California Pedestrian Accident Lawyer

Pedestrian Accidents: An Overview

Crossing the street is a routine part of our daily lives. Our children do it on the way to school. We do it on the way to work or when heading out for a meal. Rarely do we give a second thought to the danger. Yet the simple act of walking along or crossing a street ends tragically for thousands of Americans every year, with the pedestrian killed or severely injured.

Accidents caused 4,654 pedestrian fatalities and another 70,000 pedestrian injuries last year. On average, a pedestrian is killed in a traffic accident every 113 minutes and injured in one every eight minutes, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration estimates. Driver negligence is often to blame for pedestrian accidents, but pedestrians sometimes put themselves in jeopardy through carelessness or inattention.

Pedestrian Accidents Can Occur Anywhere

Pedestrian accidents occur most frequently in and around cities. This is because cities have the highest volumes of people and traffic. The National Safety Council estimates that 85.7 percent of all non-fatal pedestrian accidents in the United States occur in urban areas. Just 14.3 percent occur in rural areas.

Even though rural roadways account for fewer total pedestrian accidents, they pose greater risks. Pedestrians on rural roads face twice the risk of accident as their urban counterparts. In rural areas, vehicles tend to drive at higher speeds. Adding to the danger, many rural areas lack sidewalks, paths or shoulders where pedestrians can safely walk.

On the street is where pedestrians most often are injured. But even on a sidewalk, a pedestrian is in danger. According to the Pedestrian Guide and Countermeasure Selection System (PEDSAFE), a pedestrian safety project of the Federal Highway Administration, pedestrian accidents occur in a variety of circumstances:

• Walking or running into the road at an intersection or in the middle of the block.
• Crossing a high-speed or high-traffic arterial street.
• Crossing the road to or from a mailbox, newspaper box or ice-cream truck.
• Exiting a stopped vehicle.
• Standing or walking near a disabled vehicle.
• Riding a toy vehicle, such as a wagon, sled, tricycle, skates or skateboard.
• Playing in the road.
• Working in the road, such as when changing a tire.
• Standing or walking near the edge of a road when there is no sidewalk,
• Standing or walking in a driveway, alley or parking lot, when a driver is backing up.

Most pedestrian accidents occur away from intersections. This is particularly true for accidents involving young children. They are apt to dart out from anywhere onto the street. Older adults are less likely than children to be in a pedestrian accident but more likely to suffer serious injury or death.

Riskiest Times for Pedestrian Accidents

Accidents that end in a pedestrian killed are most likely to occur on weekends and at night. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly one-half (48%) of all accidents leading to pedestrian fatalities occur on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. The riskiest time of day for a pedestrian fatality is evening, from 6 p.m. to midnight.

The fall changeover from daylight savings time accounts for an enormous increase in pedestrian accidents and pedestrian fatalities. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University studied pedestrian fatalities from seven years of pedestrian accidents. They found that the number of pedestrian accidents and fatalities jumped 186 percent during October and November. By December, the number dropped by 21 percent. With darkness falling an hour earlier, the researchers concluded, drivers and pedestrians alike are slow to adjust. As a result, the risk to pedestrians nearly triples.

One proposal for reducing the risk is to extend daylight savings time year-round. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), this would prevent more than 700 accidents a year that otherwise would end with a pedestrian killed.

On the upside, the number of nighttime pedestrian accidents and injuries declines each month once the clocks "spring forward" to daylight saving time. In April, the risk of a pedestrian injury at 6 p.m. drops 78 percent.