Which Pedestrians Are The Most At Risk?

Pedestrians are expected to be the safest of all road users. However, each year, thousands of them are killed or injured on city streets. Often, these incidents happen when someone ignores an obvious warning sign, which sends them into the path of an oncoming vehicle. The question is, at what point is it too late to act?

Many people have been struck and injured by motor vehicles in recent years. While the majority of these unfortunate events occur in urban areas, rural areas and unincorporated areas often have the highest fatality and injury rates in the United States. This column will explore the causes and circumstances of motor vehicle-pedestrian collisions in each of these areas and identify the most highly at-risk pedestrians in each location. Here is a list of pedestrians who are the most at risk.

Which pedestrians are the most at-risk?

The Child Pedestrians

If you’ve ever walked down the street with your children, you’ve probably experienced the thrill of walking alongside an oblivious child who doesn’t comprehend the risk of walking outside. They don’t understand the concept of how fast cars can go; they probably don’t even understand that they can’t cross or that cars can come out of the side streets. Pedestrians are as vulnerable to vehicles as vehicles are to pedestrians. A child’s survival rate after a pedestrian incident is about one-third. The number of children killed in crashes each year is almost as high as for adult pedestrians, at 19%. In 2017, nine out of every 10 pedestrians killed were children under the age of 16.

The Older Pedestrians

Older pedestrians are at increased risk of being struck by a car. They are physically weaker, slower, less aware of their surroundings, and more likely to be confused or disoriented. These pedestrians are also more likely to be injured in a collision, increasing their death risk.

When we think of older adults and pedestrians, we think of blind people crossing the street and the elderly using walkers and canes to get around. However, when you look at the numbers, the elderly are actually more likely to be hit by a vehicle than any other age group. It is estimated that in 2017, there were 19.7 pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 pedestrians ages 65 and older, nearly double the rate for pedestrians ages 50 to 54 and ages 55 to 59 at 11.9 and 10.4 per 100,000, respectively. The elderly also tend to be ignored when it comes to safety, and they often manage to walk in the street, often without looking both ways.

The Alcohol-Impaired Pedestrians

Alcohol has been shown to impair a pedestrian’s ability to make safe judgments, which is why it’s important to keep in mind that when you’re walking or biking after drinking, you may not always be able to make the right decision. When walking in a crosswalk, for example, alcohol can complicate your ability to judge whether or not your path intersects with the vehicle lane, the pedestrian lane, the road shoulder, or another walking or biking lane. The result can be an accident or injury.

What to Do After Encountering a Pedestrian Accident?

The last thing you want to happen after a pedestrian accident is spending the day in a hospital or jail or worrying about the cost of your hospitalization, or getting back to work. But these are often things that follow a pedestrian accident. So, what should you do after a pedestrian accident?

Drivers need to remember that sometimes the best thing they can do to avoid a collision with pedestrians is nothing. That’s what happened between a driver and a pedestrian who was crossing the street in an alley near a gas station. The driver, who was negotiating her way through the garage, didn’t see the pedestrian using a walker. The driver was going pretty slowly and had a red light at the time of the accident. The pedestrian fractured her pelvis and suffered a few cuts and bruises but was otherwise uninjured. The last thing you want to worry about after an accident is how to deal with the legal aftermath. While that’s important, the first thing to do should be to consult pedestrian accident law offices in St Louis MO about your case. You will then be able to file a claim, which will give you potential compensation.