Q3: Who puts pedestrians most at risk?

Q3: Who puts pedestrians most at risk?

Motor vehicles, not cycles, put pedestrians most at risk. This is the case in all locations, including pavements and urban areas, where cyclists and pedestrians often mix densely and share the same space.

Department for Transport (DfT) statistics,23 which cover incidents reported to the police on public roads (but not routes away from roads such as towpaths) show that: • 98% of pedestrians hurt on GB roads (urban and rural) are hit by motor vehicles, four-fifths of them by cars. • On urban roads, cycles are normally involved in only 2% of all reported pedestrian casualties, which is proportionate to how much cycling there is on this type of road.

This means that cycles don’t put pedestrians at greater risk of injury mile-for-mile than motor vehicles, even though they are arguably more likely to travel in close proximity and, being slower, meet more people out walking along the way per hour. In fact, cycles are involved in just 1% of pedestrian fatalities, so they are less likely be involved in hitting and killing someone on foot than most types of motor vehicle24, milefor-mile.

• Most pedestrians injured in reported collisions on the pavement/verge are hit by motor vehicles (100% of fatalities in these locations between 2015 & 2020, and 95% of all collisions, whatever the outcome). • Pedestrians are more likely to be killed in urban areas by a lorry than by any other vehicle. HGVs make up only 2% of total urban traffic (non-motorway), but are involved in 11% of pedestrian fatalities. Hospital data (England),25 which cover all locations not just roads, also show that: • Most pedestrians treated for injuries in collisions are hit by motor vehicles (95%).

Only 5% are hit by cycles.

23 DfT. Road Casualties Great Britain, Table 30018. 24 Per billion vehicle miles, vans/light good vehicles are least likely of all other types of vehicle to be involved in pedestrian fatalities, but not much less so than cycles. The biggest threats are heavy vehicles –lorries and buses or coaches. 25 NHS Digital, Hospital admitted care activity (external causes).