Fact Sheet 20 - Safer Road Users - Pedestrians, motorised wheel chairs and wheeled recreational devices

Pedestrians are the largest category of road users, with almost everyone using the road as a pedestrian at some point in their lives. There are competing traffic needs across the range of road functions – quiet local streets to multi-lane, high-speed arterial roads – coupled with the mix of different types and ages of pedestrians.

In Queensland during 2008 there were 30 pedestrian fatalities as a result of crashes, which represented 9.1% of the Queensland road toll (Data Analysis Unit 2009). This was 12 fatalities (or 28.6%) fewer than in 2007, and 12 fatalities (or 28.6%) fewer than the previous five-year average (Data Analysis Unit 2009).

This improvement in reducing the number of pedestrian fatalities in Queensland is encouraging, and it is important that it continues.

The human body is unlikely to survive an uncushioned impact with a vehicle travelling at more than 30km/h (Vicroads 2008, p12). Therefore, as RACQ members have suggested, where traffic moves at higher speeds it is vital that we separate pedestrians from motorised traffic by way of off-road paths and pedestrian facilities. Where pedestrians have to cross roads, the crossings that are provided need to be of a high standard.

Alcohol or ‘drink walking’ has been identified as a factor in many pedestrian road fatalities in Queensland (Queensland Transport 2008, p25). Nationally, approximately four in 10 pedestrians killed have a blood alcohol concentration higher than 0.05, and three quarters of these have a blood alcohol concentration higher than 0.15 (Australian Transport Council 2008, p48). Male pedestrians aged 15 – 54 years have the highest incidence of intoxication (Australian Transport Council 2008, p48), and should therefore be targeted in efforts to raise community awareness about the risks associated with drink walking.

Under the Australian Road Rules a driver of a motorised wheelchair is also classified as a pedestrian and must follow the same rules as pedestrians, e.g., using a footpath where provided.

Motorised wheelchairs are three and four-wheel mobility aids. Unlike other vehicles, e.g., motor vehicles and bicycles, some types of motorised wheelchairs (i.e., mobility scooters) are not required to meet any compulsory design standards for safety and performance (RACV 2002). These devices are growing in popularity and some sections of the community may not be aware of, or understand, their responsibilities for the safe and legal use of these mobility devices, e.g., registration and insurance issues. Users of these devices commit an offence if they:

• Use the motorised wheelchair while having a blood alcohol level of 0.05 or above;
  
  
• Travel faster than 10km/h; or
  
  
• Obstruct the path of any driver or another pedestrian.

Wheeled recreational devices (including those with a power output of 200W or less) are gaining popularity, particularly in urban areas. There is a range of road rules covering restrictions for the use of these devices based on the type of road, age of the rider and whether human or powered propulsion applies.

Providing a safe co-existence between pedestrians, wheeled recreational devices and other traffic through better education, enforcement and engineering – particularly in busy urban environments – is, and will continue to be, an ongoing challenge for all users, agencies and authorities. Across Australia, pedestrians account for approximately one quarter of all road deaths in metropolitan/urban areas (Australian Transport Council 2008, p48) and so managing pedestrian behaviour through enforcement and engineering is especially important in this environment.

It is also important that traffic management policies that aim to calm or discourage the use of private motor vehicles do not adversely affect safety through a perceived shift in road user responsibility, e.g., pedestrians developing an expectation that vehicles give way to them, and therefore taking more risks.

Priorities: Pedestrians, motorised wheel chairs and wheeled recreational devices

1. Continue educational campaigns to inform motorists and pedestrians on how to share the road safely with each other.
   
   
2. Continue to support education with enforcement activities that serve to encourage safe behaviours and compliance by all pedestrians, users of wheeled recreational devices and motorised wheelchairs.
   
   
3. Improve awareness among patrons of licensed premises about the dangers of walking intoxicated and raise community awareness about the risks of drink walking through publicity programs.
   
   
4. Provide engineering treatments, incorporating innovative approaches where appropriate, to reduce risk and/or separate pedestrians from road traffic at locations of high pedestrian activity, e.g., overbridges near schools, variable speed signs in strip shopping centres.
   
   
5. Monitor trends in the use of motorised wheel chairs and wheeled recreational devices and whether any negative road safety issues are arising.
   
   
6. Review penalties for pedestrian, wheeled recreational device and motorised wheelchair offences with a view to matching monetary fines to seriousness of offences and raise awareness of rights and road safety responsibilities, e.g., appropriate training programs.
   
   
7. Improve the planning and implementation of local pedestrian safety initiatives and facilities across the community, e.g., off-road networks and routes that run parallel to arterial roads leading to business centres.
   
   
8. Ensure that the application of policies to encourage walking and other mobility devices take into account the associated risks involved with their increased exposure to vehicles and the road environment.
   
   
9. Improve professional awareness of how to assess medical fitness for potential users of motorised wheelchairs and improve availability of information assisting health practitioners.
   
   
10. Improve availability of information relating to safe use of motorised wheel chairs for the users of these devices.
    
    
11. Develop a compulsory design standard for the safety and performance of mobility scooters sold in Australia, e.g., lights and reflectors, speed limiter (10km/h), rear view mirrors, safety belt, horn, handbrakes etc.
    
    
12. Install lower speed limits in areas with higher pedestrian activity, which operate when needed.
    
    
13.  Encourage an increased take-up of vehicles with features that do less harm to pedestrians, and review Australian Design Rules to help ensure that vehicle designers consider pedestrian safety standards.

References

Australian Transport Council 2008, National Road Safety Action Plan 2009 and 2010, Australian Transport Council, Canberra, ACT, Australia.

Data Analysis Unit 2009, Personal Correspondence to RACQ, 03/06/09, Queensland Transport, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

Market and Communications Research December 2008, RACQ Safety Policy Survey: Quantitative Research Report, Market and Communications Research, Spring Hill, Queensland, Australia.

Queensland Transport 2008, Queensland Road Safety Action Plan 2008-2009: safe4life, Queensland Government, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

RACV 2002, Focus: on what’s important to 1.3 million Victorians, RACV, Noble Park, Victoria, Australia.

Vicroads 2008, Victoria’s Road Safety Strategy: Arrive Alive 2008 – 2017, Vicroads, Victoria, Australia.

Contact

For more information contact RACQ Traffic and Safety on 1300 853 658 or 07 3872 8925, or email traffic@racq.com.au.