It might seem obvious that the danger of injury or death to a pedestrian struck by a motor vehicle is directly proportional to the vehicle’s speed. After all, that’s the premise on which the 20 mph “school zones” are based.
Our Pearland pedestrian accident attorneys report that several formal studies have documented the relation of motor vehicle speeds to pedestrian risks in a collision. For instance, a Literature Review on Vehicle Traffic Speeds and Pedestrian Injuries, by the U.S. DOT (Department of Transportation) NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) studied the traffic death data for 1992 from 1996 that’s collected in the national Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). It’s important to note that the numbers of U.S. pedestrian injuries and fatalities have not changed significantly since those years.
From 1992 through 1996, 27,934 pedestrians died in 27,450 motor vehicle collisions. In 1995 alone, around 84,000 pedestrian injuries occurred and 5,585 pedestrians died from motor vehicle collisions. That means that about 15 pedestrians were injured in the collisions for every one that was killed. Many of these injuries were severe or incapacitating.
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Vehicle speed made a huge difference in the ratio of injuries to fatalities. Where vehicles were traveling 25 mph or less, there were 57 injuries to every pedestrian fatality. Where vehicles traveled 60 mph or more, there were only 0.3 injuries per pedestrian death.
In between these numbers, our Pearland pedestrian accident attorneys note that for posted limits of 30 to 35 mph, there were 19.3 injuries per fatality. For posted limits of 40 to 45 mph, there were 10.1 injuries per fatality. For speed limits of 50 to 55 mph, 3.0 injuries per fatality occurred.
Some researchers concluded from three studies relating collision speeds and pedestrian injury severity that about 5% of pedestrians would die when struck by a vehicle traveling 20 mph. 40% would die if vehicles traveled at 30 mph. Around 80% died when vehicles were traveling 40 mph. And nearly 100% died if motor vehicles were traveling at speeds over 50 mph.
The studies concluded that generally, pedestrians aged 65 or older were 5 times more likely to die in collisions with motor vehicles than those 14 years of age or younger. And our Pearland pedestrian accident attorneys emphasize that the risk of death rose steadily as people increased in age beyond 14. When vehicles were traveling 45 mph or above, pedestrians over age 65 died in approximately 5 of every 8 collisions.