Abstract des Autors

A medico-legal case is presented where a jogger was struck by a car while crossing an intersection and later sought major damages in civil court. This incident is reviewed in the context of overall information on injury to joggers by vehicles, and the possibility (raised by the defendant's counsel) that the euphoria generated by prolonged exercise may have created a sense of "invincibility" that predisposed the jogger to reckless actions. During the actual incident, the jogger recognised that the driver of the vehicle had not seen him, but nevertheless he proceeded to enter a crosswalk that had already been 75% traversed by the car, leaving himself only 0.6 metres of space, a half of the lane width normally required by a runner. The behaviour of the jogger was plainly reckless, but more information is needed on the relative incidence of traffic injuries in joggers and walkers, on the prevalence of jogging addiction, and on diagnostic criteria for this condition before the accident could be categorically attributed to a jogging-related euphoria. Verf.-Referat