1. There is striking similarity amongst pedestrian accidents between the States, particularly at the more disaggregated levels.
2. The rate of pedestrians killed per 100,000 population is comparable in Victoria and New South Wales with the rate in Queensland being significantly higher. Overall New South Wales has the highest rate of pedestrian accidents per head of population and Queensland the lowest.
3. Victoria had the highest proportion of accidents in the metropolitan rural area, with Queensland having the highest proportion of accidents in other urban and rural areas. 4. New South Wales had the highest rate of pedestrian accidents per 100,000 people in
metropolitan and other urban areas, with Victoria having the highest rate in the rural area. In all States, the highest rates were in the metropolitan are, lower in other urban areas and lowest in rural areas.
5. All three States showed similar patterns of accidents across the week, with fewer accidents at weekends and more accidents during the week. In all States, the highest number of accidents occurred on Fridays and the lowest on Sundays.
6. Pedestrian accidents in all States were characterised by an almost total absence of a morning peak, with accidents occurring in similar number from 8 am until 3 pm. There was then a marked late afternoon /early evening peak from 3 pm to 6 pm.
7. Data on light condition was only available for Victoria and New South Wales. The pattern was similar for both States, with New South Wales having slightly fewer daytime accidents and slightly more accidents in the twilight and darkness.
8. The age groups with the highest pedestrian accident rates per 100,000 population , in no specific order are : 9 to 12 year, 13 to 17 year, 18 to 22 year and 68 to 98 year age groups for all three States.
9. The rate of pedestrians killed per 100,000 population is highest in all three States amongst the 68 to 98 year age group. The rate of pedestrians admitted to hospital is quite different
between the States, with the most at risk groups being 13 to 17 years, 68 to 98 years and 5 to 8 years for Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland respectively. The 13 to 17 year age group is the most at risk of being injured requiring medical treatment or uninjured not
requiring treatment in all three States with the exception of those requiring medical treatment in New South Wales where the 18 to 22 year age group are more at risk.
10. The split between intersection and non intersection accidents was fifty-fifty in Victoria and New South Wales and sixty-forty in Queensland.
11. The same general pattern applied in the metropolitan area in all States, but as we move to other urban and rural areas we note increasingly more non intersection accidents.
12. The distribution of accident-types was remarkably similar across all three States. The most frequent types of accidents were:
Pedestrian - Near side vehicle hit from right (001) Pedestrian - Far side vehicle hit from left (003) Pedestrian - Hit emerging from behind vehicle (002) Pedestrian - Playing, working, standing, lying (004)
Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety — Comparison of Pedestrian and Bicycle Accidents in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland
— 28 —
These four accident-types accounted for between 88 and 91 per cent of pedestrian accidents in each of the three States.
13. The accident types which resulted in the highest proportions of deaths and hospital admissions are:
Pedestrian - Playing, working, standing, lying (004)
Pedestrian - Walking with traffic (005)
Pedestrian - Walking against traffic (006)
Each of these accident-types involves the pedestrian being struck while on the carriageway. 14. In general the distribution of accidents by accident-type is quite similar in the metropolitan
and other urban areas amongst the states. While in the rural areas there are noticeably less
near side (001), emerging (002) and far side (003) accidents with increases in the playing, walking standing, lying (004), walking with traffic (005) and walking facing traffic (006) accidents.
15. Pedestrians are most likely to be stuck by a passenger vehicle (car or car derivative), although the most involved vehicles compared to both the number of vehicle kilometres travelled and the number of vehicles on register are busses and motorcycles.
16. Drivers in the 18 to 22 years age group constitute from one fifth to more than a quarter of all drivers involved in pedestrian accidents. When compared to the general population drivers in the 18 to 22 years age group are twice as likely to be involved in a pedestrian accident. 17. For all three states:
• In the period from midnight to 7 am, the most involved pedestrians are aged 18 to 22 years, with the second most involved pedestrians being those aged 23 to 27 years.
• In the period from 7 am to 9 am, the first and second most involved pedestrian age groups are the 9 to 12 and 13 to 17 years age groups.
• The most involved pedestrians in the period from 9 am until 3 pm involve the 68 to 98 years age group and the second largest number of accidents involve pedestrians in the 58 to 67 years age group.
• The period from 3 pm until 7 pm has a young pedestrian accident problem. The first and second most involved pedestrian age groups are respectively the 13 to 17 and 5 to 8 years age groups in Victoria, the 13 to 17 and 9 to 12 years age groups in New South Wales and the 5 to 8 and 13 to 17 years age groups in Queensland.
• In the time period from 7 pm until midnight the most involved pedestrians are those aged 18 to 22 years.