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Pedestrian crashes are often the fault of the vehicle involved. People driving don't always pay close enough attention to the changing traffic conditions around their vehicles. Inadequate surveillance is one of the more common reasons drivers give when explaining how they struck a pedestrian with their vehicle.
Even though the person in the vehicle is often at fault for a pedestrian crash, pedestrians are the ones that take all the risk in such a collision, so it makes sense to try to avoid the most dangerous behaviors that increase your personal risk of a pedestrian collision.
There are two common behaviors that increase your risk while walking, and both of them are also known risk factors while driving.
In a scenario where the pedestrian is at fault for a collision with the vehicle, the chances are good that they had a mobile phone in their hand when they stepped out into traffic. Pedestrians to occupied by texting or emailing to monitor their surroundings may not notice the cars racing toward them at an intersection.
Pedestrian distraction is among the top causes of these potentially fatal crashes, which just means that you should stop walking when texting, just like you should pull over and stop driving if you have to respond to a message while in your vehicle.
Choosing to walk home instead of driving home when you have had too much to drink is the better decision. After all, driving after having too much to drink is illegal.
However, walking when you are too drunk to drive can be a very dangerous decision. About a third of all fatal pedestrian crashes involved a person walking with enough alcohol in their bloodstream to make driving a motor vehicle illegal.
Although there aren't laws against distracted walking or walking home while drunk, either of these behaviors could increase your risk of not making it safely to your destination. Learning about the biggest risk for pedestrians might help you reduce your risk of getting hurt in a crash.
