Pedestrian activity has been largely under-recognised and under-valued by transport decision-makers in New Zealand, particularly the importance of walking as a travel mode for children, young people and the older adults. This has led to an eroding of access and safety for pedestrians in the New Zealand road environment. During 1999, a National Pedestrian Project undertook research to clarify the level of pedestrian activity and injury in New Zealand, identify critical issues facing pedestrians as road users, and establish a way forward for increasing pedestrian safety and access nationally. Pedestrian data from national and regional household travel surveys, New Zealand's national road safety crash database, and the national health system were analysed and a Pedestrian Profile compiled. Current transport policies from a pedestrian perspective were also identified and compared with international policy trends. At the same time, consultation with pedestrian stakeholder groups was undertaken to identify critical issues seen to be affecting pedestrian safety and access, and potential strategies for addressing these. This information was the used as a basis for advocating with decision-makers working in local, regional and national government as well as the traffic planning and engineering sectors. Special emphasis was placed on advocating for policy change with individuals and organisations involved in developing policies related to transport safety, transport funding and road reform. This paper briefly overviews pedestrian activity and injury in New Zealand, identifies the critical issues which were identified as facing pedestrians as a road user group, and discusses the advocacy work undertaken by the project. It also presents conclusions reached by the project regarding further essential actions required for New Zealand to meaningfully improve pedestrian safety and access. For the covering abstract see ITRD E123863.
Abstract