Is walking safer than driving during a snow storm?

If you want to avoid getting injured during a snow storm in New York City, the best way is to stay home, wait for the snow to stop and for the sidewalks and roads to be cleaned before going out. However if you really have to or want to step out to enjoy some winter fun with the kids, make sure to wear proper shoes and exercise caution when walking around.

If you have to get somewhere you might think that you would be safer walking than driving. It might actually be quite the opposite.

In a study published last May in the Journal of the American Meteorological Society and entitled “Winter Storms and Fall-Related Injuries: Is It Safer to Walk than to Drive?” researchers analyzed the visits to hospital emergency rooms in a medium sized urban community, in Canada, during multiple snow storms. They found that, during a snow storm, visits to the emergency room for injuries caused by falls accounted in average for 64% more than visits to the ER caused by a motor vehicle accidents.

Snow storms that involve freezing rains are much more dangerous than snow storms during which only snow is falling. The researchers found that during sow storms involving only snow, fall injuries increased by 38% while during storms with freezing rain fall injuries would increase by 102% compared to the number of fall injuries recorded during non stormy weather days.

The study was conducted by Brian Mills ( Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, and Meteorological Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada), Jean Andrey (Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada), Sean Doherty( Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada), Brent Doberstein (Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada)and Jennifer Yessis (School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada).  More info abou this study can be found here