Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public domain
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 7,000 pedestrians were killed in motor vehicle accidents in the United States in 2020, which equates to about one death every 75 minutes. Part of this problem can be attributed to excessive smartphone-related distractions.
To reduce these on-campus stats, researchers at the University of Alabama Birmingham developed a smartphone-based application, “StreetBit,” that uses Bluetooth beacon technology to provide road safety to distracted pedestrians. StreetBit sends audible and visual alerts to a distracted pedestrian’s smartphone as they approach a street corner where Bluetooth beacons are installed.
A new study, co-authored by five UAB researchers, shows that the application is not only useful, but also cost-effective by providing a template of how existing data sources can be used to perform cost-benefit analysis for interventions designed to improve pedestrian safety.
“We hope that the template developed in this study can facilitate large-scale implementation of any intervention designed to prevent pedestrian fatalities and injuries by providing policymakers with information about the net benefits of the intervention,” says Jillur Rahim , first author of the study and statistician. II in the Department of Health Policy and Organization of the School of Public Health. “The findings could lead to significant cost savings for the states and, most importantly, save pedestrian lives by enabling widespread adoption of such programs.”
For this study, researchers analyzed pedestrian injury and death rates, projected costs per injury, and the prevalence of distracted walking and estimated that StreetBit, or similar interventions, could save between $18 million and $29 million annually in Alabama alone. Even in the most conservative scenario, StreetBit could provide the state with an estimated net annual benefit of $11.8 million.
The study, “Cost-Benefit Analysis of a Derived Pedestrian Intervention,” published in Injury preventionis the first US-based study to demonstrate how existing data can be used to predict the net financial benefits of distracted pedestrian intervention programs such as StreetBit.
More information:
Md Jillur Rahim et al, Cost-Benefit Analysis of a Derived Pedestrian Intervention, Injury prevention (2022). DOI: 10.1136/ip-2022-044740
Quote: App keeps distracted pedestrians safe and cost effective, according to research (2023, May 12) retrieved May 12, 2023 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05-app-distracted-pedestrians-safe-cost-effective .html
This document is copyrighted. Other than fair dealing for private study or research, nothing may be reproduced without written permission. The content is provided for informational purposes only.