5 Pedestrian deaths occur more frequently on major roads.
  Figure 6 shows the types of roads where pedestrian accidents took place, broken down by death and degree of injury. Ordinary (non-express) national roads and prefectural roads (major roads: the same hereinafter) accounted for about 67% of all accidents in which pedestrians were killed. Among accidents in which pedestrians were injured, the slighter the injury, the greater the ratio of accidents in municipal roads supervised by cities, towns and villages (about 49% of accidents involving serious injury, and 60% of accidents entailing slight injury).

Fig. 6  Type of Roads by Death and Degree of Injury (Accidents to which pedestrians are either a primary or secondary party: 2001-2003 total)

  The three charts shown below compare the speed of cars involved in accidents immediately before collision, by degree of pedestrian injury and death. In cases where pedestrians were killed (Fig. 7-1), the speed of collision centered on about 50 km/h on major roads and about 40 km/h on municipal roads.

Fig. 7-1  Pedestrians killed

  In accidents where pedestrians were seriously injured, collision speeds were somewhat lower than those of accidents involving pedestrian deaths: centering on 40 km/h in major roads and about 20 km/h in municipal roads (see Fig. 7-2). When minor injuries are involved, as shown in Fig. 7-3, cars were moving at low speeds of 10 to 20 km/h.
  These results indicate that the high ratio of pedestrian deaths on major roads is primarily due to high speed immediately before the accident.

Fig. 7-2  Pedestrians seriously injured

Fig. 7-3  Pedestrians slightly injured

6 Children are prone to accidents while crossing municipal roads, and seniors while crossing major roads.
  Figure 3 on page 2 illustrates that accidents involving children and seniors occurred most frequently while crossing roads, accounting for 60% to 70% of their accidents.
  In this section, distinctive characteristics of accidents while crossing roads that resulted in injury or death are discussed in detail.
  Figure 8 categorizes sites of accident into "major roads" and "municipal roads", and then looks at whether there were crosswalks at the sites or not.
  Pedestrians killed or injured by accidents were grouped by age into "aged up to 12", "aged 20-59", and "aged 65 and above" to analyze the tendency. An overwhelming 70% of pedestrians aged up to 12 met accidents on municipal roads, especially where there are no crosswalks.
  Comparing pedestrians "aged 20-59" and "aged 65 and above", for the latter, the percentage of accidents was higher while crossing major roads where there are no crosswalks.
  Many children meet accidents while crossing municipal roads, where the cars that hit them are assumed to have been cruising at generally lower speed, as shown in Fig. 7. As indicated in Fig. 1, seniors are more likely to be killed in traffic accidents, whereas children tend to suffer injury. The difference in fatality rate between children and seniors could be ascribed to the difference in the speed of vehicles that hit them. In other words, "where the accident occurred", and "how fast the car was traveling" make the difference between life and death.

Fig. 8  Pedestrian Accidents while Crossing: by Road Category, Crosswalks, and Age Group (Accidents to which pedestrians are either a primary or secondary party: 2001-2003 total)

7 Pedestrians' Road Traffic Violations
  Figure 9 shows violations of road traffic laws by pedestrians when they met accidents while crossing roads. The chart on the left shows a breakdown of pedestrian violations while crossing crosswalks. In all age groups, "no violations" was the majority. "Disregarding traffic signal" accounted for about 10% in each age group.
  The chart on the right shows data when pedestrians were crossing the roads where there are no crosswalks. Here, children "running out into the road" accounted for a significant 49%. Also notable are "crossing just in front of a running vehicle or immediately after it", and "crossing outside crosswalk" for seniors aged 65 and above.

Fig. 9  Pedestrian Violations in Crossing (major roads and municipal roads) (Accidents to which pedestrians are either a primary or secondary party: 2001-2003 total)

8 Road Width
  Figure 10 illustrates the breakdown of the widths of roads where accidents took place. Although the width is that of the road from which the primary party came when an accident occurred at an intersection, and is therefore not necessarily the width of the road where a pedestrian met the accident, it gives a general idea.
  The chart on the left indicates that, while walking on crosswalks, a greater ratio of children aged 12 and below and seniors aged 65 and above meet accidents on roads that are narrower than 9 m, as compared with those aged 20-59. While crossing roads other than crosswalks, which is shown in the chart on the right, the ratio of children meeting accidents on narrow roads of less than 5.5 m in width is markedly higher, at 36%, compared with other age groups.
  Based on Fig. 9 and Fig. 10, children and seniors do not seem to be meeting accidents by forcing one's way in major crosswalks. In particular, seniors, rather than being hit by cars while forcing their way across wide roads, tend to meet accidents because they could not complete crossing in time, or, more fundamentally, because they cross roads unaware that their bodies no longer function as they used to. As shown in Fig. 9, children's tendency to meet accidents in narrow, minor roads and streets may be explained by the fact that they often run out into the street without warning.

Fig. 10  Road Width (major roads and municipal roads) (Accidents to which pedestrians are either a primary or secondary party: 2001-2003 total)

UP

Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis (ITARDA)