About 1.24 million road traffic deaths occur annually on the world’s roads, making road traffic injuries the eighth leading cause of death globally, and the leading cause of death for young people aged 15—29 years. Of the total road traffic fatalities, more than 270 000 are pedestrians. This constitutes 22% of all road deaths. Males, both children and adults, are over-represented in pedestrian collisions. In high-income countries, older pedestrians are more at risk of death and injury. Among the reasons for this include their decreased visual acuity, reduced reaction time, slower walking speed and frailty. In low-income and middle-income countries, younger pedestrians are more at risk. This is due in part to the size of children relative to vehicles, limitations in judgment in terms of the speed or distance of a vehicle, lack of attention to the surroundings, and failure of parents or others to adequately supervise them. Both children and adults with disabilities also suffer higher rates of injury as pedestrians compared to their non-disabled peers. In addition to deaths, millions more people are injured in traffic-related crashes while walking, some of whom become permanently disabled. The wide variation of pedestrian death and injury rates across countries underscores the need to develop a thorough understanding of the problem at national and local levels. (Author/publisher)
Abstract