Attachment C <br />18 <br />is addressing pedestrian safety necessary? <br />in other situations, if the driver is not concentrating fully on the road ahead or the <br />road is wet, the opposite will occur. <br />If a car is travelling unusually fast, other road users such as a pedestrian waiting to cross <br />the road may misjudge the speed of the approaching vehicle. The pedestrian may mis- <br />takenly assume it is safe to cross the road, attempt to do so and get struck by the vehicle. <br />Impact speed and pedestrian injury severity <br />The probability that a pedestrian will be fatally injured if hit by a motor vehicle <br />increases markedly with impact speed (50,53,54 Research in the 1990s showed that <br />pedestrians had a go% chance of surviving car crashes at speeds of 3o km/h or lower, <br />but less than a So% chance of surviving impacts at 45 km/h (55). After adjusting for <br />sampling and statistical analysis bias in that research, a more recent study shows <br />an adult pedestrian has approximately a zo% risk of dying if struck by a car at <br />6o km/h (54). It is important to note that this risk analysis is a work in progress and <br />has not yet been corroborated by other researchers but the undisputed issue is that <br />speed is an important risk factor for pedestrian injury and that impacts of above <br />3o km/h increase the likelihood of severe injury or death. <br />Impact speed is influenced by travelling speed and braking. Most speed is lost in the last <br />few metres of braking, so that when a car travelling at 4o km/h has stopped, a car that <br />was travelling at 5o km/h is still travelling at 41 km/h. Thus, a difference of io km/h in <br />initial travelling speed can result in a difference of 41 km/h in impact speed. <br />Factors influencing vehicle speed reveal how the interaction between the vehicle, road <br />environment and road user create risks for pedestrians. The key aspects include (7): <br />. driver-related factors (age, sex, alcohol level, number of people in the vehicle); <br />. road- and vehicle-related factors (road layout, surface quality, vehicle power, <br />maximum speed); and <br />. traffic- and environment-related factors (traffic density and composition, <br />prevailing speed, weather conditions). <br />Attachment B <br />Page 163 <br />