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PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENT CHARACTERISTICS AND INJURY PATTERNS. PROCEEDINGS I - II INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF TRAFFIC MEDICINE IN YUGOSLAVIA, DUBROVNIK, YUGOSLAVIA, SEPTEMBER 25-29, 1984

In the United States (US) an estimated 125,000 pedestrian accidents occur each year with at least 100,000 of these resulting in some kind of injury to the pedestrian. In 1982, 7,274 pedestrians were killed in traffic accidents out of a total of 43,945 fatalities in all traffic modes. Although the pedestrian accidents account for a very small part of the total traffic accidents (2.1 percent), the fatalities comprise 16.5 percent of all the traffic fatalities, which indicates the pedestrian accident is serious when it occurs. Pedestrian fatalities in the last 10-15 years, have been consistently accounting for 16-18 percent of the traffic fatalities. The situation has been improved when compared to earlier years. In 1933, for example, there were 12,840 pedestrian deaths or 41 percent of the traffic fatalities. In 1936 there were 37.87 pedestrian fatalities per one trillion vehicle kilometers travelled (vkt). In 1976 this rate was considerably lower, only 3.8 and in 1982 it was dropped even further to 2.8 pedestrian deaths per one trillion vkt. These drastic reductions were the result of the massive development of full and limited control of access highways, improved traffic controls and the construction of separate pedestrian walkways, during the last twenty years in the US. The US has the lowest pedestrian fatality rate per 1 trillion vehicle kilometers travelled (vkt) when compared to Canada, Japan and European countries. It is also among the countries with the lowest rate per 100,000 population. Basic characteristics that are important in pedestrian accidents include age, alcohol, sex, location of the accident and type of highway. Very young children (5-8 years old) were involved in more of the accidents than any other group. Involvement in fatal accidents increases from the age of about 13 and peaks at about 21 years old. There is also a mild increase at the age of 69-70 years old. Forty percent of the pedestrian fatalities are under 22 years old and this age group is involved in 60 percent of the non-fatal pedestrian accidents, although they comprise only 34 percent of the population. At the other end of the scale, pedestrians over 65 years old are involved in 7 percent of the non-fatal accidents and in 20 percent of the fatal accidents, while this age group comprises only 10 percent of the population. The data confirm that older people are much more likely to die when involved in a pedestrian accident. Also excessive intake of alcohol by pedestrians creates major traffic safety problems. A study has shown that blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 10 percent or more was found to be present in over a third of the non-fatal pedestrian victims (age 14 or older), and in 46 percent of the fatally injured pedestrians of the same age group. For the covering abstract of the whole conference see IRRD 280469. (TRRL)

  • Corporate Authors:

    Udruzenje za Medicinu i Psihologiju Prometa sr Hrv

    Sarengradska 3
    Zagreb, Croatia,   Yugoslavia 
  • Authors:
    • Tsongos, N G
  • Publication Date: 1984-11

Language

  • English

Media Info

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00462457
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
  • Files: ITRD, TRIS
  • Created Date: Feb 28 1987 12:00AM