࢖ࢱࣝࢲ࢖ࣥࣇ࢛࣓࣮ࢩࣙࣥ

ITARDA INFORMATION
஺㏻஦ᨾศᯒ࣏࣮ࣞࢺ

No.100

Check for pedestrians
at pedestrian crossingslSpeciafeature~Analyzing accidents caused
by “obstruction of crossing pedestrian”~

What do you know about obstruction of crossing pedestrian?
Do you stop your car for pedestrians who are waiting
to cross at pedestrian crossings?
Speed of vehicle when the driver senses danger
50
30km/h or under349

50km/h or under18

60km/h or under

Did not fully confirm
whether there werepedestrians crossing

13%

10%

26

40km/h or underOver 60km/h

Incidence (%)

Noticed pedestrian(s)but did not sense any
particular danger

Did not confirm whether
there werepedestrians crossing

16%

Did not look carefully
to see whether there werepedestrians crossing

61%

4

Driverʼs error
Vehicle doesn’tslow down

Driver doesn’t
confirm safety

I need to
cross the road!

1 Introduction  P2
2 Trends in AOCP fatalities and fatality rate  P3
3 What kind of people are involved in AOCP?  P3
4 What situations lead to fatal AOCP?  P4* These graphs show the percentages of primary parties
who caused fatal accidents through obstruction of crossing
pedestrian on uninterrupted road sections between Y2008
and 2012.

5 Case studies of accidents  P7

6 Summary  P8≉㞟☜ㄆࡋࡼ࠺ᶓ᩿Ṍ㐨ࠉ㹼ࠕᶓ᩿Ṍ⾜⪅ጉᐖ㐪཯ࠖ࡟ࡼࡿ஦ᨾศᯒ㹼

1 Introduction‫ڦ‬Definition of obstruction of crossing pedestrian
Article 38 of the Road Traffic Law provides generous safety provisions which focus on protecting andprioritizing pedestrians at pedestrian crossings as shown in the following diagram. In particular, road
users should note that in the case of (1) to (3) below, the obligations set out are imposed on drivers
regardless of whether the pedestrian crossing in question is equipped with traffic signals. Violations ofArticle 38 of the Road Traffic Law are considered as “obstruction of crossing pedestrian.”
When a vehicle approaches a pedestrian crossing(1) The driver does notknow if a pedestrianis crossing or about
to cross(2) There is apedestrian crossing
or about to cross(3) There is definitely
no pedestriancrossing or about
to cross(4) There is another vehicle
parked at or immediately
before the pedestrian crossing(excluding cases when
the signal is green)

Proceed at a speed
allowing you to stop
immediately before thecrossing if necessary

Make a temporarystop immediately
before the pedestriancrossing

You may pass throughthe pedestriancrossing only under
the above conditions

Pass alongside theparked vehicle andthen make a temporarystop immediately before
the pedestrian crossing‫ڦ‬Number of AOCP fatalities(pedestrian fatalities due to accidents caused by obstruction of crossing pedestrian)Fig. 1 shows numbers of pedestrian fatalities by the type of Road Traffic Law violation attributable to thedriver. Of the 7,627 pedestrians killed during the five-year period from Y2008 to 2012, 14% (1,064) losttheir lives as secondary parties (i.e., little or no fault is attributable to the pedestrian) in obstruction ofcrossing pedestrian accidents. When one considers that obstruction of crossing pedestrian applies only
to pedestrian crossings (in contrast to violation of the duty to drive safely which applies to drivers on allparts of the road), the numbers of pedestrians killed by obstruction of crossing pedestrian are very highindeed. In this issue of ITARDA Information, we will analyze the factors behind the accidents in whichthese 1,064 pedestrians lost their lives.
Violation of speed limit
256

Tailgating
328

3.4%

4.3%

Ignoring traffic signals
121

Violation of duty to proceedsafely at intersections
455

6.0%

Obstruction ofcrossing pedestrian
1,064

14.0%

1.6%
Other
221
Violations of duty to drive safely
5,182

2.9%

67.9%

Fig. 1: Pedestrian fatalities by type of Road Traﬃc Law violation by drivers
ITARDA INFORMATION no.100

ITARDA INFORMATION no.100

2 Trends in AOCP fatalities and fatality rate
As Fig. 2 shows, although the number of AOCP fatalities decreased for several years up to Y2011 in linewith overall traffic fatalities, it increased sharply in Y2012 along with the fatality rate as a percentage of
total fatalities.

