Electric Vehicles More Likely to Strike Pedestrians Than Gasoline- or Diesel-Powered Automobiles

The BMW i3 on Park Lane in London
Hybrid-battery and electric automobiles are more likely to hit pedestrians than traditional gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles, a new study from researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine suggests, confirming the long-held belief.
Over the past 100 years, pedestrians have learnt to navigate crossing the street by listening for oncoming traffic. Because EVs and hybrids don’t have an internal combustion engine and are powered by one or more electric motors, which are essentially silent, they are much quieter than petrol- and diesel-powered cars. Indeed, electric and hybrid vehicles effectively catch pedestrians unawares because they are harder to hear, especially in urban areas where there is substantial ambient noise.
The study examined data from 32 billion miles (51.5 billion kilometers) of battery-powered car travel and 3 trillion miles (4.8 trillion kilometers) of petrol and diesel car trips. The data revealed that, mile-for-mile, electric and hybrid cars were twice as likely to hit pedestrians than fossil-fuel-powered cars, and three times more likely to do so in urban areas.
“Electric cars are a hazard to pedestrians because they are less likely to be heard than petrol or diesel cars,” Phil Edwards, first author on the study and professor of epidemiology and statistics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, told the newspaper The Guardian. “The government needs to mitigate these risks if they are going to phase out the sale of petrol and diesel cars.”
“If you’re moving to an electric car, remember it’s a new kind of vehicle,” Edwards added. “They are much quieter than the old-fashioned cars, and pedestrians have learned to navigate roads by listening for traffic. Drivers of these vehicles need to be extra cautious.”
It is therefore incumbent on drivers of EVs and hybrids to be more cautious, especially in towns and villages, because, no matter the circumstance, the pedestrian will still have the right of way.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)