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• Scapegoating pedestrians: the limits of engineering solutions and pedestrian behaviour-change
  Tony H Reinhardt-Rutland
  Published on: 13 May 2016

• Published on: 13 May 2016

  Scapegoating pedestrians: the limits of engineering solutions and pedestrian behaviour-change

  • Tony H Reinhardt-Rutland, Reader in Psychology

  Dear Editor

  Poudel-Tandukar et al report questionnaire data from a respondent sample of adolescent pedestrians in Nepal. Coincidentally, Perel et al [1] have outlined issues relating to road safety in low- and middle-income countries in the same issue of Injury Prevention.

  Commenting in an electronic letter regarding the latter, I asserted that a pervasive and unhelpful attitude often persists among moto...

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  Dear Editor

  Poudel-Tandukar et al report questionnaire data from a respondent sample of adolescent pedestrians in Nepal. Coincidentally, Perel et al [1] have outlined issues relating to road safety in low- and middle-income countries in the same issue of Injury Prevention.

  Commenting in an electronic letter regarding the latter, I asserted that a pervasive and unhelpful attitude often persists among motorists in developed countries which can be traced back to the earliest days of motorisation: the relative wealth of motorists gives them high social influence, which is reflected in - for example - the scapegoating of pedestrians. Since similar inequalities must surely affect developing countries, one can conclude that scapegoating of pedestrians is likely to be endemic in most - if not all - countries, no matter what their development. Any research concerning pedestrian behaviour should recognise this issue.

  Moreover, let us remember the disproportionate kinetic energy in any vehicle driven at habitual speeds; indeed, the evidence suggests that increase in fatalities follows a fourth-power relationship with vehicle speed [2]. Such evidence must always be borne in mind in any potential engineering approaches to road safety. For example, increasing pedestrian use of designated crossings may well entail generally higher traffic speeds on roads generally, thus putting those pedestrians who still cross away from designated crossings - whether because of the inconvenient location of the designated crossing or any other reason - at greater risk.

  References

  1. Perel P, Ker K, Ivers R et al. Road safety in low- and middle- income countries: a neglected research area. Inj Prev 2007; 13: 227.

  2. Nilsson G. The effect of speed limits on traffic accidents in Sweden. VTI Report No 68: 1-10. National Road and Traffic Research Institute. Linkoping, Sweden.

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  Conflict of Interest:
  None declared.

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