231

（％）
20

235

210

16

188

Fatalities

14
150

12
10

100

4.4%

4.2%

No. of AOCP fatalities

18

200

200

4.1%

8

5.3%

4.0%

6

50

Fatality rate

(Fatalities)
250

AOCP fatality rate
as percentage of total
no. of fatalities

4
2

0

0
2008

2009

2010

2011

*Total fatalities: 1,0642012

Fig. 2: Trends in AOCP fatalities and fatality rate

3 What kind of people are involved in AOCP?
‫ڦ‬Majority of the fatal pedestrians are elderly, while majority of drivers are not
Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 show the number of AOCP fatalities by the age of driver (primary party) and age ofpedestrian (secondary party) respectively. The breakdown by driver age reveals drivers aged 20-69 to
be the largest group; meanwhile, among pedestrians, elderly people occupy the highest percentage
and the older the pedestrian the higher the fatality rate (no of fatalities / no. of casualties). Since thehighly vulnerable elderly people are more often injured in AOCP (Accident caused by obstruction ofcrossing pedestrian), driver must drive carefully with the needs of the elderly in mind when they arearound pedestrian crossings.

70~79

60~69

50~59

40~49

30~39

20~29

Fig. 3: AOCP fatalities
by age group of vehicle drivers

80 or overBy age19 or under

0

250

5

No. of fatalities

200

4

165

3

150
100
50

2

72
30

11

13

1

20

0

0

By age8

Fatality rate
(No. of fatalities / No. of casualties)

18

9

6

Fatality rate

80 or over

32

300

70~79

50

（％）

7

60~69

89

100

364

350

50~59

161 156

150

400

40~49

196

187

389

30~39

No. of drivers

200

n=1,064

20~29

225

(Fatalities)450

19 or undern=1,064

No. of fatal pedestrians(Drivers)
250

Fig. 4: AOCP fatalities
by age group of pedestrians
ITARDA INFORMATION no.100≉㞟☜ㄆࡋࡼ࠺ᶓ᩿Ṍ㐨ࠉ㹼ࠕᶓ᩿Ṍ⾜⪅ጉᐖ㐪཯ࠖ࡟ࡼࡿ஦ᨾศᯒ㹼4 What situations lead to fatal AOCP?
‫ڦ‬Location and vehicle typeFig. 5 shows AOCP fatalities by location (intersection or uninterrupted road section). Most AOCP
fatalities occur at intersections; at signalized intersections, 99% of crossing pedestrians were crossing inaccordance with traffic signals when they were killed. As shown in Fig. 6, 99% of those who caused
AOCP fatalities were driving four-wheeled vehicles at the time.

Vicinity of intersections 41

4%

n=1,064

Unsignalized intersections 412

Signalized intersections 524

39%

49%

Uninterrupted road section 87

8%

Fig. 5: AOCP fatalities by type of location
Motorcycles 121%n=1,064

Four-wheeled vehicles
1,052

99%
Fig. 6: AOCP fatalities by type of vehicle‫ڦ‬Time of day
Fig. 7 shows the numbers of AOCP fatalities and the fatality rate by the time slots when the accidents
occur. As the graph shows, the number of fatalities is more in the twilight hours of 17:00-18:00, while thefatality rate is the highest in the 1:00-4:00 time slot when the traffic is less. Pedestrians are generally
harder to spot from vehicles during the twilight hours because of the lighting level and changes in theappearance of colors, while drivers during the low-traffic period often fail to pay proper attention to theroad, believing that “nobody is likely to be crossing because there aren't usually any pedestrians at thistime.” Drivers need to pay particular attention to confirming safety at these times.
Twilight time
250

7.6%

7.6%

Late-night200

No. of fatalities

n=1,064

235

160

No. of fatalities

7％

Fatality rate

6％
5％

140

150

100

78

50

82

81

82

4％

101

3％

42

30
11

2％

22

1％
0％

Fig. 7: AOCP fatalities and fatality rate by time
ITARDA INFORMATION no.100

23:00-24:00

21:00-22:00

19:00-20:00

17:00-18:00

15:00-16:00

13:00-14:00

11:00-12:00

9:00-10:00

7:00-8:00

5:00-6:00

3:00-4:00

1:00-2:00

0

Time

8％

Fatality rate

(Fatalities)

ITARDA INFORMATION no.100‫ڦ‬Vehicle maneuver during daytime and nighttime
Fig. 8 shows the AOCP fatalities by their time of occurrence (daytime or nighttime) and by vehicle
maneuver. For fatal accidents in the daytime a higher percentage are with vehicles turning right at anintersection, while at nighttime vehicles moving straight ahead comprise a higher percentage. When we
combine the figures for daytime and nighttime, approximately 80% of all fatalities result from accidents
with vehicles turning right or moving straight ahead.

