Pedestrian Issues

 

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On September 13th, 1899, Henry Bliss was struck and killed by a an electric car in NYC and thus became the first person in North America to be killed by automobile. Each year, nowadays, in the United States, approximately 6,000 pedestrians are killed by automobiles, and 110,000 are injured. Read the report.

 

 

One of our pages, here on the Drive And Stay Alive website, is aimed at drivers from other countries who are visiting the United States and it describes the potential dangers at crosswalks (i.e. pedestrian crossings) in America (right).

 

Photograph courtesy of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

 

See also our page on the specific subject of Pedestrian Crossings and Crosswalks

 

 

In Britain, in 2002, 101 children died and more than 3,321 were seriously injured while walking and cycling, many of them close to their homes. 

 

Child pedestrian casualties peak at about the age of 12. 

 

The road safety strategy document Tomorrow's Roads: Safer For Everyone set a target to reduce the number of children killed or seriously injured by 50% by 2010. 

 

The Hedgehogs campaign is a key publicity initiative which is helping to reach that target. (Click on the image to go to the children's website) 

 

 

In Europe, as vehicles become ever safer for their occupants, more interest is being taken in pedestrian safety. But how much can be achieved by technology and how much is dependent upon changing attitudes?

 

As many as 8,000 pedestrians and cyclists are killed and a further 300,000 injured in [the fifteen member-countries of] the European Community each year in road accidents.

 

The European Council and Parliament have now adopted proposals submitted by the European Commission aimed at mitigating the severity of injuries to pedestrians. All new vehicle models will have to pass a number of tests.

Full article here -- Source: Road Safe

 

 

In the USA, New York has the highest number of pedestrian deaths and injuries in the country.  Pedestrian deaths make up a majority of traffic deaths.  Transport Alternatives is working to change these grim statistics --  read their report here.

 

 

Miscellaneous

 

Report: The Effects of Crosswalk Markings on Vehicle Speeds in Maryland, Virginia, and Arizona.  U.S. Department of Transport, Federal Highway Division. (pdf) 

 

'Analysis of Road Accidents on Pedestrian Crossings Caused by Speeding,' by Jitka Rokytova and Michal Sklenar, of the Centrum dopravniho vyzkumu (CDV) -- Transport Research Centre -- Brno, Czech Republic.

 

 

Links

 

The Pedestrian Council of Australia

 

Visit the Pedestrian & Bicycle Research Safety Web site  (US Federal Highway Administration)