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There are other changes, too. Twenty-three percent of all fatally injured pedestrians in 1976 were younger than 15. Now only 10 percent are that young. At the same time, the number of pedestrian deaths among 30-49 year-olds has increased. This shift indicates a change in the crash types that are occurring, says Institute senior vice president Allan Williams. "We see many fewer children running into the street and being struck -- so-called midblock dart-dash crashes -- but we're also seeing more adults who are legally crossing at intersections and being hit by turning vehicles."

Researchers collected 1998 crash statistics from Baltimore and Washington, D.C. In Washington, similar data were collected in 1976, allowing the direct comparisons. In the mid-1970s, midblock dart-dash crashes made up 37 percent of pedestrian crashes in Washington. By 1998, the proportion had declined to 15 percent in Washington and 18 percent in Baltimore. Twenty-five percent of all Washington pedestrians involved in crashes during 1998 were 14 or younger, compared with 46 percent in 1976.

Turning-vehicle crashes increased from 9 percent of Washington's pedestrian crashes in 1976 to 25 percent in 1998. These impacts involved primarily pedestrians 25 years and older.

Who's at fault? Researchers found the pedestrians culpable in 50 percent of crashes. Drivers were at fault in 39 percent. Both were found culpable in 1 percent, while culpability was unknown in the other 10 percent of crashes.

Pedestrians were almost always judged culpable in midblock and intersection dash crashes, the kind involving a pedestrian who appears suddenly in the path of a vehicle. But among the other crash types identified -- turning vehicle, vehicle backing up, and pedestrian not in road -- drivers usually were more at fault.

Measures to reduce crashes: "The development of safety measures in the 1970s and '80s focused primarily on child pedestrians because of the prevalence of mid-block dart-dash crashes," says David Preusser of the Preusser Research Group, which conducted the study. "Today we need a new focus on measures that will reduce the number of pedestrians hit by turning vehicles." For example, traffic signals can be changed to let pedestrians begin crossing a street several seconds before turning vehicles get a green light. Stop lines can be placed farther back from crosswalks at traffic signals to increase the time it takes for the first vehicles to enter intersections. Such measures, "have great potential to improve the problem of turning vehicles hitting pedestrians, but they're not widely used," Williams notes (see Status Report, March 13, 1999; on the web at www.highwaysafety.org).

For a copy of "Pedestrian crashes in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore" by D.F. Preusser et al., write: Publications, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 1005 N. Glebe Rd., Arlington, VA 22201.

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