IAM Roadsmart: drivers must be more alert to protect pedestrians

UK charity IAM RoadSmart is urging drivers to be more alert as pedestrians now make up a quarter of all road deaths on the country’s roads. IAM refers to figures released by the Department for Transport (DfT) for 2016 – the most recent figures available - which revealed 448 pedestrians were killed. This is an increase of 10% over 2015 - the DfT says drivers failed to look in 42% of crashes while pedestrians did not look in 54% incidents. In addition, a fifth of drivers failed to judge the other perso
May 25, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
UK charity IAM RoadSmart is urging drivers to be more alert as pedestrians now make up a quarter of all road deaths on the country’s roads.


IAM refers to figures released by the 1837 Department for Transport (DfT) for 2016 – the most recent figures available - which revealed 448 pedestrians were killed. This is an increase of 10% over 2015 - the DfT says drivers failed to look in 42% of crashes while pedestrians did not look in 54% incidents.

In addition, a fifth of drivers failed to judge the other person’s path or speed in car collisions while 17% of pedestrians made the same mistake before a fatal or serious impact.

Neil Greig, IAM RoadSmart’s director of policy and research, says while blame may not be easy to assign, drivers must adopt a special responsibility for looking for the safety of those on foot.

However, Greig also recognised that walking carelessly or hurrying is a contributing factor in pedestrian injuries and deaths.

Greig suggests: “Observing the body language of pedestrians will give drivers a clue of their intentions. For example, a pedestrian looking over their shoulder may be looking for a suitable gap to cross the road and anyone with their head buried in a smartphone or wearing headphones is at extra risk.”

Greig explains research on vision has found children of primary school age find it difficult to see or judge the speed of vehicles accurately.

“Slowing down around pedestrians and constantly scanning for clues to their intention is essential if we are to reduce the growing toll of pedestrian fatalities on our roads,” Greig adds.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Inrix informs FHWA’s data improvements
    December 19, 2017
    Refinements in the data available from the US Federal Highway Administration will improve road management across America. David Crawford reports. In August 2017, the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued the first results from an upgraded version of its National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS). Developed to identify the locations and times of high congestion affecting traffic flows along America’s 259,000km (161,000 mile) national highway system, this is a key resource for sta
    Read More
  • ‘Only 20% of people’ would put their child inside an AV, says Fujitsu
    July 24, 2018
    Only 20% of people would be prepared to put their child inside an autonomous vehicle (AV), according to research from Fujitsu. People are more anxious about adopting digital services in travel than they are in other areas of their lives, according to Russell Goodenough, the company’s managing director of business and transport. Just 40% of people would put their trust in an AV - and the transport sector is falling behind in the race to digitisation, the company says. Speaking at a media forum in Lo
    Read More
  • Truck CO2 standards ‘must be part of Government CO2 reduction policy’
    July 4, 2016
    In response to the UK Government’s Fifth Carbon Budget, Freight on Rail says that the Department for Transport must support EU plans to introduce CO2 truck standards to bring HGVs into line with cars and vans. In the UK, HGVs contribute 17 per cent of surface transport’s CO2 emissions even though it only makes up five per cent of road miles driven. Philippa Edmunds, Freight on Rail manager, Campaign for Better Transport said CO2 standards and reduction targets for HGVs are long overdue as truck manufac
    Read More
  • Road safety - the challenge ahead
    April 25, 2012
    More than 1.3 million people die in road accidents each year. If nothing is done, this already chilling figure risks to rise to 1.9 million deaths per year. Around 90 per cent of road fatalities occur in emerging and developing countries. Here, the mixture of population growth and higher numbers of vehicles due to rising incomes are proving a deadly combination, as infrastructure and regulatory environment have difficulty keeping pace.
    Read More

Highlighted Content