In this chapter, we use the procedure for bicycle accidents to examine the 2003 traffic accidents caused while walking. In order to compare them with casualties in general, the data of adults (20 years old and older) is posted.   3-1.What kinds of accidents occur most frequently? Types of accidents   About 60 to 70% of accidents in any age group occur while crossing a road. Younger age groups are more likely to suffer from accidents while crossing a non-pedestrian crossing. The number of preschool-age children's accidents that occur while crossing a non-pedestrian crossing is half or less than that of the other age groups.

Road configuration   The percentage of preschool-age children who suffer from accidents on single roads is relatively high. According to statistics, elementary school students who suffer from accidents at intersections and on single roads respectively share almost the same percentage; however, the lower the age, the less likely they are to suffer from accidents at signal intersections.   Different from bicycle accidents, the percentage of pedestrian accidents at intersections is less than half the figure.

Distance from home   Approximately 40% of preschool-age children and 30% of elementary school students met with an accident within a 100-m radius from home. In addition, older children have a higher percentage of accidents in an area remote from home, from which we can infer that the range of activity expands as they grow older. Preschool-age children have a higher percentage of accidents 2 km or more away from home; however, this could be due to the inclusion of accidents that occurred when they were taken to far-away places by adults.   More children met with an accident nearer to home while walking than while riding a bicycle.

3-2.When do most accidents occur? Time period of accidents   Preschool-age children meet with accidents most often between 15:00 and 18:00. More than half of the accidents of elementary school students happened between 14:00 and 16:00, with junior elementary school students having peaked in the earlier time period. This differs from bicycle riders' accidents because the pedestrians' accidents also peaked at around 7:00 in the morning, which shows that children are prone to accidents when commuting to or from school. Junior high school students have 2 peak periods: between 7:00 and 9:00, and between 17:00 and 19:00, which also shows that they are prone to accidents when commuting to and from school.

Weekdays, weekends, and holidays   Preschool-age children tend to meet with accidents on weekends and holidays, which amounts to some 40% of pedestrian accidents.   Elementary school students and junior high school students are less likely to meet with accidents on weekends and holidays compared to adults.   As pedestrians they have a higher percentage of accidents on weekdays, which differs from the situation of bicycle accidents.

Weather   Similar to the situation in bicycle riding, with advancing years, more children suffer from traffic accidents on rainy days. It is assumed that as they get older, they have more opportunities to go out even on rainy days.

3-3.What did the children do? Purpose of travel   The percentage of preschool-age children's accidents while playing is the highest followed by those while eating/drinking and shopping. The percentage of elementary school students' accidents while commuting to or from school is the highest followed by those while playing. Half of the accidents of junior high school students are caused while they are commuting to and from school.   Different from the bicycle accidents, commuting elementary school students, and preschool-age children and elementary school students while playing make for a higher percentage of accidents.

Law violation   Younger children show a lower percentage of non-violation accidents, while the percentage of accidents caused by their jumping out onto the road is higher. It is considered that in many cases they do not know the traffic rules, resulting in the violation. Children need to be educated on road safety both at home and at school.

3-4.Specific case examples   Junior elementary school students, followed by preschool-age children, suffered the highest number of casualties while walking. Roughly speaking, between 15:00 and 17:00, many children met with an accident by jumping out onto a road while playing near home, or while going home from school.   The following are some example cases. [Case 3] A boy collides with a car after ignoring a friend's attempt to stop him from jumping out onto the road.   A 2nd grader was going home from school, talking with some friends on a sidewalk. He suddenly decided to go to his grandfather's house on the opposite side of the road. He dashed out onto the road ignoring the attempt of one of the friends to stop him; he then collided with a car coming from the right.   The driver of the car had noticed the children on the sidewalk but did not pay much attention assuming that they would not cross the road.   The boy forgot to confirm safety factors by looking to the right and left when crossing the road. Children need to learn that they must always confirm safety factors on the right and left when crossing a road, and to use a pedestrian crossing if available.

[Case 4] A boy collides with a light truck while playing on a road.   A 1st grader was playing with some friends in an open space, and found a toy car. He suggested putting the toy on the road to watch a car run over it, and the 3 children went to the shrubberies planted along the road. The boy saw a car approaching from the right, and thought he had enough time to put the toy on the road and come back before the car passed by, so he jumped out onto the road. The driver of the light truck saw the 3 children on the left sidewalk, blew the horn to sound the danger, and tried to slow down the truck to pass by. However, the truck could not avoid hitting the boy jumping out onto the road in front.

[Case 5] Absorbed in playing, a boy jumps out onto the road without looking first, and collides with a passenger car.   A 1st grader was playing with some friends in the open space along the road. He was so absorbed in playing that he dashed out onto the road without looking, resulting in a collision with a passenger car coming from the left. The driver of the car had noticed these children, but kept driving without slowing down, which made it impossible to avoid the boy who suddenly jumped out.   It is important for preschool-age children and grade-schoolers to be taught repeatedly that it is dangerous to play on or nearby a road as well as the reasons why it is dangerous by using practical examples or a particular traffic situation that they face every day.

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Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis (ITARDA)