Pedestrian safety issues

PEDESTRIAN SAFETY ISSUES

Each year, more than 2,50,000 pedestrians lose their lives on the world's roads. Globally, pedestrians constitute 22% of all road deaths. Millions of people are injured in traffic related crashes while walking. 

Few people become permanently disabled due to traffic accidents causing suffering, grief along with economic hardship.

Pedestrian collisions are both predictable and preventable. 

The key risks to pedestrians are:

• driver behaviour (speeding and drunk driving)
• infrastructure (lack of side walks, crossings, raised medians)
• vehicle design (unforgiving features to pedestrians in-case they are struck)
• poor trauma care services

Pedestrian safety is described by:

• the magnitude of pedestrian deaths and injuries
• key risk factors
• ways of assessing the pedestrian safety situation in a given setting and prepare an action plan
• selection, design, implementation and evaluation of effective interventions

Pedestrian safety stresses on the importance of comprehensive and holistic approach that includes

• engineering
• legislation
• enforcement and
• behavioural measures

There exists a disproportionate involvement of pedestrians, cyclists and motorised two-wheelers in road traffic injuries. Almost 22% of people killed on world's roads are pedestrians. Governments are recommended to take into consideration the needs of all road users including pedestrians and cyclists while designing roads and related infrastructure along with land use planning and transport services.

The two principles of pedestrian safety are:

• Safe walking and
• Safe system approach

Pedestrians are increasingly susceptible to road traffic injury due to:

• dramatic growth in number of motor vehicles and frequency of their useage
• neglect of pedestrian needs in roadway design and land-use planning leading to increased susceptibility of pedestrians to road traffic injury

Pedestrian vulnerability is further heightened in settings where traffic laws are inadequately enforced
A road traffic crash is a collision or incident involving at-least one road vehicle in motion on a public road or private road to which the public has right of access, resulting in at-least one injured or killed person. Collision could be between:

• road vehicles
• road vehicles and pedestrians
• road vehicles and animals or fixed obstacles or with one road vehicle alone
• collisions include collisions between road and rail vehicles

There is a close association between the walking environment and pedestrian safety. Walking in an environment that lacks pedestrian infrastructure and that permits use of high speed vehicles increases the risk of pedestrian injury. The risk of a motor vehicle colliding with a pedestrian increases in proportion to the number of motor vehicles interacting with pedestrians.
Pedestrian safety measures improve walking environments and contribute to:

• Urban renewal
• Local economic growth
• Social cohesion
• Improved air quality and
• reduction in the harmful effects of noise

In addition, pedestrian safety measures have supplementary benefits for motorists and cyclists. Implementation of safety measures requires commitment and informed-decision making by government, industry, NGOs and international organisations.