Four percent were struck by left turning vehicles. In 25 percent of all Dutchess County pedestrian injuries, the pedestrian was confused or unaware. Again, proving that while encourage pedestrian traffic, and rightfully so, we must pay extra attention, time and energy toward educating pedestrians, enforcing the law, traffic calming and making intersection improvements. Over 10 percent of injured pedestrians in our community are over age 55. In this group, the danger at marked intersections is equal to crossing without benefit of an intersection.
Extreme caution is needed for seniors who are also likely to be more vulnerable to injury.
At the opposite end are our youth between ages 5 -and 19 years old. In groupings of five years each, the risk of injury is stagnant in correlation with a decrease in group age. Combined, these age groups comprise 20 percent of pedestrian injuries. This denotes a drop of fifteen percentage points from 1996. Our message may be heard in our schools, but our lessons must be taught to drivers and pedestrians out of our education system.