Improving road design can help keep pedestrians safe from collisions with vehicles, according to a March report.
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U.S. pedestrian fatalities have risen substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic, with minority groups most at risk, a March report from the Governors Highway Safety Association finds.
Data for the report was collected during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a time when many cities and states had closed businesses and telework had reduced the number of people commuting by car.
The total number of deaths for the first six months of 2020 was over 2,900, about the same as that in 2019. But given that driving nationwide had drastically declined due to the pandemic, researchers calculated that based on total miles driven, the relative number of pedestrian deaths had increased 20% compared to the previous year.
Whites made up about half of pedestrian deaths in 2020, the report said. But when taking into account population density based on race and ethnicity, Blacks, Hispanics and Asians were disproportionately killed in pedestrian-vehicle crashes.
Blacks and Hispanics each accounted for 21% of fatalities, even though Black people account for 12% of the U.S. population, and Hispanic people account for 19% of the population. Asians make up 3% of the U.S. population but accounted for 5.7% of pedestrian deaths.
Disadvantaged communities that are home to many people of color often lack sidewalks, streetlights and crosswalks, which likely contribute to pedestrian deaths, the report said.
“Walking should not be a life and death undertaking, yet many factors have combined to put pedestrians at historical levels of risk,” Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, said in a news release.
The report also includes 2019 data that drills down into common conditions involving pedestrian deaths. Three-quarters of crashes happened at night away from intersections, for example.
There was a bright spot in the report for 2020. While 27 states had increased pedestrian fatality, 20 states and Washington, D.C., had decreases. Three states remained unchanged.
The report highlights strategies used at the state and local levels to increase pedestrian safety. That includes improving road design, adding sidewalks and streetlights, and improving driving skills.
A second report released in March by the governors association and Smart Growth America, “Dangerous by Design,” cited a dramatic increase in speeding in 2020, predicting that data for the full year will show a rise in overall traffic fatalities.
For more information on “Spotlight on Highway Safety: Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State, 2020 Preliminary Data,” visit https://www.ghsa.org.
Mark Barna contributed to this report
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