The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent federal agency responsible for investigating all airplane crashes and aviation accidents as well as “significant” motor vehicle accidents in this country.
After considering the shocking number of highway crashes where pedestrians die after being hit by a motor vehicle in this country, the NTSB began a formal agency investigation into fatal pedestrian accidents. The research was performed by the agency’s Office of Highway Safety.
Fifteen specific incidents were chosen for study because on the average, 15 pedestrians died in a pedestrian accident every single day during 2016 (the average number of pedestrian-vehicle fatalities is now 16). All these tragic deaths occurred between April 24, 2016, and November 3, 2016.
2018 Pedestrian Safety Special Investigation Report
A few weeks ago, the NTSB’s official research study was released. It is more than another publication with analysis and considerations.
Read the abstract of the Pedestrian Safety Report here.
The formal agency report was presented to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In the report, the NTSB forwards 11 safety recommendations to these agencies.
From NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt:
“Pedestrian safety is a universal issue – we are all pedestrians.
“Pedestrian safety requires a multi-faceted approach of engineering, education, enforcement, encouragement, and evaluation so all road users are provided safe facilities and use them as intended.”
For more, read “Growing Epidemic’ Of Pedestrian Deaths Tackled By National Safety Group,” published by Forbes on October 31, 2018.
The NTSB Investigators’ Findings
Among the concerns and issues discovered by the safety researchers during their investigation were the following findings.
- Vehicle headlight systems need better testing than bench testing of light bulb output.
- Advanced vehicle lighting systems shown to have safety benefits should be considered for installation in motor vehicles driven in the United States.
- Motor vehicle hood and bumper designs can be designed to keep pedestrians safer in the event of a collision.
- Those buying motor vehicles should be told which models or vehicles come with pedestrian-safe design characteristics or pedestrian safety systems (once implemented in new car designs).
- Localities should control street designs for pedestrian safety because these locations are highly “context-dependent.”
- More resources are needed for implementing pedestrian safety design changes in urban areas.
- More research is needed into pedestrian accidents. The current pedestrian crash data available for safety analysis and research is more than 20 years old.
- Data compiling for pedestrian accidents needs two things: (1) state data systems linking state police crash reports to hospital intake and emergency room medical records; and (2) a national aggregation of these state data systems which could then provide an accurate “national picture of pedestrian fatalities and injuries.”
Notice how these NTSB Findings demonstrate that (1) the lack of proper road design (particularly in urban areas) as well as (2) poor vehicle lighting (headlights, etc.) and (3) the current design of both car hoods and vehicle bumpers contribute to the deaths of pedestrians hit by motor vehicles in this country.
List of Federal Pedestrian Safety Recommendations
As a result of its report, the National Transportation Safety Board forwarded the following safety recommendations to the federal agencies responsible for overseeing safety on our roads:
NTSB To the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Revise Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 to include performance-based standards for vehicle headlight systems correctly aimed on the road and tested on-vehicle to account for headlight height and lighting performance.
- Revise Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108 to allow adaptive headlight systems.
- Develop performance test criteria for vehicle designs that reduce injuries to pedestrians.
- Develop performance test criteria for manufacturers to use in evaluating the extent to which automated pedestrian safety systems in light vehicles will prevent or mitigate pedestrian injury.
- Incorporate pedestrian safety systems, including pedestrian collision avoidance systems and other more-passive safety systems, into the New Car Assessment Program.
- Develop a detailed pedestrian crash data set that represents the current, complete range of crash types that can be used for local and state analysis and to model and simulate pedestrian collision avoidance systems.
- Work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop and implement a plan for the states to combine highway crash data and injury health data, with the goal of producing a national database of pedestrian injuries and fatalities.
- Examine the past framework of the Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System and establish methods that states and metropolitan planning organizations can use to collect pedestrian event data, then define a common framework that will allow those data sources to be combined.
NTSB To the Federal Highway Administration:
- Expand your support of state and local safety projects beyond focus cities to promote municipal pedestrian safety action plans that develop a network of safety improvements.
- Develop standard definitions and establish methods that states and metropolitan planning organizations can use to collect pedestrian exposure data, and then define a common framework that will allow those data sources to be combined into a national metric of pedestrian activity.
NTSB To the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
Work with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop and implement a plan for the states to combine highway crash data and injury health statistics.
Pedestrian Accidents: Justice for Those Hit by a Vehicle While on Foot
Last week, we shared the tragic news of the Indiana pedestrian accident where three children from the same family were killed in a pedestrian accident involving a school bus on a rural Indiana roadway. Other pedestrian accidents involving school bus children as well their parents were reported in deadly pedestrian crashes last month, as well.
Of course, this epidemic of school bus – pedestrian fatalities is far from the only rising danger of a pedestrian being hit by a car and killed while walking near a local road, street, highway, or inside a parking garages or across a parking lot here in Indiana or Illinois.
Things need to change. It is unacceptable for people to die from injuries sustained in a pedestrian accident particularly when the new NTSB report suggests that simple changes, like better vehicular headlights, improved hood and bumper designs, and updated road designs could save so many lives.
State laws in Indiana and Illinois exist to protect pedestrian accident victims and their loved ones in the aftermath of a serious pedestrian crash as they seek recompense from those who are responsible for the collision. Personal injury damages provide for things like medical expenses, lost wages, and long term care needs. Wrongful death statutes are in place for those grieving the loss of their spouse, child, or parent.
For more information, see:
- Take a Walk in Indiana and Illinois and Risk Dying in a Pedestrian Accident
- Fatal Pedestrian Accidents: Risk of Pedestrian Death Breaking Records.
It’s important that we know safety advocate warnings about the reasons for the epidemic level of pedestrian accidents we face here in Indiana and Illinois. Let’s be careful out there!
