Pedestrian Safety

The face of the pedestrian safety crisis looks a lot like Ignacio Duarte-Rodriguez. The 77-year old grandfather was struck in a hit-and-run crash while trying to cross a high-speed, six-lane road without crosswalks near his son’s home in Phoenix, Arizona. He was one of the more than 6,000 people killed while walking in America in 2018. In the last ten years, there has been a 50 percent increase in pedestrian deaths. The tragedy of traffic violence has barely registered with the media and wider culture. Disproportionately the victims are like Duarte-Rodriguez—immigrants, the poor, and people of color. They have largely been blamed and forgotten. In Right of Way, journalist Angie Schmitt shows us that deaths like Duarte-Rodriguez’s are not unavoidable “accidents.” They don’t happen because of jaywalking or distracted walking. They are predictable, occurring in stark geographic patterns that tell a story about systemic inequality. These deaths are the forgotten faces of an increasingly urgent public-health crisis that we have the tools, but not the will, to solve. Schmitt examines the possible causes of the increase in pedestrian deaths as well as programs and movements that are beginning to respond to the epidemic. Her investigation unveils why pedestrians are dying—and she demands action. Right of Way is a call to reframe the problem, acknowledge the role of racism and classism in the public response to these deaths, and energize advocacy around road safety. Ultimately, Schmitt argues that we need improvements in infrastructure and changes to policy to save lives. Right of Way unveils a crisis that is rooted in both inequality and the undeterred reign of the automobile in our cities. It challenges us to imagine and demand safer and more equitable cities, where no one is expendable.

This comprehensive report on pedestrian safety builds on the current level of knowledge of pedestrian safety countermeasures by identifying the most effective advanced technology and intelligent transportation systems, such as automated pedestrian detection and warning systems (infrastructure-based and vehicle-based), road design, and vehicle structural design improvements, that could potentially mitigate the crash forces on pedestrians in the event of a crash. The report also includes recommendations on how new technological developments could be incorporated into educational and enforcement efforts and how they could be integrated into national design guidelines developed. Charts and tables.

This report presents decision-makers with hard evidence on the important place of walking in transport policies and provide guidelines for developing a safe environment conducive to walking.

This second edition of Pedestrian safety: a road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners has updated the evidence on risk factors and interventions for pedestrian safety. The manual is aimed at policy-makers and road safety practitioners and draws on experience from countries that have succeeded in improving pedestrian safety. Pedestrian risk is increased when roadway design and land-use planning fail to provide facilities such as sidewalks, or adequate consideration of pedestrian access at intersections. There are several specific engineering measures that reduce pedestrian exposure to vehicular traffic and most involve separating pedestrians from vehicles or reducing traffic volume. Speed management is important for addressing pedestrian safety and involves much more than setting and enforcing appropriate speed limits. It deploys a range of engineering, enforcement and education measures in order to balance safety with efficient vehicle speeds on the road network. Road environment, legislation, and enforcement interventions – both alone and in combination with road user behaviour/education remedies –can improve pedestrian safety.

A recent research report released by the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has stated that almost 175,000 pedestrians died on U.S roadways between 1975 and 2001. It was also noted in the report that 12% of all deaths related to motor vehicle crashes in the country are pedestrian fatalities. Most of the safety technology to date in vehicles has been applied to protect the occupants in the vehicle. What can vehicle manufacturers do to reduce pedestrian fatalities? With research being focused on two major fronts - methods to sense the presence of pedestrians and warn drivers of their location, and ways to design vehicles that can help not only adults of various age groups to survive an impact between them and a vehicle but also children that are smaller than most adults - the technical papers in this SAE Progress in Technology Series book explore ways the automobile can be designed to help reduce fatalities and injuries when a pedestrian and vehicle meet during an impact.