Prevalence and factors associated with pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries: case Finland

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the prevalence of pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries (MAIS3+) in traffic, and to identify differences in the factors associated with the injury severities. The study included all motor vehicle-pedestrian accidents in Finland in 2014–2017 and exposure data from the national travel survey of 2016. The results showed a heightened fatality and serious injury rate specifically for pedestrians aged over 75 years and in rural heartland areas. Furthermore, differences were identified in the current speed limit, municipality type, lighting conditions, vehicle type, area type, accident location, and road conditions between pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries. The main implications of the study are that traffic safety measures should be tailored to local conditions and amended and redirected to account for both fatalities and serious injuries. In order to conduct comparative studies between countries and support the achievement of transport policy objectives, further harmonisation of definitions and data collection procedures for traffic accidents is needed.