Safety Vulnerable Road Users: Pedestrians, Bicyclists, Motorcyclists, and Older Users. White Papers for: 'Toward Zero Deaths: A National Strategy on Highway Safety'. White Paper No. 5

摘要

The term Vulnerable Road Users (VRUs) may be generally defined as the road users who are most at risk for serious injury or death when they are involved in a motor-vehicle-related collision. These include pedestrians of all ages, types and abilities, particularly older pedestrians and people with disabilities. VRUs also include bicyclists and motorcyclists. Older drivers may also be considered to fit into this same user group. In terms of nationwide fatalities, pedestrians account for approximately 4,800 deaths each year, or about 11% of total traffic fatalities each year, compared to about 700 bicyclist fatalities (2% of total fatalities). The number of motorcyclist fatalities, with approximately 5,200 per year, now exceeds the number of pedestrian traffic fatalities annually. Depending on how someone defines older drivers, more than 5,000 drivers aged 70 and above are also killed on our nation's highways. Therefore, VRUs account for nearly 16,000 highway related deaths in the U.S. each year. Although there is not good exposure data for pedestrians, bicyclists, or motorcyclists on a nationwide basis, the pure numbers of traffic fatalities for VRUs reflects a serious safety problem for which aggressive and innovative solutions are needed.