Pedestrian Collisions

The City of Toronto recently released the statistics for collisions involving pedestrians in 2005 (PDF file).

Although the year-to-year changes are slight, the total number of collisions has been going down slightly every year in recent years, which is promising. There are still far too many, though: 2,233 reported, with 29 pedestrians killed.

There are some interesting details in the statistics. For example, the time of day that witnessed the most collisions was between 3 and 4 in the afternoon — when schools let out. Unfortunately, the city does not cross-index the time with the age of the victims, so we can’t be sure, but it suggests that collisions could be reduced if efforts were focused on protecting kids leaving school.

I recently posted an article about pedestrians crossing mid-block. It is interesting to compare the statistics between mid-block and traffic-controlled (lights, stop signs, crossovers) crossings. 165 pedestrians were hit crossing where there was no traffic control (usually mid-block), while almost 7 times as many, about 1,150, suffered collisions crossing the street at traffic-controlled locations (the other collisions did not involve crossing the street). Even assuming many more people cross at intersections, it still suggests you are no more likely to get hit crossing mid-block — possibly because pedestrians are more careful then.

On the other hand, 6 of those 165 non-traffic-control collisions resulted in death, as opposed to 16 at traffic controls — no doubt because vehicles were driving at higher speeds because they were not expecting pedestrians. (This is why it’s important for pedestrians to yield to traffic when crossing mid-block). Similarly, in terms of collisions where there was traffic control, although fewer pedestrians were hit crossing without the right-of-way (e.g. against the light), more of them were killed (9).

In a similar vein, although the density of collisions is highest in the centre of the city, where there are a lot more pedestrians, deaths were far more numerous in the suburbs (22 of 29, by my count). I can think of a few possible reasons why accidents are more likely to be fatal in the suburbs: higher speeds, larger and more pedestrian-unfriendly streets and intersections, and drivers having less expectation of dealing with pedestrians because there are fewer of them about.