Abstract
Among the vehicle to pedestrian collisions, 0.6％ of the casualties and 8.3％ of the fatalities involved pedestrians who were lying on the road. Therefore, developing a preventive measure for such type of collisions is required for reducing motor vehicle collision fatalities. The background of the collision involving pedestrians who were lying on the road was investigated using a database from the Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis, Japan. Such collisions occurred more frequently in summer, and at weekends and night times, unlike other types of collisions. The 33.0％ of the victims lying on the road died, 30.8 ％ severely injured and 36.2％ mildly injured. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified the following as major factors that positively influenced the fatalities: head or neck injuries; trunk injuries; trucks as offending vehicle; higher collision velocity; and hit-and-run cases. The following had a positive influence on severe injuries: trunk injuries; higher collision velocity; and hit-and-run cases. Decreasing the collision velocity, avoiding collisions to the head and neck or trunk, and preventing hit-and-run cases would be effective in reducing fatal or severe injuries to pedestrians lying on the road. Furthermore, it is important to identify pedestrians lying on the road for avoiding a collision. This could inform the development of safety systems for avoiding collisions with pedestrians lying on the road.
