The paper describes a study of pedestrian casualties conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory, with Oscar Faber TPA as contractors. Over 1000 non-fatal pedestrian accidents were studied occurring on urban non-residential roads. The objective was to ascertain the principal contributory factors leading to these accidents and subsequently to propose cost-effective counter-measures. Data was collected as soon as possible after an accident had occurred and was obtained from police records, site visits and self-completion questionnaires, sent to pedestrians and drivers involved and witnesses. A data-base was assembled comprising Stats 19 information, site surveys, the questionnaire results and free-form text of the verbatim accounts provided by those involved. All data which could identify those involved has been removed, and the original questionnaires have been destroyed. Noteworthy features include the use of a STATUS database to analyse verbatim accounts of the accidents, and Neural Network technology to identify associations in the data. The report makes recommendations about pedestrian safety in such areas as traffic speed control, location and marking of crossings, control of pedestrian and traffic movement near bus stops, effect of drink and drugs, wearing of spectacles, conspicuity etc. One important conclusion is that the circumstances of many accidents are not unusual. Thus for example, speed of vehicle is seldom alleged to be excessive, leading to the conclusion that even ordinary speeds can be too fast to allow the pedestrian to avoid the accident. (A)
Abstract