Analysis of police collision files for pedestrian fatalities in London, 2006-10

In 2010 the Mayor’s Transport Strategy included a commitment to improve the safety
and security of all Londoners. Despite a fall in the number of casualties from road traffic collisions in recent years there is still an unacceptable number of casualties each year. In 2010, 126 people were killed on London’s roads, of which almost half (58) were pedestrians.

This study analysed approximately 200 police fatal files where a pedestrian was killed in London in the period 2006-2010, with the overall aim of providing a better
understanding of how fatal pedestrian collisions in London could be prevented. The files were broadly representative of fatal pedestrian collisions in London over the period.

Key findings
In total, 198 fatalities from 197 collisions were coded. Several groups of fatalities were identified as being of special interest because of particular characteristics of the collisions. These groups generally accounted for a substantial proportion of the fatalities although some fatalities are included in more than one group. The groups with the largest numbers of fatalities were:

• Pedestrians impaired with alcohol (46, 23%),
• Pedestrians aged 80 years and above (41, 21%),
• Pedestrians using a pedestrian facility (49, 25%),
• Pedestrians crossing the carriageway choosing not to use the available crossing
facility (37, 19%).
• Pedestrians in collisions with buses/coaches (33, 17%);
• Pedestrians struck by speeding vehicles (32, 16%).