Pedestrian safety - Global Road Safety Partnership

Why is addressing pedestrian safety necessary?
Some pedestrian risks and challenges are not necessarily included in
the definition of a road traffic collision and are therefore omitted from
official road incident data, for example, obstructions on roads, falls, trips and
slips, stumbling, animal bites and personal security. These hazards can lead
to serious injury and even death. For example, in Sweden, pedestrians who are
seriously injured following falls in the road traffic environment are not reported
in official road traffic injury statistics (22). However, in 2011, the number of
seriously injured pedestrians in the country was estimated to be 4500. If pedestrians
who were seriously injured due to falling in the road environment had also
been considered, the number of seriously injured would have been more than
8400. One in every two people seriously injured in the road transport system
in 2011 in Sweden was a pedestrian who fell. In this light, it is evident that
several aspects of safe walking are omitted from official road traffic crash data.
1.2.2 The cost of pedestrian fatalities and injuries
Pedestrian collisions, like other road traffic collisions, have psychological,
socioeconomic and health costs. Road traffic injuries consume financial resources
that are needed for countries’ development. There is no global estimate of the
economic impact of pedestrian road traffic crashes, but road traffic crashes in general
are estimated to cost between 1 and 2% of gross national product (7). Survivors of
pedestrian crashes, their families, friends and other caregivers often suffer adverse
social, physical and psychological effects (see Box 1.2).
BOX 1.2: Effect of a pedestrian death on a family, friends and community
The incident described shows the impact of a pedestrian fatality on the victim’s immediate family members and
also on their friends and the broader community:
“Deana is my daughter. She was 17
years old when her life was cut short.
The crash occurred on 9 October 2003,
at 22:30. Deana was with four friends
going to a birthday party. They had just
got out of a taxi and were trying to cross
the Nile Corniche in Maadi. The taxi
driver had let them off on the wrong
side of the road. It is an extremely busy
street. The traffic is heavy, chaotic. There are no
traffic lights, no pedestrian crossings, just a constant
stream of speeding weaving cars, trucks and buses.
There is really nowhere to cross. You have to dart
across several lanes of traffic to get to the other
side. Deana was hit and killed by a speeding bus
as she tried to cross the road. The bus driver didn’t
even slow down.
I was in Damascus at the time, travelling
for my work. My brother-in-law called
me to tell me the terrible news that my
baby girl had been hit. You can imagine
my guilt. I should have been in Cairo. I
could have driven her to the party.
Deana was beautiful. She had an infectious
smile. She always had time for
other people more than for herself. She had so many
friends I could not count them all. She enjoyed life
so much. Many of her friends still stay in touch with
us. Everyone was deeply affected by her death: her
family, her friends, the entire community, even people
we didn’t know. I think of ripples of pain, an everwidening
circle of those who were affected.”
Source: 23.
Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT)
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