0％

7.8%

Total

81 Fatalities

20％

40％

60％

41.6%

39.1%

457 Fatalities

n=1,064100％

80％

398 Fatalities

Turning left
at intersection

11.5%

128 Fatalities

Turning rightat intersection
DaytimeNighttime

59.3%

9.3%

6.1%

23.4%

24.0%

54.7%

Moving straightat intersection

7.3%

Moving straighton uninterrupted
road section

15.8%

Fig. 8: AOCP fatalities by daytime/nighttime and type of vehicle maneuver‫ڦ‬Driver’s error
Fig. 9 shows the incidence of the following driver’s error for fatal AOCP.
- “Delay in spotting pedestrian”: The driver failed to notice the other party altogether or only spotted
him/her immediately before the accident- “Error of judgment etc.”: The driver recognized danger but failed to take the necessary measures- “Error of vehicle operation”: Inappropriate vehicle operations were undertaken
As the graph shows, accidents caused by a delay in spotting pedestrians made up over 80% of those on
uninterrupted road sections and more than 90% of those at intersections. The fact that only a very small
number of accidents are caused by “error of judgment etc.,” (where the driver spotted the crossing
pedestrian before the accident) suggests that in a high percentage of accidents, drivers themselves are
failing to confirm safety beforehand by checking whether there are pedestrians trying to cross.

Delay inspotting pedestrian

Moving straighton uninterrupted
road section

86.8%

Moving straightat intersection

93.3%

6.4%

0.3%

Turning rightat intersection

96.6%

2.4%

1.0%

Turning left
at intersection

94.8%

3.9%

1.3%

13.2%

Error of judgment etc.
Error ofvehicle operation

0％

20％

40％

60％

80％

100％

Fig. 9: AOCP fatalities by type of vehicle maneuver and driverʼs error
ITARDA INFORMATION no.100≉㞟☜ㄆࡋࡼ࠺ᶓ᩿Ṍ㐨ࠉ㹼ࠕᶓ᩿Ṍ⾜⪅ጉᐖ㐪཯ࠖ࡟ࡼࡿ஦ᨾศᯒ㹼‫ڦ‬Vehicle maneuver and pedestrian direction
Fig. 10 shows numbers of AOCP fatalities by the vehicle and pedestrian movement directions. When webreak down the numbers of pedestrian fatalities by each type of direction, it is evident that vehicles
turning to the left or right are more likely to get into fatal accidents with pedestrians crossing from thedriver’s left-hand side; meanwhile, for vehicles proceeding straight ahead, fatal accidents withpedestrians crossing from the driver’s right-hand side are commoner.
The Road Traffic Accident Statistics by National Police Agency suggests the following general trends:                                       
A possible reason for this is that drivers get into the habit of not confirming safety of the side on which
they do not feel the danger in their everyday driving; this suggests that drivers themselves need to pay
better attention and make sure that they do not fall into this habit.

234 fatalities

27 fatalities

50 fatalities

179 fatalities(1) Turning left

(2) Turning right

67 fatalities

174 fatalities

44 fatalities

103 fatalities(3) Moving straight (intersection)

44 fatalities

70 fatalities(4) Moving straight (uninterrupted road section)

Fig. 10: Fatalities by vehicle maneuver and pedestrian direction

Note:࣭ In Japan, traffic keeps to the left side of the road (left-hand traffic).
࣭“Uninterrupted road section” includes the vicinities of intersections.
࣭The reference diagrams portray the vehicles as four-wheeled vehicles; however, the statistics includes
motorcycles as well.
࣭These diagrams portray the road and accident situations of typical accidents as reference diagrams.
࣭The total figures for vehicle movement directions set out in Fig. 9 include illegal crossing by pedestrians as wellas the movements shown in Fig. 10.
ITARDA INFORMATION no.100

ITARDA INFORMATION no.100

5 Case studies of accidents
This section will describe two obstruction of crossing pedestrian accidents. These are examples ofaccidents in which “driving on routes the driver is accustomed to” and “less traffic” played a role, and may
have led to the driver getting into the habit of not bothering to confirm whether there are pedestrians
waiting to cross. We suggest that readers try putting themselves into the position of these drivers, and ask
themselves whether they have ever fallen into the same habits as those which led to these accidents.
[Outline of Accident]

Accident 1

Pedestrian B

At around 18:00 in March, Driver A (a man in his 40s) was
driving his minivan at a speed of approximately 40km/h
towards the intersection that was the scene of the accident andpreparing to enter the intersection. During this time, he had hiseyes on the bridge and buildings ahead of him in the distance.
As he moved straight into the intersection in an aimlessmanner without confirming whether pedestrians were trying tocross, he collided with Pedestrian B (a man in his 70s) who
was crossing the road from the driver’s right to the left.

