BREAKING NEWS

Wheelchair users more likely to die in car crashes, study finds

Wheelchair users may be more likely to die in collisions with cars than other pedestrians, an analysis of U.S. crash data suggests.
Pedestrians in wheelchairs were 36 percent more likely to die in these crashes than other people, the examination of accident records found.
Men's risk was more than five times higher than the fatality odds for female wheelchair users.
The data don't show why wheelchair users may be more vulnerable than other pedestrians. But the findings suggest that city planners should consider ways to make sidewalks safer and drivers should be aware that people in wheelchairs may not move or react in the same way as others do, said study co-author John Kraemer of the Department of Health Systems Administration at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.