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(Trends Wide) — Behind the wheel, cars and trucks are safer than ever. But for people on foot, vehicles haven’t been this dangerous in more than a generation.
A study of State Highway Safety Offices (SHSO) data released in June by the Highway Safety Regulators Association (GHSA) found that US drivers killed at least 7,500 pedestrians in 2022. That’s the highest for any year since 1981. Oklahoma’s lack of data means the final number is likely to be even higher.
Experts attribute the rise in fatalities to faster driving speeds, a lack of pedestrian-friendly road infrastructure, and consumer tastes shifting toward increasingly heavier and taller trucks and SUVs.
“The vehicle has evolved to better protect the people inside, but not to protect those outside,” says Pam Shadel Fischer, GHSA Director of External Relations.
It hasn’t always been like this. Data from the Fatal Crash Reporting Analysis System (FARS), another source analyzed by the GHSA, shows that the United States successfully reduced the number of pedestrians killed by drivers over decades. Pedestrian fatalities between 1980 and 2009 were cut in half, from 8,070 to 4,109. FARS data is available for more years than SHSO data, but the report treats it as a separate source due to differences in how the two classify deaths.
But the years since 2010 erased most of that progress. Pedestrian fatalities between 2010 and 2021 increased a staggering 77%.
Pedestrian fatalities are more common in southern states with warmer climates, which are traditionally where people are more likely to be outside and potentially walk or run, Fischer said.
The global rate of pedestrian fatalities per 100,000 residents was 2.28, in 2022, according to the GHSA. But pedestrians died more frequently per capita in most of the so-called Sunshine Strip states, especially Arizona and New Mexico.
These two states have many rural areas where they may not have the necessary infrastructure for foot traffic, Fischer added.
According to Jessica Cicchino, Vice President of Research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), on many highways in the country, especially the busiest and fastest, there is no infrastructure that allows pedestrians to cross or walk on the roadway safely.
“There are a lot of roads that are designed to keep vehicles going as fast as possible, and that may not have been designed with other road users in mind,” Cicchino explains.
This would contribute to increasing vehicle speeds, which is a major factor in the rise in pedestrian fatalities.
The problem is compounded by the fact that cars are becoming more powerful and faster. Gone are the days when you had to turn off the air conditioning in your 100hp minivan to climb steep hills. The average power of all new vehicles has gone from about 213 horsepower, in 2010, to 272, in 2021, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. (EPA, for its acronym in English).
In an IIHS study of fatal crashes between 2009 and 2016, Cicchino and Wen Hu, chief engineer for Transportation Research, showed that more powerful vehicles are more involved in pedestrian collisions.
The truck problem
That study also showed that the number of SUVs involved in pedestrian fatalities rose nearly 8% between 2009 and 2016, more than any other type of vehicle.
“We have focused a lot on the biggest and heaviest vehicles,” Fischer said.
SUVs and trucks are tall, heavy vehicles that often have blunt front ends. When they hit a pedestrian, they do so in the torso area, where most of the internal organs are located.
Pickup trucks also have larger front blind spots that can prevent drivers from seeing pedestrians, Cicchino said. A 2021 Consumer Reports study showed that the leading edge of the hood on some heavy-duty trucks is now more than 55 inches off the ground. It is the same height as the roof of a new Honda Civic.
However, in the last five years, SUVs and trucks have accounted for a larger share of the US auto market than cars. Much of that market growth has occurred in the last decade.
Despite the increase in deaths, there are signs that progress is being made to slow or even reverse the trend, according to the GHSA.
Their report shows that pedestrian fatalities decreased throughout 2021 in 26 states. The overall increase in deaths by 2022 can be attributed to a few states with large increases, according to the report.
Pedestrian fatalities in Arizona, Virginia, and Oregon increased significantly more in 2022 than in other parts of the country.
Last year, the US government proposed new laws to make cars safer for pedestrians. Last fall, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced the STOP Frontovers Act of 2022, which would require new vehicles to come equipped with cameras or sensors to detect young children entering front blind zones. In May, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also proposed automatic emergency braking requirements for new vehicles.
It’s a good start, experts say, but there’s also a need to focus more on infrastructure improvements that slow down vehicles and make roads safer for people who aren’t driving. For example, reduce speed limits in cities, increase the number of sidewalks, build roundabouts, and make pedestrians more visible in the dark.
“We need citizens to stand up and say, ‘That’s enough. I want to be able to walk around safely.’ They have to demand these things,” Fischer said.
