Nonlinear Influence of Built Environment on Pedestrian Traffic Accident Severity

The study on the impact of the built environment on pedestrian traffic accidents could provide a theoretical basis for accident prevention. This paper constructed a day-night built environment index system, based on three dimensions of land use, urban design, and transportation system in the "5D" elements. Using the light gradient boosting machine, a day-night pedestrian traffic accident severity model was constructed to explore the influence mechanism of the urban built environment on the severity of pedestrian traffic accidents. Combined with the SHAP attribution analysis method, the nonlinear relationship was revealed. Taking Shenzhen City as an example, the results show that there is significant temporal heterogeneity in the impact of the built environment on pedestrian traffic accidents. The severity of daytime pedestrian traffic accidents is mainly affected by factors such as sidewalk accessibility, subway station accessibility, and school proximity. At night, it is mainly affected by sidewalk accessibility, entertainment point of interest (POI) indicators, road lighting conditions, and other factors. The built environment has a conspicuous nonlinear effect on the severity of pedestrian traffic accidents. When the proximity of schools is between zero and three kilometers during the daytime and the accessibility of subway stations is less than three kilometers, it has a great effect on the severity of pedestrian accidents. When the accessibility of entertainment POI is less than 0.5 kilometers at night, it has a significant effect on the severity of pedestrian accidents. The accessibility of sidewalks can reduce the severity of pedestrian accidents both day and night, and the area with a low density of courtyard gates on the street has higher-degree accidents. Lastly, the model shows excellent results, with classification accuracies of 96.38% and 92.08%. © 2023 Science Press. All rights reserved.