According to a new study based on 10 years of pedestrian casualty data in England/Wales, minority ethnic people living in poorer areas are three times more likely to be injured or die as pedestrians on the road than white people in affluent districts.

White people in non-deprived areas had an average annual pedestrian casualty rate of 20 in every 100,000 people. For minority groups living in deprived areas, the casualty rate was 62. Both ethnicity and deprivation appeared to play a role, as white people in deprived areas had a casualty rate of 48, and minority groups in affluent areas having a casualty rate of 24.

Levels of car ownership and time spent walking were considered relevant factors, as car ownership rates in affluent suburbs are much higher. Making roads safer for walking by discouraging through traffic, additional traffic calming, and improved crossing facilities would be likely to help. Also, targeting safety improvements in less affluent suburbs with higher rates of pedestrian crashes could be effective.

In NZ, consideration could be given to reviewing pedestrian crashes by suburb, to determine if similar statistics apply. If so, targeted pedestrian crash remediation could be applied in less affluent suburbs.

For more information, see the original Guardian article:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/20/pedestrian-casualties-england-wales-higher-among-bame-people-and-in-poor-areas-study-finds