Traffic Safety Facts 

Research Note 

September 2003 DOT HS 809 640 

Child Pedestrian Fatality Rates by Striking Vehicle Body Type: 

A Comparison of Passenger Cars, Sport Utility Vehicles, Pickups, and Vans 

Marc Starnes and Anders Longthorne* 

Background 

NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) recently 

completed an examination of data 

from the Fatality Analysis Reporting 

System (FARS) comparing pedestrian fatality rates for the two fiveyear time periods of 1992-1996 and 

1997-2001. Rates were stratified 

according to the body type of the 

striking vehicle. 

4-7, 8-15, and 16 years and older. 

Data from FARS for the period 1992 

through 2001 were used, and these 

data were separated into two fiveyear time periods (1992-1996 and 

1997-2001). 

R.L. Polk data on registered vehicles 

were used to determine fatality 

rates per million registered vehicleyears. The annual counts for the 

numbers of pedestrian fatalities and 

for all ages combined. 

Vehicle registration was chosen as 

the measure of exposure in order 

to account for the large shift seen 

in the distribution of vehicles. From 

1992-1996 to 1997-2001, the number 

of passenger car vehicle-years rose 

4 percent, while the number of sport 

utility vehicle-years rose 69 percent. 

Registered vehicle-years was chosen 

over vehicle miles traveled as the 

This research note focuses on child 

pedestrian fatalities, examining the 

age groups 0-3, 4-7, and 8-15 years 

old. The age group of 16 years and 

older is included for the purpose of 

comparison. 

the numbers of registered vehicleyears were combined for each fiveyear time period. In order to determine 

an annual fatality rate for each 

five-year time period, the sum of 

the pedestrian fatalities was divided 

by the sum of the registered vehiclemeasure of exposure because data 

on vehicle miles traveled, stratified 

into passenger cars, sport utility 

vehicles, pickups, and vans, are 

not available. 

Results 

From 1992 through 2001, a total of years. 

Pedestrian fatality rates per million 

6679 pedestrian fatalities occurred 

among children aged 0-15 years 

old. This number represents 12.6 

percent of all pedestrian fatalities 

over that ten-year time period. 

Methodology 

The wider age ranges (i.e. age 

16 and older) had higher pedestrian 

fatality rates than the narrower 

age ranges (i.e. 0 to 3 years old) 

because the number of registered 

vehicle-years was used repeatedly 

as a measure of exposure for each 

registered vehicle-years (MRVY) 

were calculated for two five-year time 

periods, 1992-1996 and 1997-2001. 

These rates have declined across 

all 16 combinations of the four age 

groups and four striking vehicle body 

types, as shown in Table 1. 

Pedestrian fatalities among four age range. The pedestrian fatality Passenger cars had the biggest 

categories of striking vehicle body rates for each age range were decline in pedestrian fatality rates 

type were examined: passenger calculated by dividing the number among each of the four age 

cars, sport utility vehicles, pickups, of fatalities in that age range by the groups. The decline in pedestrian 

and vans. The pedestrians were number of registered vehicle-years fatality rates that occurred when a 

stratified into four age groups: 0-3, 

*Marc Starnes and Anders Longthorne are Mathematical Statisticians in the Mathematical Analysis Division, National Center for Statistics and Analysis, NHTSA. 

National Center for Statistics and Analysis 400 Seventh St., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590 
was the striking vehicle was nearly 

twice as large as the decline in fatality 

rates seen among the three other 

vehicle body types combined. For 

all ages combined, the pedestrian 

fatality rate among passenger cars 

was 22.2 percent lower from 1997-

2001 than from 1992-1996. 

Pickups and sport utility vehicles 

had the second and third largest 

decreases respectively in pedestrian 

fatality rates among all four of the 

age groups. For all ages combined, 

the pedestrian fatality rate among 

pickups was 15.8 percent lower from 

1997-2001 than from 1992–1996, 

compared with an 11.4 percent drop 

in the fatality rate among pedestrians 

struck by sport utility vehicles. 

