Sunday 5 February 2017

Pedestrians hit by vehicles while on the pavement - the data

Yesterday I posted about pedestrians hit by vehicles on pedestrian crossings and how the vast majority of those are motor vehicles, despite a perception that this is a particular problem with cyclists. Today I am looking at pedestrians who have been injured while on the pavement, also a common complaint about cyclists.

The map below shows the vehicles which have hit pedestrians on the footway, verge or refuge/central island in the years 2005-2015.

In this case a shocking 97% of pedestrians hit on the pavement were hit by motor vehicles, with just 3% of the injuries attributed to cyclists. This presumably includes 'shared space' pavements where cycling is permitted and encouraged.

Again this highlights that if local councillors are serious about pedestrian safety they need to focus on the danger caused by motor traffic. I would also encourage them to reject the many poorly designed and poorly signposted shared space pavement schemes, which even though it does not result in many accidents, often gives the impression cyclists are being inconsiderate when they have been encouraged to use the pavement.  


Key:
Car - yellow marker (there isn't a car symbol)
Bus, coach or minibus - bus icon
All vans and goods vehicles - truck icon
Motorcycle - motorcycle icon
Pedal cycle - bicycle icon
Taxi/Private hire car - cab icon

For more detail on any of the data points simply click on the icon.

These maps are based on the data STATS19 police collision report data from 2005-2015 inclusive (11 years of data). If you want the full details on specific a specific incident or want to search by area I recommend using www.cyclestreets.net/collisions/.

Saturday 4 February 2017

Pedestrians hit on crossings - the data

This map shows the vehicles which have hit pedestrians on pedestrian crossings 2005-2015.

Last week one group identified cyclists as a main cause of road danger. A brief look at road casualty statistics shows this is not the case.

For instance, cyclists jumping red lights are often cited as a problem on our roads. However if we focus in on this 'cycling' problem, the road accident data shows motor vehicles are responsible for the vast majority of collisions with pedestrians on crossings. 

Only 2% of the pedestrians hit on crossings are hit by cyclists. That is two percent too many, but if we are serious about pedestrian safety we need to focus on the 98% of collisions which cause the most serious injuries and deaths.

If councillors are serious about avoiding conflict between cyclists and pedestrians they need to stop the widespread use of poorly designed and poorly signposted shared space pavements. Instead they should provide dedicated cycling facilities protected from traffic as far as possible and leave pavements clear for pedestrians. 


Key:
Car - yellow marker (there isn't a car symbol)
Bus, coach or minibus - bus icon
All vans and goods vehicles - truck icon
Motorcycle - motorcycle icon
Pedal cycle - bicycle icon
Taxi/Private hire car - cab icon

For more detail on any of the data points simply click on the icon.

In some locations you will see two icons exactly on top of each other. This is as indicated in the original data and may have been due to locations being rounded or approximated previously. For instance at long. -0.133876, lat. 51.519942 two icons are shown over each other representing separate incidents on 21/02/2008 and 08/07/2009. 

These maps are based on the data STATS19 police collision report data from 2005-2015 inclusive (11 years of data). If you want the full details on specific a specific incident or want to search by area I recommend using www.cyclestreets.net/collisions/.

Monday 30 January 2017

The danger of 'Agricultural Vehicles' in Central London?

The map below shows where pedestrians and cyclists have been killed or injured in collisions involving 'agricultural vehicles' as recorded on police road collision reports for the years 2005-2015.

The cluster of casualties in central London highlights problems with the current reporting of collisions - vehicles are put in to categories which do not adequately describe their purpose. In this instance it's likely most or all of these 'agricultural vehicles' were in fact diggers and other construction vehicles lumped in to the same category (details here).


This is in addition to the 'other' vehicle category which encompasses many of the most dangerous construction vehicles and a plethora of other vehicles, masking the large number of deaths caused by a these vehicles. We also know from insurers that the construction industry has a poor record when it comes to vans and small lorries.

It's been clear for a long time that the construction industry has a problem when it comes to road safety, unfortunately the data collected hides the extent of the problem. In order to understand the real causes of road danger we need better data to be made available, including detailed vehicle types and maybe also the industry sector.

Pedestrians and cyclists killed or injured in collisions involving agricultural vehicles (2005-2015): fatal - black, serious - yellow, slight - blue. 

Notes:
  • If you want the full details of specific a specific incident, or to search by area, try www.cyclestreets.net/collisions/.
  • Where possible casualty records have been linked to the vehicle which hit them. For pedestrians, the data records which vehicle (first) hit them. For other road users we inferred a collision where there was just one other vehicle involved. When there were more vehicles it was not possible to infer which vehicles collided with which.
  • Care has been taken to avoid errors or emissions while creating these maps, however if you spot an issue please let us know.