Walk-don't walk!

摘要

As many as 8,000 pedestrians and cyclists are killed and a further 300,000 injured in the European Community each year in road accidents. Historically, most attempts made to reduce pedestrian injuries have focused on isolation techniques such as pedestrian bridges, public education and traffic regulations, and have not included changes to vehicle design. The lack of effort devoted to vehicle modifications has stemmed primarily from society's view that the injury caused by a large, rigid automobile hitting a small, fragile pedestrian cannot be significantly reduced by alterations to the vehicle structure. The laws of physics tend to support this view. The ratio between the two masses is 1:25 for an adult and up to 1:60 for a child. Because of this very uneven mass ratio, a pedestrian hit by a car is rapidly accelerated to a speed nearly as great as that of the vehicle, and the higher the speed of collision, the greater the risk of severe injuries. Such injuries may be caused by the collision with the vehicle or by hitting the ground (primary and secondary impacts).