Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Pedestrian Injuries-Related Deaths: A Global Evaluation

  • Original Scientific Report
  • Published:
World Journal of Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

Pedestrians are vulnerable road users who are at risk of injuries and death on the roads. We aimed to define factors affecting pedestrian injuries-related deaths worldwide and to give recommendations regarding their prevention priorities.

Methods

Data on pedestrian injuries-related deaths for years 2007 and 2010 were retrieved from the WHO global status reports on road safety. These included the country population, gross national income (GNI), number of registered vehicles, estimated pedestrian deaths rate, effectiveness of enforcement of law, and the presence of policies to promote walking or cycling. Correlations between studied variables were done using Spearman rank correlation. General linear models were used to define factors affecting pedestrian injuries-related deaths.

Results

The median (range) pedestrian death rates of different countries per 100,000 population significantly decreased in year 2010 compared with year 2007 [3.9 (0–13.5) compared with 4.2 (0–23.6), (p = 0.004, Wilcoxon signed rank test)]. There was a reduction of 8.1 % of the global pedestrian death rate between 2007 and 2010. The estimated pedestrian lives saved annually worldwide of a population of 6.8 billion were 23,120 persons. A general linear model has shown that GNI (p = 0.001) and population density (p = 0.01) were the best predictors of pedestrian death rates in 2007, while national legislation (p = 0.03) was the best predictor of pedestrian death rates in 2010.

Conclusions

There is a change in the factors affecting pedestrian mortality worldwide over time. GNI and population density became less significant than national legislation enforcement. Legislation and its enforcement are important to achieve the UN mission of reducing road traffic deaths by 5 million over the next decade.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. World Health Organization (2013) Global burden of disease. Geneva, World Health Organization. Available at: (http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/projections/en/. Accessed 10 April 2014

  2. World Health Organization (2013) Global status report on road safety: supporting a decade of action. Geneva, World Health Organization. Available at: www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_safety_status/2013. Accessed 8 April 2014

  3. Lozano R, Naghavi M, Foreman K et al (2012) Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet 380:2095–2128

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. World Health Organization (2011) Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020: saving millions of lives. Geneva, World Health Organization. Available at: http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/publications/road_traffic/decade_booboob/en/. Accessed 10 April 2014

  5. American College of Surgeons, Injury Prevention and Control, https://www.facs.org/quality-programs/trauma/ipc. Accessed on 4 Sep 2014)

  6. Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (2004) Appendix to Policy on Trauma (injury) 2004, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons p. 7

  7. Chakravarthy B, Lotfipour S, Vaca FE (2007) Pedestrian injuries: emergency care considerations. Cal J Emerg Med 8:15–21

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Zegeer CV, Bushell M (2012) Pedestrian crash trends and potential countermeasures from around the world. Accid Anal Prev 44:3–11

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. World Health Organization (2004) World report on road traffic injury prevention. Geneva, World Health Organization. Available at: http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/publications/road_traffic/world_reporr/en/. Accessed 10 April 2014

  10. Nantulya VM, Reich MR (2002) The neglected epidemic: road traffic injuries in developing countries. BMJ 324:1139–1141

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. World Health Organization (2009) Global status report on road safety: time for action. Geneva, World Health Organization. Available at: www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_safety_status/2009. Accessed 8 April 2014

  12. Area and Population of Countries. Available at: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004379.HTML. Accessed 8 April 2014

  13. Miller J, Haden P (2006) Statistical analysis with the general linear model. University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. http://www.uv.es/~friasnav/librofactorial.pdf. Accessed 18 Sept 2014

  14. Berry G (1998) Generalized linear models. In: Kerr C, Taylor R, Heard G (eds) Handbook of Public Health Methods. McGraw-Hill, Sydney, pp 340–343

    Google Scholar 

  15. Toroyan T, Khayesi M, Peden M (2013) Time to prioritise safe walking. Int J Inj Contr Saf Promot 20:197–202

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Lascala EA, Gerber D, Gruenewald PJ (2000) Demographic and environmental correlates of pedestrian injury collisions: a spatial analysis. Accid Anal Prev 32:651–658

