The higher the car speed, the higher the risk of serious injuries or fatalities among pedestrians. The vulnerability of pedestrians is high because their bodies are unproctected [12]. In a collision with a motor vehicle, the collision energy is mostly transferred to the pedestrian’s body. Therefore, the fatality rate is high. Chances of survival are only reasonably high in collisions at low collision speeds: lower than 30 km/h; see Figure 8 [13].
Figure 8. The correlation between collision speed and pedestrian fatality rate in a crash involving a car (source: [13]).
Research shows that motor vehicles exceeding speed limits increase the pedestrian fatality rate. On roads with a speed limit of 15 km/h, the fatality rate is 500% higher for collisions with vehicles driving at a speed of 35 km/h compared to vehicles complying with the speed limit. On a 50 km/h roads, the rate is 325% higher for collisions with vehicles driving at a speed of 70 km/h compared to vehicles complying with the speed limit [14].
Figure 9. In a collision between a car and pedestrian: increase of pedestrian fatality rate compared to the fatality rate when speed limits are complied with (source: [14]).
