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Pedestrian safety

What is a pedestrian?

A pedestrian is anyone on foot and any person with disabilities traveling in a wheelchair or a mobility device to help individual overcome a disability. In a recent Wisconsin Department of Transportation survey, respondents indicated that nearly 12% of their trips were done by bicycle or on foot-not by car.

Walking is emerging as important for personal health and fitness and as pleasant and relaxing form of transportation. In Wisconsin, where trees and lakes abound, walking can also provide a unique and relaxing way to enjoy the environment that we may miss as we speed by in our automobiles.

Walking is an important part of a healthy lifestyle and can provide a range of benefits. People are healthier and stay healthy longer when they get regular exercise. Physical activity can help prevent heart disease, obesity, and even some types of cancer and diabetes. Exercise such as walking 30 minutes per day can have a positive effect on depression and anxiety and help to improve one's mood.

Pedestrians are still in a world dominated by motorists, however, and collisions with motor vehicles do occur. Some 60 pedestrians are killed each year in Wisconsin, and more than 1,600 suffer injuries. Children ages 5-9 and adults over 75 years old are particularly vulnerable to these collisions. Injury prevention and travel safety begins with a mutual respect between both motorists and pedestrians.

Definition of a pedestrian

We are all pedestrians.

Everyone is a pedestrian at some point in his or her trip, whether it is from doorstep to bus stop, from the parking lot to an office, or taking the dog on a leisurely trip through the neighborhood streets.

Wisconsin law defines a "pedestrian" as "any person afoot or any person in a wheelchair, either manually or mechanically propelled, or other low-powered, mechanically propelled vehicle designed specifically for use by a physically disabled person.

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Photo on this page courtesy of AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

Questions about the content of this page:
Larry Corsi, larry.corsi@dot.state.wi.us
Last modified: October 19, 2004