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Articles in Vehicle speed and type of vehicle predicts pedestrian injury and fatality.

  • Vehicle speed predicts severity of pedestrian injuries. With vehicle speeds below 20 mph the probability of serious or fatal injury is less than 20%; with speeds above 35 mph, most injuries are fatal or incapacitating.

    Leaf WA, Preusser DF. 1999. Literature review on vehicle travel speeds and pedestrian injuries. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Washington DC. US Department of Transportation. Available at HYPERLINK "http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/pub/HS809012.html" http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/pub/HS809012.html.
    Taylor M, Lynam D, Baruay A. 2000. The effects of driver's speed on the frequency of road accidents. Transport Research Laboratory. TRL Report 421. Crowthorne UK.

     

  • Excess and inappropriate speed is widespread and may contribute to around 30% of road traffic crashes and deaths. An average increase in speed of 1 km (0.625 miles)/hour is associated with a 3% higher risk of a crash involving an injury. Pedestrians have a 90% chance of surviving car crashes at 30 km/hour (18 mph) or below, but less than a 50% chance of surviving impacts at 45 km/hour (28 mph) or above.

    World Health Organization (WHO), Edited by Margie Penden, Richard Scurfield, David Sleet, et al. World Report on road traffic injury prevention, 2004.

     

  • In a study in New Zealand, the risk of child pedestrian injury was 3.6 times higher if the vehicles were traveling at high speeds.

    Roberts I, Marshall R, Lee-Joe T. 1995. The urban traffic environment and the risk of child pedestrian injury: a case-cross over approach. Epidemiology 6:169-171.

     

  • In comparison to cars, the risk of killing a pedestrian was almost 8 times higher (7.97) if the vehicle was a bus, almost 2 times higher (1.93) if the vehicle was a motorcycle, 1.45 times higher for light trucks, and actually heavy trucks were slightly protective (RR 0.96). Compared to cars, buses were almost 12 times (11.85) more likely to kill children and motorcycles were 3.77 times more likely. Buses were 16.7 times more likely to kill senior citizens. The risk of killing a pedestrian was 1.57 times higher in an urban area than in a rural area.

    Paulozzi LJ. 2005. United States pedestrian fatality rates by vehicle type. Injury Prevention 11(4):232-236.

     

  • Vehicle speeds predict both the frequency as well as the severity of pedestrian injuries. For example, it has been documented that about 5 percent of pedestrians would die when struck by a vehicle traveling 20 mph, about 40 percent for vehicles traveling 30 mph, about 80 percent for vehicles traveling 40 mph, and nearly 100 percent for speeds over 50 mph.

    National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1999. Literature Review on Vehicle Travel Speeds and Pedestrian Injuries. Available at: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/research/pub/HS809012.html.

     

  • On average, each 1 mph reduction in speed may reduce accident frequency by 5%, with effects greatest for urban main roads and low speed residential roads.

    Taylor M, Lynam D, Baruay A. The effects of drivers speed on the frequency of road accidents. Transport Research Laboratory. 2000. TRL Report 421 Crowthorne, UK.

     

  • Researchers have demonstrated that lower travel speeds and death tolls usually follow lowering of speed limits, and higher travel speeds and death tolls follow increases in speed limits. Data show a 17% rise in deaths following a 4% rise in speeds on US interstates.

    Friedman LS, Hedeker D, Richter ED. Long-term effects of repealing the national maximum speed limit in the United States. American Journal of Public Health. September 2009; Vol 99, No. 9.

     

  • The National Highway Designation Act of 1995 officially removed all federal speed limit controls. Prior federal laws restricted the maximum permissible vehicle speed limit to 55 miles per hour (1974) and 65 miles per hour (1987). Since the end of 1995, higher speed limits across the United States led to 12,545 excess deaths. This is in spite of implementation of numerous protective countermeasures that may have reduced the overall effect of the rise in speed limits during that time, including increased seat belt use, more rigorous child restraint laws and increased child restraint use, mandatory dual front air bag laws, and enforcement of driving while intoxicated laws.

    Friedman LS, Hedeker D, Richter ED. Long-term effects of repealing the national maximum speed limit in the United States. American Journal of Public Health. September 2009; Vol 99, No. 9.