Attachm <br />Pedestrian safety: a road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners <br />Attach <br />A road traffic crash is a collision or incident involving at least one road <br />vehicle in motion, on a public road or private road to which the public has <br />right of access, resulting in at least one injured or killed person. Included are: <br />collisions between road vehicles; between road vehicles and pedestrians; <br />between road vehicles and animals or fixed obstacles or with one road vehicle <br />alone. Included are collisions between road and rail vehicles (6). <br />Reduction or elimination of the risks faced by pedestrians is an important and <br />achievable policy goal. Pedestrian collisions, like other road traffic crashes, should <br />not be accepted as inevitable because they are, in fact, both predictable and <br />preventable (7). There is a close association between the walking environment <br />and pedestrian safety. Walking in an environment that lacks pedestrian <br />infrastructure and that permits use of high-speed vehicles increases the risk of <br />pedestrian injury. The risk of a motor vehicle colliding with a pedestrian increases <br />in proportion to the number of motor vehicles interacting with pedestrians (8,y). <br />Pedestrian safety measures improve walking environments and contribute to <br />urban renewal, local economic growth, social cohesion, improved air quality <br />and reduction in the harmful effects of traffic noise (ro-z3). They also have <br />supplementary benefits for other road users, such as motorists and cyclists. <br />Implementation of safety measures requires commitment and informed <br />decision-making by government, industry, nongovernmental organizations and <br />international organizations. Effective measures to improve pedestrian traffic <br />safety are described in Module 4. <br />1.1.2 The Safe System approach and pedestrian safety <br />Conventional analysis of road traffic injury risk has considered road users, <br />vehicles and the road environment separately (z4). There is also a tendency <br />among researchers and practitioners to focus on one or few factors, when <br />in reality several interacting factors typically define any specific road traffic <br />context (14,U). This uneven focus can limit the effectiveness of road traffic <br />injury prevention efforts and may lead to an emphasis on interventions that leave <br />pedestrians at risk. <br />The Safe System approach (see Figure i.i) addresses risk factors and interventions <br />related to road users, vehicles and the road environment in an integrated manner, <br />allowing for more effective prevention measures (16, 17). This approach has been <br />shown to be appropriate and effective in several settings around the world, in <br />some cases facilitating road safety gains where further progress had proved to be a <br />challenge (z8). <br />5 <br />C <br />B <br />50 <br />