Pedestrian Safety Fact Sheet

Key Facts

• Each year, approximately 630 child pedestrian fatalities occur.

• Children sustain more than 39,000 nonfatal pedestrian injuries each year.

• In 2005, there were 339 pedestrian fatalities in children ages 14 years and under. The year prior, 583 children died and nearly 70 percent of these deaths were motor vehicle-related traffic crashes.

• 33,571 children were treated in hospital emergency rooms for pedestrian-related injuries in 2005.

• Between 1995 and 2005, the number of child pedestrian fatalities decreased by 51 percent.

• The maturity level of a child under 10 years of age makes him/her unable to correctly gauge the speed of vehicles putting them at greater risk for injury and death.

When and Where

• Other than in the street, driveways, parking lots and on sidewalks are where young children ages 0-2 years suffer the highest number of injuries as pedestrians.

• 83 percent of child pedestrian deaths occur at non-intersection locations.

• 1 in 4 child pedestrian deaths occur between 6 - 9p.m.

• On average, 12 children die each year in school bus-related crashes.

Who

• Almost two-thirds of childhood pedestrian deaths occur to males.

• Black children have a pedestrian injury death rate almost twice that of white children.

• 4 out of 5 driveway-related incidents occur to children ages 4 and under.

• Parents of children who suffer from a pedestrian-related injury are three times less likely to practice other preventive behaviors and are more likely to be single parents, young mothers or both.

Proven Interventions

• Policies that increase the number of people walking and bicycling appears to be an effective method for improving the safety of people walking and bicycling.

Laws and Regulations

• In 2005, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) was signed into law. The SAFETEA-LU includes the establishment of Safe Routes to School, a program with the goal of making it safer for children to walk or bike to school. The Safe Routes to School program aims to:
  
  
  1. Fix or improve sidewalks
     
     
  2. Execute traffic calming and speed reduction measures
     
     
  3. Improve pedestrian and bicycle crossings
     
     
  4. Conduct public education campaigns to encourage walking and
     biking to school.
     
     
• State and local laws created to protect child pedestrians include:
  
  
  • Lower speed limits in residential areas
    
    
  • Protection of pedestrians in crosswalks
    
    
  • Providing pedestrian walkways
    
    
  • Prohibition of vehicles from passing school buses while loading and unloading passengers
    
    
  • Providing crossing guards and requiring pedestrians to not cross streets at locations other than designated crosswalks.