Mapping of road traffic accidents with pedestrians in the territory of a Local Health Unit of Rome through integration of administrative and health data

The study analyzes the distribution of traffic accidents with injuries that involved pedestrians and occurred in the territory of the Local Health Unit (LHU) Rome B, to identify areas at higher risk and to implement preventive measures. The road traffic injuries (RTI) reports issued by the Municipal police (2003) were examined. Data were linked with those collected by the Regional Emergency Information System (EIS) and processed using the programs ArcGIS, Access and Excel in order to obtain descriptive maps. During the period under review 423 pedestrians were involved in 392 accidents (11.2% of total accidents); 34% suffered serious injuries and 4% died. Of these, 73% were the elderly (> or = 65 years). The hours between 18:00 and 20:00 are the most critical, with an accident rate 3.7 times higher than the average, 6.4-fold in young (< 16 years) people and 4.6-fold in the elderly. Accidents happen, especially on straight roads (66%) or at intersections (22%); failure to comply with traffic lights causes 5% of the events. Municipality V concentrates the highest percentage of accidents (30%). In this municipality, Tiburtina road, in the part closest to the center of the city, is the road at highest risk with a rate of about 7.6 accidents/km (average of municipalities: 0.23/km and value for the entire LHU: 0.19/km). The neighborhoods closer to the center of the city show a higher risk for pedestrians: 1 event per km takes place in the Tuscolano Neighborhood, 0.7/km in Prenestino-Centocelle and 0.5/km in Pietralata-Collatino, all neighborhoods close to roads with high flow and high risk. The survey highlighted some black points of roads on which it will be appropriate to act with specific preventive measures.