An overview on pedestrians involved in traffic accidents in Latvia : Years 2010-2014

Abstract

Latvian national road accident statistics shows that for the vulnerable road users’ situation is critical, since pedestrians are involved in more than a quarter of road traffic accidents. This paper gives an analysis on pedestrians involved in road traffic accidents based on the road safety accident database in Latvia for the years 2010–2014. The total number of cases does not change significantly, however there has been an increase in pedestrian fatality rates over the period. From the total number of traffic accidents with pedestrians involved 92.4% had injuries, 6.8% were lethal cases and others did not suffer from injuries. Out of 342 fatalities 37.7% occurred during the winter period, 56.1% in adverse weather (overcast, fog, rain or snow), 69.9% during twilight or darkness and 26.9% on weekends. Out of all accidents 55.3% occurred in the capital city Riga, but fatality rate was higher on main state roads. 8.1% of the total number of pedestrians involved in road traffic accidents was found to have alcohol in their blood right after the road traffic accident. Fatality rate was higher for those with exceeded BAC. Pedestrian injury risk analysis was associated with demographical and traffic-related factors, urbanization, visibility and seasonal patterns.