Vans were the vehicle body type that 

had the smallest decline in pedestrian 

fatality rates among all four age 

groups. For all ages, the pedestrian 

fatality rate among vans was only 1.8 

percent lower during the time period 

1997-2001 than during 1992-1996, 

as vans had the highest pedestrian 

fatality rate for 1997-2001. 

There were not enough pedestrian 

fatalities involving 15 passenger 

vans to allow for the cases to be 

stratified according to the age of the 

fatally injured pedestrian. For all ages 

combined, the number of fatalities 

dropped slightly, from 77 fatalities 

during 1992-1996, to 74 fatalities 

during 1997-2001. This decline 

parallels the decline seen among all 

vans. 

As shown above in Table 1, children 

age 4 to 7 years old experienced the 

largest drop, and the 0 to 3 year-old 

age group had the second largest 

drop in pedestrian fatality rates for 

all four striking vehicle body types. 

The pedestrian fatality rates among 

children under 8 years old dropped 

Table 1 

Pedestrian Fatality Rates per Million Registered Vehicle-Years (MRVY) 

By Striking Vehicle Body Type and Age of Pedestrian 

1992-1996 versus 1997-2001 

Source: National Center for Statistics and Analysis, NHTSA, FARS 1992-2001 

*Percentage change calculated prior to rounding of individual rates. 

Striking Vehicle 

Body Type Year 

Age of Pedestrian Fatality (years) 

0 – 3 4 - 7 8 - 15 16 and 

older 

All Ages 

Passenger Cars 

1992-1996 

1997-2001 

% change* 

0.76 

0.44 

-42.1 % 

1.19 

0.61 

-49.2 % 

1.82 

1.14 

-37.2 % 

21.59 

17.54 

-18.8 % 

25.59 

19.90 

-22.2 % 

Sport Utility 

Vehicles 

1992-1996 

1997-2001 

% change* 

0.80 

0.62 

-22.7 % 

1.57 

1.13 

-28.0 % 

1.80 

1.66 

-7.7 % 

22.12 

19.88 

-10.1 % 

26.47 

23.44 

-11.4 % 

Pickups 

1992-1996 

1997-2001 

% change* 

0.98 

0.68 

-31.0 % 

1.18 

0.79 

-33.1 % 

1.92 

1.43 

-25.4 % 

23.16 

20.07 

-13.3 % 

27.48 

23.15 

-15.8 % 

Vans 

1992-1996 

1997-2001 

% change* 

0.86 

0.79 

-8.6 % 

1.26 

1.04 

-17.5 % 

1.80 

1.78 

-1.4 % 

21.90 

21.80 

-0.4 % 

26.05 

25.58 

-1.8 % 

a far greater percentage than the 

fatality rates of pedestrians age 16 

and older. 

Table 2 below compares the 

pedestrian fatality rates (per MRVY) 

for the four striking vehicle body type 

categories. These comparisons are 

made separately within each age 

group for the five-year time period 

1997-2001. For each of the age 

groups in Table 2, the pedestrian 

fatality rate where the striking vehicle 

is a passenger car is the lowest 

Table 2 

fatality rate of the four striking vehicle 

body types. 

Passenger cars were categorized 

in Table 2 as the baseline striking 

vehicle group for each age category 

and were therefore assigned a 

baseline relative risk of 1.0. Table 2 

shows the relative risks for pedestrian 

fatalities in each age category where 

the striking vehicles were passenger 

cars, sport utility vehicles, pickups, 

and vans. 

Relative Risk of Pedestrian Fatality Rates per Million Registered Vehicle-Years (MRVY) 

With Passenger Cars As Baseline for Each Age Group 

By Striking Vehicle Body Type and Age of Pedestrian 

1997-2001 

Source: National Center for Statistics and Analysis, NHTSA, FARS 1997-2001 

Striking Vehicle Body Type 

Age of Pedestrian Fatality (years) 

0 – 3 4 - 7 8 - 15 16 and older All Ages 

Passenger Cars 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 

Sport Utility Vehicles 1.42 1.87 1.46 1.13 1.18 

Pickups 1.54 1.30 1.26 1.15 1.16 

Vans 1.79 1.71 1.55 1.24 1.29 

National Center for Statistics and Analysis 400 Seventh St., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590 
Given that sport utility vehicles, pickups, and vans are likely to be more 

highly elevated than passenger cars, a 

note-worthy pattern emerges among 

these pedestrian fatality rates 

(per MRVY). Table 2 shows that sport 

utility vehicles, pickups, and vans 

have relative risks for child pedestrians under 8 years old that range 

from 1.30 up to 1.87, while the relative 

risk for pedestrians age 16 and older 

is below 1.25 for all body types. 

