Running Safely
Avoiding dangerous drivers and other hazards of the road
Many of us turn to running for its multiple health and stress relief benefits. Ironically, for a few hundred unlucky runners each year, it turns out to be fatal. And for over a thousand others, running causes more stress and physical damage than it’s worth. In a world of air pollution, belligerent or inattentive drivers, and erratic cyclists, we sometimes have to wonder about the safety of our beloved sport. After looking at the risks we face while running, you’ll wonder why more of us don’t succumb to harmful accidents.
 Moving Vehicles and Aggressive Drivers
The incidence of runners being hit by cars is far higher than you imagine. A 1981 survey found that 0.6 percent of runners who responded had suffered injuries from being hit by cars, and the rest of us can remember those near misses when we nearly got skittled by a car coming out of a driveway when the driver wasn’t looking. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 69,000 pedestrians are injured each year, with 4,500 of that number being fatalities. Almost certainly over 1,000 of these injured pedestrians are runners and joggers.
The statistics also show that males bear the brunt of pedestrian fatalities (70 percent), and here’s another statistic that will curl your toes: 36 percent of pedestrian fatalities involve drunk drivers.
Some Traffic Safety Points to Ponder
I recently picked up a great little running book by John Schubert, who has some interesting observations about running and traffic from a motorist’s point of view. First, he says, you can minimize your risk of being hit by a vehicle while running by realizing that as a runner, you don’t fit the pattern of vehicular behavior. Runners can appear from anywhere around the car, while the driver is only scanning 180 degrees in front and to the sides of his car. The driver expects only to see other cars or motorcycles, not runners.
Schubert also points out that not all motorists are hostile even when their driving appears to be dangerous. Drivers may be reluctant to swerve abruptly if the road is wet, or it may be raining, or foggy, and they simply cannot see you until they’re right on you. They may misjudge the width of their car when passing you, or are just oblivious to your preference for having some space between their car and your body (especially true for non-runners–they have no idea of what it’s like to be facing an oncoming car).
Now that you see how easy it is for accidents to happen with an alert driver, think about the damage a negligent driver can do. When drivers are distracted by talking on a cell phone or to a passenger, or by rowdy kids, or moving dogs, or speeding, their chances of making a driving error increase significantly. And the runner is often the recipient of this negligence, at great physical cost.
It comes as a shock to many runners to realize that they do not own the road. Runners should understand that whether the car is in the right or wrong, they will not win an altercation with a moving vehicle weighing several thousand pounds.
— By Roy Stevenson
Contributing editor Roy Stevenson has a master’s degree in exercise physiology and coaching from Ohio University. He teaches exercise science at Seattle University in Washington State and has coached hundreds of serious and recreational runners and triathletes. Roy-stevenson.com.
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