Time to prioritise safe walking

Abstract

This study draws on information from two recently published documents on pedestrian safety and global status of road safety to draw attention to the need to prioritize safe walking in planning and policy at local, national and international levels. The study shows that each year, more than 270 000 pedestrians lose their lives on the world's roads. The study argues that this situation need not persist because proven pedestrian safety interventions exist but do not attract the merit they deserve in many locations. The study further shows that the key risk factors for pedestrian road traffic injury such as vehicle speed, alcohol use by drivers and pedestrians, lack of infrastructure facilities for pedestrians and inadequate visibility of pedestrians are fairly well documented. The study concludes that pedestrian collisions, like all road traffic crashes, should not be accepted as inevitable because they are, in fact, both predictable and preventable. While stressing that reduction or elimination of risks faced by pedestrians is an important and achievable policy goal, the study emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive, holistic approach that includes engineering, enforcement and education measures.

Keywords:

• pedestrian
• road safety
• injury

Notes

Notes: (1) When the terms ‘proven’, ‘promising’ and ‘insufficient evidence’ appear highlighted in the same line, it shows that there are different measures in the same broad category at different stages of development as already explained above with respect to effectiveness.

(2) The Pedestrian safety manual provides details on issues to consider when implementing the measures indicated in Table 1, see http://www.who.int/roadsafety/projects/manuals/pedestrian/en/.

Source: WHO (2013b).