Pedestrians
Each year on average 51 pedestrians are killed on Victoria’s roads.
Several issues are critical to improving road safety for pedestrians:
Speed limits: Lower speed limits significantly improve safety for pedestrians. A pedestrian struck by a vehicle travelling at 40km/h or more is unlikely to survive.
Intoxicated pedestrians: Intoxicated pedestrians are at a particularly high risk of being killed in a crash. Pedestrians with a BAC of .05 or greater represent more than half of all deaths of pedestrians aged 16 to 49 years.
Alcohol is a significant issue in fatalities involving pedestrians aged between 21 and 49.
Older pedestrians: Although people aged 65 and older represent less than 14 per cent of the population, they feature in 32 per cent of pedestrian deaths. Improving safety for older pedestrians is particularly important given that older people are more likely to rely on walking for transportation, and in the context of an ageing population.
Motorised mobility devices: Motorised mobility devices are included in the definition of pedestrians. Clear guidelines need to be developed for the use of these devices.
Children: Children aged 16 years and younger account for 14 per cent of all pedestrian fatalities, with risks increasing significantly for children when they begin school. In addition, the increasing numbers of children being driven to school highlights the need for parental education on road safety around schools.
Vehicle safety: The design of vehicles contributes significantly to the severity of injuries sustained by a pedestrian in a collision. For instance, a pedestrian struck by a van or four wheel drive with a high bumper is much more likely to incur serious head injuries than when struck by a bonnet type passenger car.
Infrastructure: Providing vehicle-free paths and facilities for pedestrians is an extremely effective way of improving their safety. Similarly, barrier fencing and guardrails on road edges and medians also effectively reduces risks for pedestrians.
As speed is a key contributor to pedestrian road trauma, traffic calming measures such as speed humps and roundabouts that reduce the speed of vehicles in local streets also reduce road safety risks.
What the strategy will do
Measures taken to improve pedestrian safety under arrive alive 2008-2017 will include:
- Designing new roads and roadsides, and improving existing roads to the safest levels practicable for pedestrians including traffic calming measures, safety fence and barrier treatments, and improved crossing facilities.
- Increasing off-road walking paths and facilities that separate pedestrians from motorised traffic.
- Setting speed limits according to the safety standards of locations with high pedestrian activity.
- Conducting targeted public education campaigns to encourage safe walking practices.
- Conducting consumer awareness raising campaigns to discourage purchase of large, aggressive vehicles, including those with rigid bull bars, and to increase take up of vehicles with features that do less harm to pedestrians.
- Improving compliance with road rules by all motorised and non motorised road users using enforcement and education.
- Reviewing the penalties for illegal pedestrian behaviour and accompanying police enforcement to ensure that penalties reflect the seriousness of the offence and the road safety impact.
- Reviewing Australian Design Rules to ensure that pedestrian safety standards are addressed by vehicle designers.
- Influencing town planning and residential layout to facilitate safe travel for pedestrians.
