Road Safety

All pedestrian crashes in the NSW and Victorian databases for the years 1990-1994 were analysed. A sample of crashes at each of the principal types of pedestrian facility was drawn from the crash data set and the accident report form for each crash was examined and the location of the crash and pedestrian and driver behaviours were categorised on the basis of the narratives and diagrams. The Sydney and Melbourne metropolitan areas have similar rates of serious pedestrian crashes. The patterns of crashes in both cities is very similar in terms of time and place of occurrence, with the exception that Sydney has a higher proportion of crashes at pedestrian crossings and correspondingly fewer at sites with no control than does Melbourne. At intersection signals, crashes tended to occur in the entry or departure zones rather than on the crossing itself, involved a high proportion of turning drivers, and were characterised by low levels of driver disobedience of red signals, but high levels of pedestrian disobedience of signals. At mid-block pedestrian signals, crashes occurred almost exclusively on the crossing itself, involved through drivers, and were characterised by high levels of disobedience of red signals by both pedestrians and drivers. Implications for countermeasures are discussed