Pedestrian accidents on arterial roads

Abstract

Most pedestrian accidents in the Adelaide metropolitan area occur on arterial roads. This has been so for at least three decades despite changes in arterial road layout and traffic control measures which have reduced the hazards confronting the careful pedestrian. The nature of the pedestrian's task when deciding whether it is safe to attempt to cross an arterial road is considered with reference to locations at which pedestrian accidents occurred. The importance of the travelling speed of the vehicle in determining the risk of a collision with a pedestrian and the severity of the resulting injuries is then illustrated with reference to a series of fatal pedestrian accidents on arterial roads. It is concluded that small differences in travelling speed can result in large differences in impact speed in pedestrian/vehicle collisions and that a return to the original urban area speed limit of 50 km/h on arterial roads has the potential to reduce pedestrian fatalities by about 30% on those roads.