Explore road safety strategies for keeping pedestrians safe. Learn effective measures, policies, and practices to reduce pedestrian accidents and ensure safer streets.
Walking is an important mode of transportation for many people, because it can get you where you’re going without any cost to you. You don’t need to maintain a vehicle, and you don’t have to worry about paying for gasoline to fuel your car. Walking itself has many health benefits for people, too, like a lower risk of obesity and increased circulation to the body. On top of that, it helps reduce the number of vehicles on the road, which helps improve air quality over time.
On behalf of Joseph Caprara of CBLAW posted in Pedestrian Accidents on Monday, June 22, 2015.
Walking is an important mode of transportation for many people, because it can get you where you’re going without any cost to you. You don’t need to maintain a vehicle, and you don’t have to worry about paying for gasoline to fuel your car. Walking itself has many health benefits for people, too, like a lower risk of obesity and increased circulation to the body. On top of that, it helps reduce the number of vehicles on the road, which helps improve air quality over time.
Canada has some dangerous roadways for pedestrians, but it has the Road Safety Strategy in place to help make it safer. In a 2010 report, Canada was the 10th country ranked in terms of fatalities linked to traffic. Between 2011 and 2015, the goal of the Canadian government has been to create new road plans in jurisdictions with high fatality and injury rates, to work on obtaining a downward trend for fatalities and serious injuries, and to adopt best practices for keeping pedestrians safe.
To implement this kind of safety strategy, the RSS 2015 has targeted young drivers, medically-at-risk drivers, and other types of high-risk drivers to discuss how to reduce the risk of injuries to pedestrians. Pedestrians were also targeted, so they could learn about ways to keep themselves safe on the roads.
The reports show that 60 percent of pedestrians killed in traffic accidents were simply trying to cross the road. Only 33 percent of cases involved a pedestrian who made an error that contributed to the accident, showing how important it is for drivers to pay attention.
Source: Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario, “Everyone is a Pedestrian! Pedestrian Death Review,” accessed June 22, 2015