Pedestrian deaths in the United States likely hit a more than 40-year high in 2022, according to a new report.
The news highlights the challenges that traffic safety planners, vehicle designers and advocates for vulnerable road users face as they try to reverse a disturbing trend of increasing pedestrian deaths in recent years.
In a report due out Thursday, the Governors Highway Safety Association projects 7,508 people died walking on or along U.S. roads in 2022, a 1% increase from the prior year, based on preliminary information from 49 states and Washington, D.C. The total, however, is expected to be even higher because Oklahoma, which averaged 92 pedestrian deaths in recent years, according to the association, did not provide data.
The total is projected to be the highest since 7,837 pedestrians were killed in 1981, according to the association, which cited federal safety data. Pedestrian fatalities have been on the increase for more than a decade following years of decline.
The increase in pedestrian deaths in 2022 was not felt everywhere.
Michigan recorded 179 pedestrian deaths in 2022, according to the preliminary data, which would be four fewer than the 183 pedestrian deaths recorded in 2021.
Traffic deaths involving pedestrians have dire consequences for those affected, Jonathan Adkins, the group’s CEO, said in a news release.
“Every day, 20 people go for a walk and do not return home. These are people living their daily lives — commuting to and from school and work, picking up groceries, walking the dog, getting some exercise — who died suddenly and violently,” Adkins said in the release. “The saddest part is that these crashes are preventable. We know what works — better-designed infrastructure, lower speeds, addressing risky driving behaviors that pose a danger to people walking. We must do these things and more to reverse this awful trend and protect people on foot. Enough is enough.”
The increase in pedestrian deaths is especially concerning because of its disproportionate rise, jumping 77% since 2010 compared with 25% for other traffic-related deaths, the report said. That reinforces the notion that despite improvements in vehicle safety to protect vehicle passengers, the same level of attention hasn’t been paid to the safety of those outside of vehicles.
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The issues highlighted also reinforce the findings of other studies on the topic in recent years. The report noted that higher speeds kill, that people of color are overrepresented in the numbers and that more fatal crashes happen at night and on non-freeway arterial roads. The impact of limited pedestrian infrastructure, such as a lack of sidewalks in some areas, and distraction also figures in the numbers.
The report also referenced the role played by the increasing number of trucks and SUVs, which are more likely than sedans to kill those they hit because of their size. That issue was highlighted in a 2018 Detroit Free Press/USA Today Network investigation titled, “Death on foot: America’s Love of SUVs is killing pedestrians.”
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The issue of pedestrian deaths has received more attention from safety advocates in recent years, with Ann Carlson, chief counsel for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, calling it a “really dark spot” in traffic fatalities. Carlson made her comments during a news conference in May to announce a proposal to require automatic emergency braking on most U.S. light vehicles, which would be a change from the current voluntary commitment from automakers. The proposed rule, for instance, would require all cars to be able to stop and avoid pedestrians at speeds up to 37 mph.
Notably, however, the Governors Highway Safety Association report also includes ways to reduce pedestrian fatalities, by emphasizing a “safe system” approach. That approach, according to the report, starts with the premise that deaths and serious injuries are unacceptable, that humans make mistakes and are vulnerable, that responsibility is shared, that safety is proactive and that redundancy is crucial.
The report referenced specific actions that states are taking to improve outcomes for pedestrians, such as injecting pedestrian safety into driver education, focusing enforcement on dangerous and distracted driving and designing and building safer roadways.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber.