Attach <br />Pedestrian safetv: a road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners <br />Alcohol-impaired drivers and pedestrians create injury risk for themselves and other <br />road users. Strict legislation and complementary activities that can help reduce <br />pedestrian road traffic injuries related to alcohol include the following (4,z8): <br />. Conducting mass media campaigns on drinking and driving, including informing <br />the public about drinking and driving regulations and penalties. <br />. Setting and enforcing BAC limits for the general driving population (0.05g/dl) <br />and lower limits for young and inexperienced drivers. <br />Setting and enforcing minimum drinking-age laws. <br />. Regulating and enforcing laws on availability of alcohol. <br />. Enforcing BAC limits through random breath testing and sobriety checks, and <br />implementing penalties for offenders. <br />. Enforcing laws on being drunk in public places, which will cover drivers, <br />pedestrians and other members of the public. <br />Conducting briefing interventions for injured people who come into emergency <br />rooms with alcohol-related problems, including pedestrians, drivers and other <br />patients. <br />. Rehabilitating high-risk offenders, that is, those with BAC levels in excess of o.i5g/dl. <br />4.2.5 Improving vehicle design for pedestrian protection <br />Motor vehicles have become increasingly safer for occupants, due to improvements <br />in vehicle design. Until recently, vehicle design incorporated few features to protect <br />pedestrians, but there is an increasing effort to include design elements that reduce <br />the likelihood of pedestrian collision and/or reduce the severity of pedestrian injury <br />in the event that a vehicle-pedestrian crash does occur. <br />Collision prevention by vehicle design <br />The vehicle feature `Brake Assist' improves emergency braking ability and reduces <br />the chance of collision. Brake Assist activates when a sensor detects an emergency <br />situation, indicated by unusually fast brake pedal actuation and/or unusually <br />hard pressure on the brake pedal. Brake Assist, which is now fitted as standard to <br />most new cars, can prevent some collisions with a pedestrian or at least reduce the <br />impact speed of a collision. An evaluation conducted in France concluded that cars <br />equipped with Brake Assist had a io% lower involvement in pedestrian fatalities than <br />cars without Brake Assist (37). <br />Brake Assist only activates, however, if the driver attempts to brake, which may not <br />happen if the driver does not perceive a risk. In 45% of fatal pedestrian collisions in <br />Adelaide, Australia, for example, drivers reported that they took no evasive action, <br />typically because they did not see the pedestrian before impact, or realize that a <br />collision was likely (38). <br />Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) is a more recent development in pedestrian- <br />protective vehicle design. Cars with AEB have sensors, usually mounted behind the <br />83 <br />C <br />B <br />29 <br />