This article outlines a research report on accidents involving young pedestrians, recently published by Birmingham City Council, which makes several extensive recommendations also applicable to other urban areas. Child pedestrians are the most vulnerable of all road users, partly because of their naturally unpredictable and impetuous behaviour. In Birmingham in 1988, 68% of child road casualties were pedestrians, and approximately half these accidents occured on minor roads; parked cars were a major contributory factor. The report urges highway authorities to investigate the number of accidents occuring on their minor roads, so that they can apply appropriate safety management and traffic calming methods; it suggests improved accident coding and analysis method for this purpose. It also advocates an agreed common definition of 'child pedestrian' and the improvement of computer systems used for accident analysis in the UK. Many of the children at risk were found to be 'disadvantaged in society'. The report recommends specific campaigns aimed at children, parents and drivers, but stresses the need to evaluate these measures to determine priorities for spending on them. Areas recommended for further research include: (1) driver behaviour; (2) accident location; (3) higher accident risks for children in ethnic minorities.
Samenvatting