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. World Health Organization (2010) Improving global road safety, A/RES/64/255. Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, 64th session, 10 May 2010. Available at: http://www.who.int/roadsafety/about/resolutions/download/en/

  18. Celso B, Tepas J, Langland-Orban B et al (2006) A systematic review and meta-analysis comparing outcome of severely injured patients treated in trauma centers following the establishment of trauma systems. J Trauma 60:371–378

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Kudryavtsev AV, Nilssen O, Lund J et al (2012) Explaining reduction of pedestrian-motor vehicle crashes in Arkhangelsk, Russia, in 2005–2010. Int J Circumpolar Health 71:19107

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Naci H, Chisholm D, Baker TD (2009) Distribution of road traffic deaths by road user group: a global comparison. Inj Prev 15:55–59

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Hefny AF, Eid HO, Abu-Zidan FM (2014) Pedestrian injuries in the United Arab Emirates. Int J Inj Contr Saf Promot 10(1080/17457300):884143

    Google Scholar 

  22. Paulozzi LJ, Ryan GW, Espitia-Hardeman VE et al (2007) Economic development’s effect on road transport-related mortality among different types of road users: a cross-sectional international study. Accid Anal Prev 39:606–617

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. World Health Organization (2013) Pedestrian safety: a road safety manual for decision-makers and practitioners. Geneva, World Health Organization. Available at: http://www.who.int/roadsafety/projects/manuals/pedestrian/en/. Accessed 10 April 2014

  24. Gårder PE (2004) The impact of speed and other variables on pedestrian safety in Maine. Accid Anal Prev 36:533–542

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Eid HO, Abu-Zidan FM (2007) Biomechanics of road traffic collision injuries: a clinician’s perspective. Singapore Med J 48:693–700

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Rosén E, Stigson H, Sander U (2011) Literature review of pedestrian fatality risk as a function of car impact speed. Accid Anal Prev 43:25–33

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Aleassa EM, Eid HO, Abu-Zidan FM (2013) Effects of Vehicle size on pedestrian injury pattern and severity: prospective study. World J Surg 37:136–140. doi:10.1007/s00268-012-1797-4

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Damsere-Derry J, Ebel BE, Mock CN et al (2010) Pedestrians’ injury patterns in Ghana. Accid Anal Prev 42:1080–1088

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Duperrex O, Bunn F, Roberts I (2002) Safety education of pedestrians for injury prevention: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials. BMJ 324(7346):1129

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Turner C, McClure R, Nixon J et al (2004) Community-based programmes to prevent pedestrian injuries in children 0–14 years: a systematic review. Inj Control Saf Promot 11:231–237

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Kwan I, Mapstone J (2006) Interventions for increasing pedestrian and cyclist visibility for the prevention of death and injuries. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 4:CD003438

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Crandall JR, Bhalla KS, Madeley NJ (2002) Designing road vehicles for pedestrian protection. BMJ 324(7346):1145–1148

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Savolainen PT, Mannering FL, Lord D et al (2011) The statistical analysis of highway crash-injury severities: a review and assessment of methodological alternatives. Accid Anal Prev 43:1666–1676

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Adam SH, Eid HO, Barss P et al (2008) Epidemiology of geriatric trauma in United Arab Emirates. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 47:377–382

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Tefft BC (2013) Impact speed and a pedestrian’s risk of severe injury or death. Accid Anal Prev 50:871–878

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Sparrow WA, Bradshaw EJ, Lamoureux E et al (2002) Ageing effects on the attention demands of walking. Hum Mov Sci 21:961–972

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, PO Box 17666, Al Ain, UAE

    Hani O. Eid & Fikri M. Abu-Zidan

Authors
  1. Hani O. Eid
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Fikri M. Abu-Zidan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fikri M. Abu-Zidan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Eid, H.O., Abu-Zidan, F.M. Pedestrian Injuries-Related Deaths: A Global Evaluation. World J Surg 39, 776–781 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-014-2853-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-014-2853-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation