Pedestrian Crash Types: 1990s Update

Abstract

A report is given on an application of the NHTSA pedestrian crash-typing system for categorizing pedestrian–motor-vehicle crashes according to the specific sequence of events leading up to individual crashes. Results are based on a recent sample of over 5,000 pedestrian crashes drawn from six states and reported by police. Over 80 percent of the pedestrian crashes fell into the following crash type categories: vehicle turn or merge (9.8 percent), intersection dash (7.2 percent), driver violation at intersection (5.1 percent), other intersection (10.1 percent), midblock dart or dash (13.3 percent), other midblock (13.1 percent), not in roadway and waiting to cross (8.6 percent), walking along roadway (7.9 percent), and backing vehicle (6.9 percent). These crash types were found to vary according to the characteristics of the pedestrian and factors of the location, environment, and roadway. The process of typing pedestrian crashes can be a valuable tool at both the state and local level for developing more highly effective countermeasures to reduce the annual toll of nearly 100,000 pedestrians killed and injured in traffic crashes.