Pedestrians account for about one third of road accident fatalities worldwide, but there are large regional variations. In general, in highly motorized countries pedestrians account for around 10–20 % of fatalities, but in less motorized countries, pedestrians can account for over 50 % of fatalities. Pedestrians are frequently classed as vulnerable road users as they have a higher fatality rate than vehicle occupants. Protecting pedestrians from vehicle collisions requires a combination of road engineering, vehicle design, legislation/enforcement and accident avoidance technology. The separation of pedestrians from fast-moving motorized vehicles is preferable and pre-crash sensing methods combined with autonomous braking technology can greatly reduce the occurrence and severity of pedestrian accidents. However, these approaches cannot prevent all accidents, and vehicle/pedestrian collisions remain a real and frequent problem.

Pedestrian kinematics during the vehicle contact phase are strongly correlated to the vehicle speed and the height of the vehicle front-end structures relative to the pedestrian height. However, the subsequent ground contact is a highly variable event, which nonetheless accounts for a significant proportion of head injuries.

Vehicle impact speed is the main determinant in pedestrian injury outcome. However, despite a popular view that pedestrian safety cannot be significantly improved due to the mass and stiffness disparity between unprotected humans and motorized vehicles, it is now well established that vehicle design has a significant effect on the severity and distribution of pedestrian injuries arising from vehicle impact. In particular, the height of the bonnet leading-edge relative to the pedestrian’s centre of gravity is significant for the kinematics and subsequent injuries, and the stiffness of the main contact surfaces on the vehicle also plays a significant role.

Many modern cars feature active pedestrian safety devices such as warnings, autonomous braking, external airbags and pop-up hoods. In the future, the combination of improved vehicle shapes with reduced critical stiffness and auto-braking technology are likely to yield further substantial decreases in pedestrian injuries and fatalities.