4.5 Driver Training

The purpose of pedestrian safety-related driver training is to increase the sensitivity of drivers to the presence of pedestrians and their shared responsibility as drivers to prevent crashes and enhance the safety of all road users, including pedestrians. Specifications for driver education curricula, typically a State requirement, can be adjusted to include more specific information on pedestrians as part of the traffic environment, right-of-way laws for drivers and pedestrians in relation to one another, high-risk behaviors in relation to pedestrian/motorist crash types, and key ways drivers can avoid being involved in such crashes.

Effectiveness Concerns: Driver training alone has not been shown to reduce overall crash rates. There is no evidence indicating that this countermeasure is effective. However, driving skill begins with knowledge education and then practicing defensive driving in relation to all other types of traffic, including pedestrians.

Further information about the known research, potential effectiveness, costs, use, and time to implement is available in Appendix A8, Section 4.5.

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