Pedestrian's travel distances and risk of falls in snowy and icy conditions in German cities

Abstract

Walking as a sustainable, space-efficient and generally healthy mode of transport is promoted throughout the whole year. However, only a few studies provide findings on the impact of snowy or icy surfaces on pedestrian's volumes and their risk of falls, especially in central Europe. To address this gap, multiple data sources have been analysed: travel diaries of 22 772 respondents to a recurring German Household Travel Survey, information on travel behavior and experienced pedestrian falls of 3 333 respondents to additional dedicated online and field surveys as well as manual counts from 65 hours of video footage collected at 13 sites. Depending on the data source, no changes or slight increases in pedestrian traffic have been found in snowy/icy conditions. We determined a risk of at least 7.8 falls per 10 000 km walked in snowy/icy conditions, which is about 32 times higher compared to other weather conditions. However, the overall share of medical treatment did not differ significantly by weather condition. Pedestrians aged 65 and older tend to have a lower overall risk of falls but are more likely to receive medical treatment in case of a fall. The calculated risk of falls differs greatly depending on survey type (online vs field) and timing (during snow/ice vs during other weather). Including pedestrian stages of Public Transport and Motorized Individual Transport trips significantly influences the study results and we assume leads to more realistic results. While pedestrian falls are generally not recorded by the police, only those that caused medical treatment were reported to insurers. The findings underline the importance of winter maintenance on pedestrian facilities to promote walking throughout the whole year.