Reversing accidents involving pedestrians: an epidemiological investigation and cluster analysis using a novel database derived from Swedish National Register data

Objectives

In contemporary urban environments, the intersection between Vulnerable Road Users, specifically unprotected pedestrians, and motor vehicles poses a persistent challenge to road safety. Reversing accidents, characterized by vehicles moving backward, often result in severe consequences for pedestrians due to limited visibility and inherent blind spots for the driver. This paper aims to provide a thorough examination of reversing accidents involving pedestrians in Sweden between 2000–2021; shedding light on the magnitude of the problem, contributing factors, consequences, and potential mitigation strategies.

Method

Using a national database, reversing accidents were compiled by classifying free text descriptions of traffic accidents reported to the Swedish Traffic Accident Data Acquisition. The database was then used to describe reversing accidents and their consequences for struck pedestrians using descriptive epidemiology and cluster analysis.

Results

The results show that reversing accidents accounted for 12% of all pedestrians injured in a collision with a motor vehicle in Sweden during the studied period. In terms of personal characteristics, the struck pedestrians were more often female and of old or young age, whilst the drivers of the reversing vehicles were more often between 18–54 years and men. Most accidents were non-fatal, with only roughly 2% resulting in fatalities. Through a cluster analysis, four distinct accident types were identified. Two of these were identified as particularly important to prioritize in future preventative work: accidents that are characterized by occur during daylight hours in the urban environment (often low speeds) and often result in fatality or serious injury.

Conclusions

Due to the low speeds, reversing accidents are rarely fatal. However, they account for a large proportion of accidents with pedestrians and can be grouped into clearly distinguishable accident types that can function as templates in road safety development in Sweden.