Pedestrian deaths in the United States have been a problem for years, but in 2020, the rate of deaths hit a disturbing milestone even accounting for the impacts of the coronavirus.
New data released Thursday by the Governors Highway Safety Association for the full year show “the largest-ever annual increase in the pedestrian death rate” since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration established its Fatality Analysis Reporting System in 1975, according to the association.
Based on a preliminary data analysis, the association said 6,721 pedestrian deaths in 2020, which would represent a 4.8% increase over the previous year’s 6,412. That change is notable, but the “shocking and unprecedented 21% increase” in the pedestrian death rate to 2.3 per billion vehicle miles traveled happened as Americans drove fewer miles because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions and lockdowns that accompanied it.
While new data projects more pedestrians died nationally in vehicle-related crashes in 2020 with the largest-ever annual rise those numbers remained relatively stable in Lee and Collier counties last year.
The Governors Highway Safety Association s commissioned the Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State: 2020 Preliminary Data Addendum. Released Thursday, the report said likely culprits for the nationwide surge included dangerous driving such as speeding, drunken and drugged driving and distracted driving, on U.S. roads during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It noted those factors combined with infrastructure issues that have prioritized the movement of motor vehicles instead of walking and bicycling.
In Lee County, pedestrian deaths dropped one fatality to 22 in 2020 after a one-year, one-death increase from 2018. Collier saw such deaths fall from 6 in 2018 to 4 each in 2019 and 2020.
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Wisconsin saw a three percent decrease in pedestrian traffic deaths according to a Governors Highway Safety Association report. (Shutterstock)
ACROSS WISCONSIN Pedestrian traffic deaths were down 3 percent in Wisconsin in 2020 according to a new report released Thursday.
2020 may have seen the largest increase in pedestrian traffic deaths in years, according to an addendum from Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State. The report was released by the Governor Highway Safety Association (GHSA) this week. Drunken driving, speeding and distracted driving are likely culprits behind the national spike.
There is some good news in the report. Wisconsin is among those that saw a projected decrease in pedestrian deaths in 2020, or the number of people on foot who were killed by drivers.
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