Walking great exercise but be wary on streets

This situation is considered an intersection because the kerb is returned making it a road. Therefore, pedestrians should treat this as though crossing a road and give way to vehicles

Walking may be the best exercise but being a pedestrian carries risk in the big city.

Let's assume you're already a savvy pedestrian, for example, avoiding darkened areas where you may trip or be mugged; or walking beside motorway on-ramps at rush-hour, where air pollution levels can cause respiratory problems.

For Aucklanders, that still leaves the challenge of crossing roads in a city of more than a million cars.

Pedestrian crashes made up only 12 per cent of injury crashes in Auckland during the past five years, but they provided about 18 per cent of the fatal and serious injuries.

Poor observation and failure to give way were most commonly to blame.

Pedestrian right-of-way: In this situation, a driver entering or exiting a driveway like this (parking building) must give way to pedestrians on the footpath. The footpath continues and is not broken by a kerb.

The bulk of these crashes involved a pedestrian hit by a vehicle approaching from their right, crossing the road (654 crashes).

Forty-one per cent of the crashes were at intersections and 27 per cent occurred at night; teenagers and young adults were most commonly the victims.

Of 1640 injury crashes involving pedestrians, 52 were fatal, 393 involved serious injury and 1246 caused minor injuries.

The primary causes of injury were walking heedless of traffic (394), running heedless of traffic (445) and stepping out from behind vehicles (175).

Auckland CBD had the highest number of pedestrian injury crashes (45 per cent), with Queen St, K Rd and Hobson St the most dangerous areas.

Auckland Transport recommends pedestrians observe the following:

* When crossing the road, always check before you step. Too often pedestrians involved in crashes are distracted by mobile phones and music devices. Also, be alert in car parks;

* Watch for reversing vehicles; use identified walking areas and avoid crossing between parked cars. If you can't avoid crossing between unoccupied vehicles, stop at the outside corners of vehicles and look in both directions before crossing. Never cross in front of buses.

Footpaths

* Always use a footpath where provided, rather than risk walking on the road;

* Watch and listen for vehicles entering or exiting driveways, especially sneaky driveways concealed by high fences and hedges;

* Where there is no footpath, walk on the road facing oncoming traffic;

* If you have a problem with the maintenance of an Auckland footpath, for example, it has cracks, breaks or bumps in the pavement, potholes or water pooling on its surface, please contact Auckland Council.

Tips for motorists

* When driving, slow down around town centres to reduce the risk and severity of crashes involving pedestrians;

* Recognise that children are particularly vulnerable.

Pedestrian right-of-way

Pedestrians have the right-of-way over vehicles on footpaths. They also have priority over vehicles, when vehicles are entering or exiting a driveway across a footpath.
But the decision about whether an area is a driveway or an intersection is not always clear (see photos).

In practice, if the entrance to the driveway looks like a road and not a continuation of the footpath, it should be treated as though you are crossing a road and pedestrians must give way to vehicles.

'J walking'

Above all, remember that while it is easy to do so, "J walk", this can put you at risk.

"J walking" means walking across a street in violation of traffic law, especially by crossing outside of a marked pedestrian crossing at an intersection.

For example, it is illegal to cross the road within 20 metres of any pedestrian zebra or signalised crossing.

It is also very unsafe, so take a few extra steps to walk to the crossing.
So, if you are closer than 20 metres to a crossing you must use it.

For more information - visit: at.govt.nz/cycling-walking/pedestrian-safety/#tips