Although Great Britain has a good overall road safety record compared with the average for European Countries, its accident rate for child pedestrians is comparatively high. The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) has commissioned the MVA Consultancy and the Institute of Transport Studies at the University of Leeds to conduct an international study of children's exposure to accidents and of previous child pedestrian accidents. The study aims to identify the reasons for differences in child pedestrian accident rates in different countries and ways of reducing these rates. It is anticipated that its findings will help to reduce the child pedestrian accident rate in Great Britain to a level corresponding to the total road accident rate, and help to identify global policies to reduce the risk of child pedestrian accidents throughout Europe and elsewhere. The study's general approach is based on the assumption that the total incidence of accidents in any road environment is the product of exposure and risk. Several roadside environmental categories were selected, each with a comprehensive set of options. This paper presents the following aspects of the study: (1) methodology; (2) survey progress to date; (3) analysis of the information collected; (4) preliminary results; and (5) conclusions.
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