Are pedestrians dying more often on Ohio roads? Data says state is bucking national trend

Devon Biggs begged his track coach at Eastmoor Academy to run the 100-meter dash. Begged and begged.

Finally, the 15-year-old freshman's coach relented and said he could run the dash at a meet in late April 2023. But bad weather canceled the meet, and by the time it was rescheduled, Devon was dead.

On May 2, a vehicle drove over the curb near the intersection of James Road and Fair Avenue and struck Devon as he ran a route through a neighborhood on the city's East Side as part of track practice. He was one of 24 pedestrians killed by drivers in 2023.

His mother, Michele Biggs, said she remembers getting a phone call and only hearing a few phrases: "Devon, car, Grant, it's bad."

When she got to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, staff pulled her into a small room away from everyone else to speak with a doctor she already knew. Her youngest child, the one she spent Saturdays doing laundry, browsing thrift stores and drinking Tim Hortons with, wouldn't come home with her.

She struggled to believe her son, the one who won a Tae Kwon Do national championship, earned a black belt at age 10 and was training for his second-degree black belt, the one who wanted to be an electrician like his big brother, the son who worked on his own to lose 75 pounds he had gained during the pandemic, was dying in a hospital bed.

"I play it back in my head over and over and over again, and it’s still the same outcome," Biggs said. "He led a full life, and I think back, and I ask God, is that why he did all the things he did and why he was the way he was? Because you weren’t going to leave him with me?"

Ohio's pedestrian crash numbers going against the grain

Ohio is bucking the national trend regarding pedestrian crashes, seeing a decline in the number of pedestrians struck on roadways. Data from the Governors' Highway Safety Administration shows the number of pedestrian crashes has increased nationally, largely because of significant increases in a few states.

Data from the Ohio Highway Patrol, which is available from 2019 through Jan. 22, 2024, shows the total number of crashes involving pedestrians, regardless of injury, has stayed between 2,300 and about 2,600 statewide, with the lowest year being in 2020 when people were staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2023, there were 2,479 crashes involving pedestrians in Ohio, 2,333 of which, or 94%, were non-fatal. Most crashes, 48%, were classified as "minor injury suspected," meaning there's an injury that is not considered incapacitating or fatal but may require medical treatment, such as bruises, cuts or minor broken bones.

There were 495 crashes where the classification was "serious injury suspected," meaning a person can't walk or drive.

The Highway Patrol data comes from law enforcement agencies across the state that are required to file crash reports with the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

Crash Dashboard: Search the Ohio State Highway Patrol's statewide traffic crash dashboard

Since 2020, the number of fatal crashes involving a pedestrian has declined each year in Ohio, according to the Highway Patrol's data. In 2023, 146 pedestrians died on Ohio's roadways, including 24 in Franklin County, a decline from the 35 people who died in 2022 and the fewest since at least 2019.

The 24 fatal crashes involving a pedestrian in 2023 on Franklin County roadways account for 5% of the 478 total pedestrian crashes reported in the county. According to Highway Patrol data, there were 100 additional Franklin County crashes in which a serious injury was suspected.

In Franklin County, there have been 4,046 crashes involving a pedestrian since 2016. Since 2019, there have been 149 crashes involving a death, or 6% of the total in the last five years.

Columbus police investigated 19 of the 24 fatal pedestrian crashes in 2023, according to data from the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

Speed, distraction factors in pedestrian crashes

Emily Davidson, director of the Ohio Traffic Safety Office, said the office has created a working group to look at what more can be done to focus on education that will hopefully lead to behavioral changes for pedestrians and drivers. The ultimate goal is to reduce the number of crashes in which pedestrians are seriously hurt or killed.

"We see increased speeds, they continue to be high and rising, and that correlates to things like pedestrian deaths," Davidson said. "That can be a factor in why more pedestrians might not be able to survive a crash or (the driver) might not see a pedestrian because they’re going at such higher speeds."

Davidson said since the pandemic, higher speeds have been a problem across the country that has struggled to be addressed. Distracted driving also plays a role in crashes overall, including 36 pedestrian crashes in 2023 across Ohio, three of which were fatal.

Ohio's distracted driving law, which makes using a cellphone while driving more easily enforceable for law enforcement, has not yet been in effect for an entire year and it's not clear what impact it will have on reducing pedestrian crashes, Davidson said.

Study: Taller vehicles are making pedestrian crashes more serious

Another potential factor for the increased severity of crashes involving pedestrians is how vehicles are built. A November study released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found pick-up trucks, SUVs and vans being built taller pose a greater risk to pedestrians.

The reason is that taller vehicles hit a person walking at a higher point on their body. In the past, vehicles built lower to the ground would hit a person in the legs or hips. Now, vehicles are hitting people in the center of the body, where there are vital organs, or in their upper body, causing potential head trauma.

The study noted that vehicles are now, on average, 4 inches wider, 10 inches longer, 8 inches taller and 1,000 pounds heavier than they were 30 years ago. For some pick-up trucks, the hood is at eye level for the average adult driver, which impedes seeing directly in front of the vehicle.

Devon Biggs was struck by a 2000 Pontiac Bonneville, built lower to the ground.

"He stayed behind so that he could run with his friend and that’s when it happened," Biggs said.

Accidents have consequences

The driver who struck Devon, 34-year-old Dionta Winer, told police she had been trying to give her young child a pacifier in the back seat when she looked up and saw traffic on James Road had come to a stop, according to a crash report.

Winer said she tried to stop, but the brakes on her car were faulty, causing her to swerve to avoid the cars stopped in front of her, the report said.

Winer avoided the cars but went over the curb and struck Devon, standing on the sidewalk, back from the curb.

"I counted 27 people there with me," Biggs said. "I didn’t say as much as I wanted to because I couldn’t, and I pretty much said you can see by everybody here, I’ll let them tell their stories. She never had an emotion the whole time she stood there at all. I didn’t expect her to. Why would you? You literally just got away with murder."

In December, Winer pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charge. She received a suspended 90-day jail sentence and 100 hours of community service. Her driver's license was also suspended for 90 days.

Ohio law makes vehicular manslaughter a misdemeanor unless there are aggravating circumstances, such as the person driving without a license or under the influence, in which case the charge can become a felony.

Biggs said she wants to see a change in the law, and how Columbus police handle crash investigations. She said detectives told her Winer was not drug tested or given a breathalyzer because the responding officer didn't feel there was impairment involved in the crash.

"My son lying dead there wasn’t enough," Biggs said. "Why would you not do that? I don’t know that she was, but now I’ll never know."

Winer had previous convictions for driving under suspension, according to Franklin County Municipal Court records. The crash report does not indicate if her license was valid at the time she struck Devon, who was given drug and alcohol tests, according to the report, that showed he had nothing in his system.

"Yes, it was an accident, I get that, but my son died because of it," Biggs said. "I haven’t processed it. I haven’t worked through it because I don’t know how."

'He deserved the life he had'

After Devon's death, he received a posthumous honorary second-degree black belt. He also got to run the 100-meter dash — in spirit.

At Devon's celebration of life, anyone who wanted to run the 100 meters was invited to participate before releasing red and blue balloons skyward.

Biggs keeps the video of that dash on her phone. She often watches the dozens of people running, holding their balloons, and knows her son touched all of them.

"He always had a smile and was always laughing. He could turn your day around in a second, it was just him being him. He loved life. He did. He deserved the life that he had."

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner

Correction: The original story misidentified Emily Davidson, director of the Ohio Traffic Safety Office. This post has been updated to reflect the correct information.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Are pedestrians dying more often on Ohio roads? State is bucking national trend