Pedestrian safety
The Highway Code contains rules and advice to help pedestrians stay safe:
Kerbcraft
Kerbcraft is a practical child pedestrian training scheme, developed in Drumchapel, Glasgow, by Professor James Thomson at the University of Strathclyde.
Kerbcraft is designed to teach pedestrian skills to 5 to 7 year olds, by means of practical road-side training rather than teaching in the classroom. It is built around teaching three skills:
- choosing safe places and routes
- crossing safely at parked cars
- crossing safely near junctions
These skills are taught over the course of at least 12 roadside sessions. Children are taught in the road environment near their schools, in pairs or groups of three children, by trained volunteers.
Pedestrian accident statistics
There were 405 pedestrians killed on Great Britain’s roads in 2010, down 19 percent from 500 in 2009. This is also a 60 percent reduction from the 1994-98 average where 1008 pedestrians were killed.
There were 5605 pedestrians killed or seriously injured (KSI) in 2010, down seven percent from 6045 in 2009. This is also a 52 percent reduction from the 1994-98 average where 11,669 pedestrians were killed or seriously injured.
The majority of fatalities aged under 10 and over 80 were pedestrians.
The pedestrian fatality rate per billion miles walked has fallen steadily in recent years. In 2010 it was 59 percent below the 1994-98 average and 12 percent lower than in 2009.
Compared with the 1994-98 average, the biggest reductions in reported slight casualties have been for pedestrians.
