'Numbers In Safety' For Pedestrians In Melbourne

Vidumini Pamuditha and David Levinson
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David Levinson: TransportLab, School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney

Working Papers from University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group

Abstract: The ‘Safety in Numbers’ (SIN) phenomenon suggests that pedestrian presence enhances the safety conditions of a street or an intersection. The inverse relationship, which we call ‘Numbers in Safety’ (NIS), hypothesises that safer streets attract more pedestrians. This study tests the relationship using a panel regression analysis on six years (2014-2019) of data from 21 intersections in the Melbourne CBD. We find a consistent negative correlation between the changes in safety from the previous year and the current number of pedestrians, supporting the NIS hypothesis. An increase of one pedestrian fatal or serious injury crash at an intersection leads to nearly 139,000 fewer pedestrians in the following year.

Keywords: transportation; traffic safety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Published in Findings

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https://doi.org/10.32866/001c.141475 Published version landing page, 2025 (text/html)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nex:wpaper:paper-2025-09

DOI: 10.32866/001c.141475

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