Pedestrians in Florida who become involved in an accident with a car are at much greater risk of serious bodily injury than if they were also inside a vehicle. Pedestrians do not benefit from the protection a car or truck will provide, which means they take on the full impact of a collision with their bodies.
Dangers on the road
The number of Americans who lose their lives to motor vehicle accidents annually declined steadily over the last four decades. More than 50,000 Americans lost their lives due to traffic accidents in 1980. By 2018, this number had fallen to 36,560. But an alarming trend has emerged over the last decade as the number of pedestrians who lose their lives on the road has risen. A new study reveals that when an SUV is involved in auto-pedestrian accidents, the likelihood of death increases for the pedestrian.
Study results
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety observed the results of 79 crashes. These crashes took place in three different Michigan areas. The study measured the likelihood of fatalities for drivers and passengers involved in these crashes when vehicles traveled over 20 mph.
Thirty percent of the auto-pedestrian crashes in the study involving SUVs traveling from 20 to 39 mph resulted in fatality for the pedestrian. This number fell to 23% when the auto-pedestrian accident involved a smaller car. Three crashes involving an SUV traveling over 40 mph were part of the study. All three pedestrians in these accidents lost their lives. Fifty-four percent of the pedestrians struck by a smaller car at these higher speeds lost their lives.
A statistician working for the IIHS acknowledged that the sample size for the study is small. However, the statistician also says that the numbers are alarming once the increasing number of SUVs on the road is taken into account.
Accidents on the road are always capable of causing injuries, but the likelihood of serious injury skyrockets when one of the accident participants is a pedestrian. A personal injury attorney may be able to help an accident victim or a family member searching for compensation following an auto-pedestrian accident.