This difference may be due to the 

hypothesis that younger pedestrians 

are more likely to be struck by higher 

elevated vehicles than by passenger 

cars because drivers of the more 

highly elevated vehicles are more 

likely to have their view of the smaller 

children obstructed. 

Among children 0 to 3 years old, 

the pedestrian fatality rate from 

sport utility vehicles had a relative 

risk of 1.42 compared to passenger 

cars. Similarly, the relative risk from 

pickups and vans are 1.54 and 1.79 

respectively compared to passenger 

cars. This shows that from 1997 

through 2001, sport utility vehicles, 

pickups, and vans fatally injured 

child pedestrians age 0 to 3 years 

old at a higher rate than passenger 

cars. 

A similar pattern is seen when examining the pedestrian fatality rates by 

striking vehicle body type among 

children 4 to 7 years old. Child pedestrians 4 to 7 years old were fatally 

injured by sport utility vehicles, pickups, 

and vans at a higher rate per million 

registered vehicle-years than the rate 

seen among passenger cars. 

Child pedestrians age 4 to 7 years 

old had a relative risk from sport utility 

vehicles that was 1.87 compared to 

passenger cars, suggesting that the 

pedestrian fatality rate per MRVY 

among sport utility vehicles is nearly 

twice high as the pedestrian fatality 

rate among passenger cars. 

As pedestrians grow older, their fatality rates among the four striking 

vehicle body types are more homogeneous than the fatality rates for 

children in the 0 to 3 year old and 

4 to 7 year old age ranges. For 

pedestrians age 16 and older, the 

pedestrian fatality rates where the 

striking vehicle is a sport utility 

vehicle, pickup, or van have relative 

risks of 1.13, 1.15, and 1.24 respectively compared to passenger cars 

(see Table 2). 

Conclusions 

Based on crash data recorded in 

the FARS database, the following conclusions can be made 

regarding the relationship between 

pedestrian fatality rates and the body 

type of the striking vehicle. 

Pedestrian fatality rates have declined across all 16 combinations 

of the four age groups (0-3, 4-7, 

8-15, and 16 years and older) 

and four striking vehicle body 

types (passenger cars, sport 

utility vehicles, pickups, and vans) 

included in this study. 

The largest drop in pedestrian 

fatality rates for all four striking vehicle body types was experienced 

by children age 4 to 7 years old. 

Rates dropped the most for all 

four age groups when the striking 

vehicle was a passenger car, while 

these rates dropped the least when 

the striking vehicle was a van. 

Sport utility vehicles, pickups, and 

vans fatally injured pedestrians at 

a higher rate than passenger cars 

during the period 1997-2001, with 

the greatest difference seen 

among children under 8 years 

old. This trend may be attributable 

to the greater size of sport utility 

vehicles, pickups, and vans, and/ 

or the frontal configuration of these 

vehicles which does not allow 

smaller pedestrians who are being 

struck to roll up onto the vehicle. 

The drivers of higher elevated 

vehicles with a larger frontal 

configuration also may be more 

likely to have their view of smaller 

child pedestrians obstructed. 

NCSA will continue to monitor these 

issues and report new findings as 

they become available. 

National Center for Statistics and Analysis 400 Seventh St., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590 
For additional copies of this research note, please call 1-800-934-8517 or fax your request to 

202-366-3189. For questions regarding the data reported in this research, contact Marc Starnes 

(202-366-0183). This research note and other general information on highway traffic safety may 

be accessed by internet users at: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-30/ncsa/ 

AvailInf.html 

National Center for Statistics and Analysis 400 Seventh St., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590