Pedestrian safety

Injuries to pedestrians are often severe. Although the majority of children survive being hit by a car, they are often left with long-term disabilities such as permanent damage related to head, organ, and bone injuries. Pedestrian injuries often have high economic and societal costs. Research shows that some of the highest risk factors for pedestrian injury include driver speed, risky child behaviour, lack of adult supervision, and crossing the street at a spot without traffic controls.

What works to reduce child pedestrian injuries?

Reduce traffic speeds. At speeds greater than 30-40 km/h, both drivers and pedestrians may be more likely to make mistakes in judging the time required to stop or cross the street safely.¹  In addition, drivers are known to underestimate their speed.²  Reducing vehicle speed has proven to be effective in preventing crashes and reducing the severity of injuries.³

Even small reductions in vehicle speed can yield significant reductions in injury risk. It is estimated that a pedestrian struck by a car travelling at 50 km/hr is eight times more likely to be killed than someone hit at 30 km/h.⁴

Teach pedestrian safety. Encourage parents to teach and demonstrate pedestrian safety to their children. Adults should begin talking to children about pedestrian safety as soon as they begin walking with their children, and they should continue doing so until the early teenage years. It is crucial that adults talk to children about what is going on around them while they are walking – especially since the simple presence of parents or caregivers may help reduce the risk of injury.⁵

Discussions about and demonstrations of safe crossing behaviours, in a variety of situations, will enable children to make more independent decisions about road crossings and safe pedestrian travel.⁶ 

Child pedestrian education should be based on children’s development, which changes dramatically from seven to 14 years of age. Education needs to adapt to reflect these changes.

Make communities more walkable. Recent research in the United States and Europe shows a link between communities that are conducive to walking and fewer pedestrian injuries.⁷   These communities have environments that promote walking by making routes attractive (e.g., trees and trails) and safe (e.g., sidewalks and crosswalks).

Pedestrian Grants 2010

This year we are offering $500 Pace Car grants in support of our “Walk This Way” Child Pedestrian Program. Help us to decrease speeding in residential communities everywhere by introducing a Pace Car Program in your neighbourhood!

Application deadline is August 27, 2010.
Grant recipients will be notified September 3, 2010.

• Pace Car Program – what’s it all about?
• Pace Car Grant Criteria (pdf)
• Application Form (pdf)

Endnotes

^1,3 World Health Organization.  World report on road traffic injury prevention. Geneva: 2004.
² Harré N. Discrepancy between actual and estimated speeds of drivers in the presence of child pedestrians. Injury Prevention. 2003;9(1):38–41. 
⁴World Health Organization. Safe roads: five key areas for effective interventions. Geneva: 2004.  
⁵ Roberts I. Adult accompaniment and the risk of pedestrian injury on the school-home journey. Injury Prevention. 1995;1(4):242–244.
⁶ Duperrex OJM, Roberts IG, Bunn F. Safety education of pedestrians for injury prevention: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials. British Medical Journal. 2002;324:1129.
⁷ Jacobsen PL. Safety in numbers: more walkers and bicyclists, safer walking and bicycling. Injury Prevention. 2003;9(3):205–209.