Wheelchair users more likely to die of car crash than other pedestrians: report

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In a study published in the journal BMJ Open, researchers have discovered that wheelchair-bound pedestrians are more likely to get into a fatal car accident. Medical Daily says the researchers derived data from two sources: LexisNexis and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System or FARS.

According to the data taken between 2006 and 2012, 2.07 for every 100,000 wheelchair users get into an accident every year. For the general population, it is 1.52 for every 100,000 individuals.

This means individuals on a wheelchair are 36 percent likelier to die in a car accident than the rest of the population. For male wheelchair users between the ages of 50 and 64 years of age, the data says this group can expect 5 fatalities for every 100,000 people annually.

The risk is five times higher for men than in women.

The researchers admit that the figures may be higher as the study does not include similar mobility devices such as scooters. In the case of scooters, it was difficult for the scientists to definitively identify which models were used as mobility devices from recreational vehicles such as mopeds.

In a report by Reuters, University of Pittsburg's Human Engineering Research Laboratories director Rory Cooper also noted that the researchers failed to mention what types of wheelchairs were more susceptible to getting into accidents.
John Kraemer is from Georgetown University's Department of Health Systems Administrations and one of the authors of the study. In an email sent to Reuters he stated, "It is entirely possible that people who use wheelchairs may be at greater risk of death if they are in a pedestrian crash perhaps because drivers are less likely to see them, brake, and collide slower; because being lower to the ground wheelchair users may be hit more squarely; or because some people who use wheelchairs may have pre-existing medical vulnerabilities."

Researchers hope that this data will prompt city planners to create sideways safer for wheelchair users. Drivers should also be more aware while driving and remember that pedestrians have different response times.

In the study, Kraemer and his colleagues included a list of suggestions on what city planners can improve on including "reducing distracted driving and pedestrian activity, improving safe crossing behaviour, reducing incapacitated driving, and improving pedestrian infrastructure."

"Pay attention, stop texting, obey stops and speed limits," Kraemer continued. "But also remember that there are road users like bicyclists and pedestrians like people with disabilities who may not be moving in exactly the same ways they would expect."