Electric and hybrid cars are twice as likely to hit pedestrians compared to petrol or diesel vehicles, according to a new study. The research, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, analyzed casualty rates on UK roads between 2013 and 2017. The findings indicated that collisions with pedestrians were twice more likely with electric and hybrid vehicles than with petrol and diesel vehicles, and three times as likely in urban areas.
The study used data from 916,713 incidents involving casualties and calculated the average annual pedestrian casualty rate per 100 million miles of road travel. The rate was 5.16 for electric and hybrid vehicles and 2.40 for petrol and diesel vehicles. The analysis included 32 billion miles of electric/hybrid vehicle travel and 3 trillion miles of petrol/diesel vehicle travel.
The researchers suggested that electric and hybrid vehicles may pose more of a safety hazard to pedestrians because they are quieter, particularly in urban areas where background ambient noise levels are higher. They also suggested that younger, less experienced drivers are more likely to be involved in a road traffic collision and are also more likely to own an electric car.
The study’s authors called for mitigating these risks as governments proceed to phase out petrol and diesel cars. They also noted that road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young people, and one in four road traffic deaths are of pedestrians.
Read more: www.theguardian.com