Global Road Safety Week

30 April 2013

In many countries, collisions with pedestrians are a leading cause of death and injury. In some countries over half of all road deaths are caused by collisions between vehicles and pedestrians.

The severity of pedestrian crashes is strongly dependent on the speed of traffic. Research shows that the chances of a pedestrian surviving an impact with a motorised vehicle reduces dramatically above 30 km/h, and even at lower speeds than this, serious harm can be caused, especially to elderly or child pedestrians.

The risk of pedestrian injuries is increased by a number factors that relate to the road environment.

The Global Road Safety Week 6th-12th May will focus on pedestrians.

Use the The Road Safety Toolkit to see how to implement low cost measures to reduce casualties.

A wealth of information on pedestrian safety is also available on the The Road Safety Observatory which aims to provide easy access to independent road safety research and information for anyone working in road safety and for members of the public. And now a new good practice manual Pedestrian safety: a road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners, has been jointly developed by WHO, the FIA Foundation, the Global Road Safety Partnership and the World Bank, and many experts from around the world, provides practical information on how to plan, implement and evaluate a pedestrian safety programme.