[Casualties]
Pedestrian B was killed by fractures of the rib and pelvis dueto the impact of the collision.

[Testimony of Driver A]
The road where the accident occurred is one I go throughalmost every day on my way to work; I know the roadconditions around this intersection well including the fact that
there are no signals and there’s a pedestrian crossing. The
accident occurred in the evening when the light was dim, andmy headlights were on (lowered).
When I was passing through the intersection, the road wasquiet with no vehicles in front of me or coming towards me,
so I kept my eyes on the road ahead in the far distance as I
drove. At this moment, I noticed someone crossing the roadand immediately slammed on the brakes, but too late--I
knocked him over. Because I hadn’t checked whether there
were people trying to cross, I didn’t notice the pedestrian untilright before the accident.

Driver A[Outline of Accident]

Accident 2

At around 17:00 in the evening in January, Driver A (a woman
in her 30s) turned her regular passenger vehicle to the right
into an intersection. Because she proceeded without
confirming whether there were people trying to cross, she
collided with Pedestrian B (a man in his 50s).

[Casualties]
Pedestrian B was seriously injured, suffering fractures to thebones in his legs in the collision.

[Testimony of Driver A]
Pedestrian B

The road where the accident occurred is one I go throughevery day on my way to work. When I turned to the right, I
didn’t check whether there were people trying to crossbecause I had things on my mind and I almost neverencounter pedestrians at that intersection. My headlights
were on, but I didn’t notice the pedestrian until right before I
hit him.

Driver A

ITARDA INFORMATION no.100

Do you know about the ‫ ۍ‬mark that you sometimes see on the
road?

25
7

This mark means “Pedestrian crossing ahead.”
One reason why drivers may fail to stop for a pedestrian who istrying to cross the road is that they only notice the pedestrianwhen he/she is immediately in front of the vehicle and are thus
unable to stop in time.
However, seeing the ‫ ۍ‬mark gives the driver ample time toconfirm safety, ensuring that he or she can stop the vehicle in time
if there is a pedestrian who is trying to cross.
㸦<XVXNH+D\DVKL㸧‫ە‬ᙜࢭࣥࢱ࣮は、平成４年（１９９２年）に国家公安委員会、運輸省（当時）、建設省（当時）から設立許可を受けて、公益法人として設立されました。
その後平成２４年（２０１２年）
４月に公益財団法人に移行しました。
我が国で唯一道路交通法の定める
ࠕ஺㏻஦ᨾㄪᰝศᯒࢭࣥࢱ࣮ࠖࡢᣦᐃࢆᅜᐙබᏳጤဨ఍࠿ࡽཷࡅࡓ
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࠾ၥྜࡏඛ‫ࢺ࢖ࢧࣈ࢙࢘ە‬KWWSZZZLWDUGDRUMSࠉ‫࣮࣓ࣝ(ە‬NRKR#LWDUGDRUMS
つくば 交通事故調査事務所

ITARDA INFORMATION no.100

No.100

公益財団法人 交通事故総合分析センター(1) Even when the traffic signal is green, confirm the safety of the pedestrian crossing and its
vicinity before proceeding.
(There may be elderly pedestrians who have not managed to get to the other side of the road.
There may also be pedestrians who have decided to dash across the street at the moment
when the pedestrian signal changes from green to red.)(2) Even if nobody is actually crossing the road, stop your vehicle if there are any pedestrians
waiting to cross over.
(Article 38 of the Road Traffic Law stipulates that pedestrians have priority at pedestriancrossings.)(3) If there are any pedestrians crossing the road, stop your vehicle. Do not keep driving on the
grounds that “I can get through before they reach me.” Even after the pedestrians
immediately in front of your vehicle have crossed the road and reached the other side, do notstart driving through the crossing right away; pause for a moment and confirm safety carefully
once again before you start driving through the crossing.
(A pedestrian may suddenly backtrack, or another pedestrian may suddenly dash out in frontof your vehicle.)

ITARDA INFORMATION

Our analysis of obstruction of crossing pedestrian accidents has indicated that such
accidents are characterized by certain features, such as “Drivers are mostly failing toconfirm safety or failing to confirm safety properly” and “There are differences in how
thoroughly safety is being confirmed to the left and right.” These results suggest that somedrivers do not fully recognize that pedestrians have priority according to the Road Traffic
Law, leading them to drive in an aimless manner. We urge drivers to think again about therole of pedestrian crossings as “sacred spaces for pedestrians,” and to put the following
points into practice.

஺㏻஦ᨾศᯒ࣏ࣞ勖ࢺ

6 Summary