Pedestrian Deaths Up – Experts Want Answers, Solutions

After years of steady decline there are some disturbing signs that the downward trend in traffic fatalities may be over. With reports already suggesting vehicle deaths were up for the first part of the year, a new study shows a sharp four percent increase in pedestrian fatalities as well. The upturn in pedestrian deaths came in 2010, the most recent year for which data are available, but it marks the first increase since 2005 – a point at which all motor vehicle-related fatalities began to tumble sharply.

A total of 4,280 pedestrians were killed in vehicle-related incidents, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), with another 70,000 injured. In 2010, pedestrian deaths accounted for thirteen percent of all traffic fatalities. This is compared with eleven percent between 2002 and 2007, reflecting both the increase in pedestrian crashes as well as the decline in overall motor vehicle fatalities. Nearly three of every four pedestrian fatalities occurred in urban settings, and seventy-nine percent happened at non-intersections.

About seven in ten pedestrian fatalities occurred at night, when it becomes more difficult for drivers to see, especially if a person on foot is crossing out of a marked intersection and wearing dark clothing. Children age fifteen and younger accounted for seven percent of pedestrian fatalities during 2010, according to NHTSA, and twenty-three percent of pedestrian injuries. Those older than 65 made up another nineteen percent of the fatalities.

The news of increased pedestrian fatalities comes just weeks after NHTSA released preliminary information showing that overall motor vehicle fatalities rose during the first quarter. Exactly why the trendline has reversed is unclear. Both could be statistical anomalies, but some experts warn that the rising death toll might also reflect what U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has called the "epidemic" of distracted driving. Distractions are already being blamed for about one in eleven U.S. motor vehicle-related fatalities. Indeed, following the release of the 2010 report, LaHood stressed that even when crossing in a marked intersection a pedestrian should "never assume a driver sees you."

Federal regulators are focusing increased attention on pedestrian collisions – as their counterparts in Europe already have. There, manufacturers are required to build in safety systems designed to reduce the risk of injury when a vehicle strikes a pedestrian. Most vehicles have been redesigned to provide additional energy-absorbing crush space beneath the hood.

The states with the highest number of pedestrian deaths in 2010 were California, at 599, Florida at 487, Texas at 345, New York at 303, and Arizona at 146. They have some of the nation’s largest urban areas – and in the case of Florida and Arizona, some of the largest elderly populations. The states with the fewest number of recorded pedestrian deaths were Wyoming at three; Vermont with four; Alaska at six; North Dakota at seven; and Rhode Island, Nebraska, and Montana with eight each.

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