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Author \ Business Today
Do you habitually walk on the left or the right? A research team led by Associate Professor Bai Zhiwei from the Injury Prevention and Control Research Institute at Taipei Medical University found that when pedestrians walk on roads without sidewalks, walking on the left “against traffic” significantly reduces the fatality rate in accidents compared to walking on the right.
Analyzing police data on pedestrian traffic accidents from 2011 to 2016 and excluding cases involving complex intersections, Bai Zhiwei’s team found that 14,382 pedestrians across Taiwan had been hit by motor vehicles on the road. Among them, 10,749 walked in the same direction as traffic, accounting for 74.7%, while 3,633 walked against traffic, making up 25.3%. Further analysis of 199 fatal accidents showed that 164 victims were walking with traffic, while only 35 were walking against it—indicating that walking with traffic carried about a 1.2x higher risk of fatality than walking against it.
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Bai Zhiwei’s team pointed out that walking against traffic has two major advantages: first, pedestrians can see the movement of oncoming vehicles, and second, it increases the driver’s reaction time upon noticing a pedestrian,giving drivers more time to slow down and reduce the severity of potential injuries. This is especially important in dimly lit areas, where walking against traffic is safer.
Many people in Taiwan believe that pedestrians should walk on the right, but in fact, Taiwan’s “Road Traffic Safety Rules” do not specify the direction pedestrians should walk in—they only require pedestrians to “walk close to the edge.” In recent years, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications has also begun promoting the idea that pedestrians should walk on the left, facing oncoming traffic, as this is the safest approach.
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Bai Zhiwei’s team believes that compared to places like Florida in the U.S., where it is legally mandated that pedestrians walk against traffic, Taiwan should also enhance awareness of the benefits and importance of this practice, and pilot walking against traffic in areas outside urban centers that lack sidewalks, gradually moving toward legislation.
[Business Today] Authorized republication. Original article titled [Walking on the right is too dangerous!Research finds: Fatality rate 1.2x higher than walking against traffic]
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