On the face of it, it seems simple - keep the pedestrians away from the vehicles and there will not be any pedestrian accidents. How hard can that be?

Roads are for vehicles, pavements are for pedestrians. QED i.e. quod erratum demonstrandum or that which was to have been proved

So what about the cyclists, don't they need to share the road. Well yes and no. So how do we keep the cyclists away from the automobiles.

Again, a simple solution, create dedicated cycleways and hey presto, segregated transport systems. Never the twain shall meet therefore no chance of accidents. How hard can that be. Again QED

Sounds easy, doesn't it. So how come we keep killing and maiming pedestrians and cyclists with automobiles world wide. Note that in the USA, in 2008 there where 5,000 pedestrians killed and 64,000 injured, this is 11% of motor vehicle fatalities.

Well, if it was that easy it probably would have been done years ago.

It really doesn't matter where in the world you are, this issue is going to be there. Although to a greater or lesser degree. North America, South America, Europe, Asia, The Far East. Wherever there is a lethal mix of pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles.

Although statistically, some areas of the world fare better than others. There are a number of factors which come into play. Prevailing transport infrastructure, culture, attitude, road rules plus enforcement, alcohol and stupidity. To name just a few.

If we where starting with a clean sheet of paper to design our ideal communities could we get it right. Well I'm not sure that it would be perfect, but I'm sure that it would be a lot better than it is at the moment.

However, the world is an imperfect place, we have what we have and we need to manage it to the best of our abilities and within budget constraints.

On a world wide scale, there are many and varied factors which contribute to pedestrian safety and developing countries are going to experience some interesting twists and turns as they move forward.

I find that there is a delicious irony in the fact that the developing countries see motor vehicle ownership as a measure of prosperity whilst the developed countries are advocating and actively promoting a return to pedestrian and human powered transport such as the bicycle wherever possible. Both from an environmental standpoint and as a means of encouraging the population to engage in physical activity to stave off the ravages of poor health caused by a sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits.

It should be noted that children and the elderly are predominantly more likely to be involved in accidents. In the developed countries certain nights such as Fridays and Saturdays plus areas with greater traffic densities etc. are key factors which are easily distilled from the statistics. It's not rocket science to see what causes accidents and where the hot spots are going to be.

It is also worth noting that vehicle manufacturers also have a part to play by designing vehicles which are not as lethal to pedestrians if contact is made. As vehicle manufacture becomes increasingly centralized with vehicles designed and manufactured for world consumption, there can still be significant variations between the regulations and standards of different countries. Logic might suggest that countries could “come together” to create common standards but practical experience tells you that even individual States and Territories can not agree to standardize much simpler regulations.

The “World” vehicles need to meet all of these standards and this poses challenges for the major producers who design for and sell into these markets. There is a huge effort being made by the vehicle manufacturers to improve standards related to pedestrian impact safety and EU legislation is a strong driver in this area.

Whilst recent years have seen significant improvements to occupant safety in vehicles, there is now a strong drive for increased pedestrian safety to be designed into vehicles. This is being achieved by a number of initiatives, styling which is less severe in the event of impact, designers being aware of the behavior of a body during impact, removing protrusions such as door handles/decoration, improving wing mirror materials/shape and designing for progressive external crush zones. To highlight just a few of the areas Safety Engineers and Designers are working on.

Researchers at Cranfield University (UK) have designed an external air bag system and

Volvo has released the world’s first production car equipped with ground-breaking technology to avoid hitting stray pedestrians, the S60 compact sedan.

As with most aspects of life, pedestrian and cyclist safety is never going to be simple, as strike direction, point of impact , size and shape can cause infinite variations to the best of models and theories. Unfortunately this means that there are never going to be any cast iron guarantees about specifically what might happen in the event of impact however it all leads to incremental improvement.

The bottom line is that governments around the world need to make a conscious decision that Pedestrian and Cycle Safety is an important issue which needs to be improved, manage what is out there and act accordingly. I believe that there needs to be a 3 pronged strategy

Segregate – Educate - Culture

Segregate – keep them apart wherever possible, traffic management, adequate pedestrian crossings, pedestrian fencing, islands, barriers

Educate – Cross the roads at designated crossings, learn to look both ways, educate children early, continuing eduction of the elderly, promote road safety awareness

Culture – This is linked to education but needs to be ingrained in the Psyche that the road can be a dangerous place if not treated with respect

Pedestrian And Cyclist Safety Is Not Just Going To Happen – It Needs To Be Made To Happen