so that those making a left turn won’t run the risk of running into pedestrians who also
have the signal to cross. Another cause of crashes is that the sidewalk has so many driveways that are
cutting through the path of the sidewalk so there are so many cars coming in and going out. This road has
more of a rural feel than urban so we think it could also be beneficial to lower the speed limit.

Figure 6: Austin Highway

On Austin Highway there are five lanes of traffic, two lanes going eastbound and two lanes going
westbound with a middle lane for left turns from both directions with a median. The speed limit is 45 mph
and there are sidewalks. In this area there are long blocks and lots of businesses and restaurants, there is
also sidewalk crossing and protected left turns. The main causes of crashes were listed as pedestrian failed
to yield right of way to vehicle, and a few because of driver inattention. This area is in desperate need of
midblock crossing with signs and lights, it is obvious that pedestrians would rather cross unsafely to get
to their destination then going to the end of the block and using the crosswalk with push buttons. Another
counter measure could be medina refuges since some of the left turns already have medians it would be
easier for pedestrian to cross halfway and then make sure it is safe to continue crossing instead of trying

10
to cross five lanes of traffic. Also, since the left turns at the intersection are protected and have the arrow,
the signal phasing can also be adjusted giving pedestrians a head start to cross so that those making a left
turn won’t run the risk of running into pedestrians who also have the signal to cross. Another cause of
crashes is that the sidewalk has so many driveways that are cutting through the path of the sidewalk so
there are so many cars coming in and going out.

CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion this paper demonstrates the rate at which pedestrian crashes are decreasing, yes, it
is slowing coming down, but we are far from our goal of having zero fatalities or crashes on Texas roads.
While also pin pointing some of the locations where there have been multiple fatalities in a close vicinity
to each other to be able to come up with some countermeasures that could help decrease the number of
crashes in the future. We believe that San Antonio is on the right track to realizing their vision zero, but it
is going to take more evaluating, engineering, and enforcement.
While also keeping the community involved and making sure that their safety comes first before
that of motor vehicles. This is going to be an ongoing process and is going to take a lot of people from
different backgrounds and disciplines to really make San Antonio a safer place for all modes of
transportation. It is also going to take time to really see the impact that our countermeasures can have on
the city.

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