Abstract
Trip-fall incidents are often associated with injuries to pedestrians. Sidewalks are susceptible to changes over time, which may result in height deviations between surfaces, creating potential trip hazards. This research assessed whether members of the general public would identify sidewalk elevation changes of various heights as a hazard, how they would rate the walking conditions in the area of the hazard, and whether they would report the condition to authorities. Results indicate that participants were generally unaware of walking surface deficiencies, even though they may regularly encounter surface defects. When specifically asked to rate conditions, participants were most likely to classify elevation changes greater than 0.75 inches as walkway hazards, and only when conditions reached that level did the majority of participants indicate a likelihood of reporting the condition.
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