Pedestrians at highest risk of injury include older adults, people of color and those in low-income areas, a report says.
Photo by LeoPatrizi, courtesy iStockphoto
Pedestrian deaths are on the rise in the U.S., with more than 20 people struck and killed by vehicles every day.
About 7,520 pedestrians died after being hit by cars in 2022, according to a June report from Smart Growth America. The total is a 40-year high for the nation, and represents a 75% increase since 2010.
“This epidemic is continuing to get worse because we have an approach to street design that does not truly prioritize the safety of everybody that uses our transportation network, especially those people who are most vulnerable to being struck and injured or killed by a vehicle,” said Steve Davis, assistant vice president of transportation strategies for Smart Growth America, at a June 7 webinar on the report findings.
Pedestrians at highest risk include older adults, people with disabilities, people of color and those walking in low-income areas.
American Indian and Alaska Native people are more likely to die while walking than people from any other race or ethnic group. Their deaths make up 22% of all pedestrian deaths in metropolitan areas, despite comprising 13% of the population.
By metropolitan area, Memphis had the highest pedestrian fatality rate of the 100 ranked cities, with 5.14 deaths per 100,000 people for 2018 to 2022. Other high rates occurred in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Tucson, Arizona; and Bakersfield, California. Metro areas in Florida continue to account for more than a third of the top 20 areas for most dangerous areas to walk. On the lower end of the rankings were Provo-Orem, Utah; Madison, Wisconsin; and the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul region in Minnesota.
Other findings:
30% of all pedestrian deaths occur in census tracts where annual income is below $50,000;
pedestrian death rates are 48% higher on Indigenous reservations, where 44 people died in 2022; and
66% of all traffic deaths occurred on state-owned roads in the 101 metro areas assessed in the report.
Changes can be made to improve pedestrian safety, according to the report, such as better-designed medians, improved lighting and more visible markings at curbs.
For more information on “Dangerous by Design 2024,” visit https://smartgrowthamerica.org.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
