Advocate blasts U.S. pedestrian safety efforts, says 'no places' can be considered safe here
The most dangerous metropolitan areas in the country for pedestrians are concentrated in the Sun Belt, but that doesn’t mean other areas are doing enough to protect the most vulnerable road users, according to a national transportation safety advocate.
Beth Osborne, vice president for transportation at the nonprofit Smart Growth America, offered that message Monday as she discussed the findings in a new report that looks at the worsening death toll for pedestrians in the United States.
Her group’s Dangerous By Design 2022 report, released Tuesday, found that states like Florida, South Carolina and California had more than half of the top 20 most dangerous metro areas based on the number of deaths per 100,000 people per year during a recent five-year stretch. But the situation is troubling no matter where you live.
“Just because folks are not listed in that top 20 does not mean that they are safe. There are no places in the United States that can be considered safe,” Osborne said.
Seven of the top 20 most dangerous metro areas from 2016-2020 were in Florida, with the Daytona Beach area at No. 1, with a rate of 4.25 deaths. Albuquerque, New Mexico, was at No. 2, with 4.19. The study found that from 2016-2020 New Mexico was the most dangerous state for pedestrians, with Florida at No. 2; Michigan was at No. 25.
Fatality rates increased in all but four states and Washington, D.C.
Osborne noted that the previous most dangerous metro area, Orlando, had actually gotten worse but had been leapfrogged by seven other cities.
The study, which received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, relied on data from the federal government’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System. The numbers show a worsening trend, with pedestrian fatalities up 62% since they began “rising steadily” in 2009.
The results highlight the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on daily life haven’t slowed the march of increasing deaths.
“More than 6,500 people — nearly 18 per day — were struck and killed while walking in 2020, a 4.7% increase over 2019 even as driving decreased overall because of the pandemic’s unprecedented disruptions to travel behavior,” according to the study.
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Preliminary data for 2021 released in May by the Governors Highway Safety Association points to an even worse outcome when the next official government tally is released in the coming months. The group found that 7,485 pedestrians were killed in 2021, “which would be the highest number in 40 years and one of the biggest single-year jumps in decades."
"Dangerous by Design" pointed to problematic roadway design that prioritizes vehicle speed over safety, particularly on non-interstate “arterial highways” with multiple lanes. Those types of roads accounted for 60% of the fatalities in 2020 but represented only a fraction of the total number of roads.
Osborne said safety needs to be the default position, not a side project, for both federal highway programs and road design, and the study recommended that investments be targeted at communities of color and low-income neighborhoods, “where people are more likely to be struck and killed.”
Older Americans also face greater risks as pedestrians, the study said.
Other factors adding to the death toll were mentioned as well, including increased vehicle size, one of the key points of the 2018 Detroit Free Press/USA TODAY Network investigation, “Death on Foot: America’s love of SUVs is killing pedestrians.”
Issues like distraction and cellphone use are also seen as factors, but Osborne noted that other countries have those as well and aren’t plagued by the same levels of pedestrian deaths.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pedestrian deaths keep increasing on U.S. roads
