PEDESTRIAN EXPOSURE TO RISK OF ROAD ACCIDENT IN NEW-ZEALAND

This study uses data from a recent survey of New Zealanders' travel be haviour to estimate the pedestrian risk of road accident injury. The e stimated risks of accident disaggregated by sex and age were examined by combining road accident data with survey data using the exposure me asures ''time spent walking'' and ''number of roads crossed''. The two resulting measures of risk were compared both with one another and wi th the most common mode of presenting of pedestrian accident statistic s, accidents per capita. The overrepresentation of the elderly in pede strian accident statistics was examined in light of their greater susc eptibility to injury from a given accident. An attempt was made to adj ust for this susceptibility using estimated numbers of ''severe impact s'' based on the risk of road accident fatality per road crossed. The relative importance of walking as a mode of transport was examined usi ng the travel survey data. Finally, the risks of road accident when cr ossing at a zebra (unsignalized) crossing were compared with the risks of crossing elsewhere.