Pedestrian Safety Among High School Runners: A Case Series

Participation in high school cross-country and track has increased over the last few decades. At the same time, the rate of pedestrian-involved motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) has also increased. In the context of organized sport, pedestrian safety among runners is often not highlighted, despite the risk of catastrophic injury.

To describe incidents of pedestrian-involved MVCs involving student athletes captured by the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research (NCCSIR) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Case series.

Level 5.

This study utilized surveillance data from the NCCSIR from 2011 to 2020. It presents descriptive statistics, including frequencies and percentages, detailed summaries, and a Haddon Matrix.

There were 8 incidents involving 11 student athletes, resulting in 9 fatalities. Of these, 5 cases occurred in the afternoon or early evening, 4 occurred in the Fall, and 6 occurred in a rural area. Haddon Matrix analyses of case descriptions indicate schools should implement a runner safety program for all new runners and ensure that runner safety measures are included in emergency action plans.

Runner-related MVCs are relatively rare, but tragic, incidents. Pedestrian safety measures should be incorporated into school-sponsored practices and training runs.

Pedestrian safety should be incorporated into runner safety and injury prevention efforts.