StreetLight exposes walking data planning flaws

Excerpt of story by Ben Spencer, ITS International, March 23, 2021

The pandemic’s emphasis on work-from-home activity has led to significant changes in commuting patterns—and in the way transportation planners should assess pedestrian travel, according to an article from ITS International.

The story shares pedestrian safety insights from StreetLight Data, which illustrate how 2020 commuting patterns influenced more volatile pedestrian activity in cities’ residential neighborhoods than in central business districts.

Moving ahead, transportation planners must re-evaluate their pedestrian activity models to account for pandemic-driven changes, the article suggests.

“The analysis offers key takeaways…which include being especially wary of modelling suburban pedestrian activity based on urban data or vice versa.”

Alongside data from StreetLight, ITS International writer Ben Spencer detailed figures from the Governors Highway Safety Association and the National Safety Council to assess how these changes in activity impacted pedestrian fatality rates in 2020.

Read the full story from ITS International here.