A quarter of all road deaths are pedestrians

A road safety charity is urging drivers to be extra vigilant as a quarter of all deaths on our roads are pedestrians.
LOOK OUT: IAM Road Smart is calling on motorists to take extra care over pedestrians safety.LOOK OUT: IAM Road Smart is calling on motorists to take extra care over pedestrians safety.
LOOK OUT: IAM Road Smart is calling on motorists to take extra care over pedestrians safety.

Pedestrians are ahead of motorcyclists or cyclists for fatalities - only car occupants have a worse record.

I AM Roadsmart is now calling on motorists to ‘up their game’ and be more alert for other road users.

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According to Department for Transport figures in 2016, some 448 pedestrians lost their lives, a rise of 10 per cent over the previous year - which is the biggest increase for any group of road users.

The DfT figures say in 42 per cent of crashes the driver “failed to look” and this rises to 54 per cent for the pedestrians themselves – showing the responsibility is not always one-sided.

A fifth of drivers “failed to judge the other person’s path or speed” in car collisions, while 17 per cent of pedestrians made the same wrong choice just before a fatal or serious impact.

Neil Greig, IAM RoadSmart Director of Policy and Research said: “Often people like to blame one sector for the causes of accidents. What is clear, and has always been so, is that we all play a part in each other’s safety whatever we are driving or riding, and whether we are on foot or not.”

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“We are all pedestrians at some time so no matter how fast-paced our lives might be, we all need to remember that those on foot are extremely vulnerable.”

Research on vision has found children of primary school age find it very difficult to accurately see or judge the speed of vehicles. Mr Greig said drivers must take on a special responsibility for looking out for the safety of those on foot.

He added: “Slowing down around pedestrians and constantly scanning for clues to their intention is essential if we are to reduce the growing toll of pedestrian fatalities on our roads. “As drivers we have an advanced safety shell around us, pedestrians only have flesh and bone.”