Instructions:
Record the sequence of key events or actions involving the vulnerable road user from immediately before the crash until the point of impact or injury. Base entries on available evidence (e.g., witness statements, physical evidence), avoiding speculation.
Definition:
The events sequence for this crash specific to the vulnerable user.
Rationale:
Capturing the sequence of events specific to the vulnerable user provides critical context for understanding crash dynamics, risk behavior, and environmental interaction. It supports targeted safety improvements such as pedestrian signal timing, midblock crossing treatments, and bicycle infrastructure design. Additionally, this element enhances post-crash analysis by clarifying the user’s behavior and role in the crash sequence, thereby improving data-driven strategies to reduce injuries and fatalities among non-motorized road users.
| Code | Attribute | Definition | Example |
| 1 | Adjacent to Roadway (e.g., Shoulder, Median) | Indicates the vulnerable user was physically beside the roadway at the time of the crash. |  |
| 2 | Crossing Roadway | Indicates the vulnerable user was entering or crossing the crash location when the crash occurred. |  |
| 3 | Waiting to Cross Roadway | Indicates the vulnerable user was positioned at the edge of the roadway, sidewalk, or median, preparing to cross but not yet entering the travel lane at the time of the crash. |  |
| 4 | In Roadway – Other | Indicates the vulnerable user was in the roadway for a reason other than crossing or traveling along it, such as standing, playing, working, or engaging in a non-transport activity. |  |
| 5 | Walking/Cycling Along Roadway Against Traffic (In or Adjacent to Travel Lane) | Indicates the vulnerable user was walking or cycling facing traffic, either in the travel lane or directly adjacent (e.g., shoulder or unprotected edge), when the crash occurred. |  |
| 6 | Walking/Cycling Along Roadway with Traffic (In or Adjacent to Travel Lane) | Indicates the vulnerable user was walking or cycling in the same direction as traffic, either in the travel lane or directly adjacent (e.g., shoulder or bike lane), when the crash occurred. |  |
| 7 | Walking/Cycling on Sidewalk | Indicates the vulnerable user was traveling on a sidewalk or pedestrian pathway separated from the roadway when the crash occurred. |  |
| 8 | Working in Trafficway (Incident Response) | Indicates the vulnerable user was working in the crash location when the crash occurred. |  |
| 9 | Working on vehicle | Indicates the vulnerable user was working on or providing maintenance to a vehicle within the crash location when the crash occurred. |  |
| 10 | Working – other | Indicates the vulnerable user was working in the crash location when the crash occurred. |  |
| 11 | Pushing Vehicle | Indicates the vulnerable user was pushing a vehicle in the crash location when the crash occurred. |  |
| 12 | Approaching or leaving vehicle | Indicates the vulnerable user was approaching, entering or exiting a vehicle in the crash location when the crash occurred. |  |
| 13 | Traveling straight ahead | Indicates the vulnerable user was proceeding in a straight line along their intended path at the time of the crash. |  |
| 14 | Slowed or stopped | Indicates the vulnerable user had reduced speed significantly or was completely stopped in place when the crash occurred. |  |
| 15 | Turning right | Indicates the vulnerable user was in the act of turning right from their current path or position when the crash occurred. |  |
| 16 | Turning left | Indicates the vulnerable user was in the act of turning left from their current path or position when the crash occurred. |  |
| 17 | Changing lanes | Indicates the vulnerable user was actively moving laterally from one lane or line of travel to another when the crash occurred. |  |
| 18 | Overtaking/passing | Indicates the vulnerable user was in the process of overtaking or passing another road user when the crash occurred. |  |
| 19 | Collision with motor vehicle in transport | Indicates the crash involved contact with a motor vehicle that was in motion under its own power on a roadway or trafficway. |  |
| 20 | Collision with parked motor vehicle, stationary | Indicates the crash involved contact with a motor vehicle that was parked and not in motion at the time of the collision. |  |
| 21 | Collision with door opening of parked car – Front left | Indicates the vulnerable user collided with the driver-side front door of a parked car as it was being opened. |  |
| 22 | Collision with door opening of parked car – Front right | Indicates the vulnerable user collided with the front passenger-side door of a parked car as it was being opened. |  |
| 23 | Collision with door opening of parked car – Back left | Indicates the vulnerable user collided with the rear driver-side door of a parked car as it was being opened. | |
| 24 | Collision with door opening of parked car – Back right | Indicates the vulnerable user collided with the rear passenger-side door of a parked car as it was being opened. | |
| 97 | Other | Indicates an event not covered by the previous attributes. Please specify in the narrative. | |
| 99 | Unknown | Indicates the vulnerable user sequence of events is unknown. |
FAQ
The vulnerable user did more than one thing before the crash. Which goes in Event 1?
The earliest. Record the events in the order they happened, up to four; Event 1 is the first thing the vulnerable user was doing before the collision.
Accuracy Checks
- If this field is completed, confirm the Vulnerable User check box is also indicated.
- Event 1 is what the vulnerable user was doing before the collision (crossing, traveling along the road, on the sidewalk); later events follow in order, and the collision itself is a later event, not the first.
- The events and Vulnerable User Action should tell the same story.
Data Quality Audit Results
| 2025 records, all four events | Count | Percent |
| Pre-crash events and the collision both recorded | 853 | 20.8% |
| Pre-crash events only, collision not recorded | 2,221 | 54.2% |
| Collision entered first, nothing before it | 477 | 11.6% |
| Only Unknown, invalid, or Other | 124 | 3.0% |
| No event recorded | 423 | 10.3% |
| Total | 4,098 | 100% |
For the Vulnerable User Event Sequence field, a record can carry up to four events, and one record in three uses more than one. Ten percent of 2025 records have no event indicated at all, concentrated in three agencies, one of which leaves the field empty on every record, which points to an issue with records-system exports rather than an issue with reporting officers. In 12 percent of records, the collision is entered as the first event with nothing before it, so the record does not say what the person was doing before the crash. Most records describe the pre-crash movement but never record the collision itself; only one in five records record both. Checked against Vulnerable User Action, the events rarely contradict the action (55 records), but in 392 records a crossing event is paired with Walking, running or cycling, where Entering or crossing location applies, and in about 260 records the events name an action while the Action field says None or Other or is missing.
From the 2025 Vulnerable User data quality audit, which explains how these rows were counted.