New ACT government data has revealed the most dangerous roads to be a pedestrian in Canberra, with East Row and the surrounding area taking out the dishonour, according to six years of data.
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The data has also revealed that the rate of pedestrian accidents in the ACT has fallen since last year, bucking the national trend.
There have been almost 300 incidents with pedestrians in Canberra over the past six years, with more than half resulting in injury to the person. In the same period, there were seven fatal crashes, resulting in the deaths of eight pedestrians.
In 2017 to date, there have been 34 pedestrian crashes, compared with 64 each year for the three years prior.
North Canberra Community Council chairman Denis O'Brien said he wasn't surprised the city was the most hazardous location for pedestrians.
He said in part, it was confusion as to whether that area was a pedestrian plaza or not.
"You come off City Walk, out of a huge pedestrian plaza and hit the bus interchange," he said.
Mr O'Brien said it wasn't uncommon to see near-misses with pedestrians, not only in the city but in the suburbs.
"I nearly got skittled today by somebody," he said.
"They were flying down the straight, screamed around the corner and didn't see me until it was almost too late."
"But it's really not the sort of thing people talk about because it's either an everyday occurrence, or it doesn't matter that much."
Mr O'Brien said it also had to do with motorists being unaware that certain parts of the road rules require them to give way to pedestrians.
"Motorists ignore the rules," he said.
"We as a society fail because we don't re-test people for their understanding of the road rules [when renewing a driver's licence]," he said.
Pedestrian Council of Australia chairman and chief executive Harold Scruby said he was pleased to see a government keeping track of the issue in such a thorough way.
He said the problem with incidents with pedestrians was they typically cost the nation twice as much as car crashes, money that comes from the pockets of every Australian.
"Inside a car there is a good chance you're protected, whereas outside a car there's a chance you'll be very badly hurt," he said.
Mr Scruby said nationally, pedestrians weren't faring so well but Canberra was a city that seemed to be bucking the trend in 2017.
Pedestrian accident hot spots:
Northbourne Avenue: 30
London Circuit: 12
Bunda Street: 10
Hindmarsh Drive: 9
Marcus Clarke Street: 8
East Row: 7
Cooyong Street: 7
Barry Drive: 7
Melrose Drive: 6
College Street: 5
