Governors Highway Safety Association: Pedestrian deaths dropping, but more work to do

After sharp increases during the pandemic, fatal motor vehicle crashes and pedestrian deaths seem to be dropping.

Preliminary figures released Wednesday by the Governors Highway Safety Association show a decline of 5.4% in pedestrian deaths last year to 7,318. That’s the first decline since 2020, but pedestrian deaths are still 14.1% higher than they were in 2019, the association said.

The pedestrian numbers come on the heels of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s estimate of a 3.6% decline in overall traffic deaths in 2023.

 Pam Shadek Fischer, the association’s senior director of external engagement, said she considers the reduction a positive sign that the public became fed up with the sharp increase in deaths and that efforts to improve safety are starting to work.

“It is really a good news, bad news scenario,” said Fischer. “It’s good that the number of deaths is going in the right direction, but that’s still too many people dying unnecessarily. I’m hopeful we’re turning the corner again.”

Experts believe traffic deaths spiked during the pandemic when many drivers took advantage of fewer cars on the roads and reduced enforcement by police officers to protect them from the COVID-19 virus led to more risky behavior such as speeding and impaired driving. Now, Fischer said, enforcement has returned in many areas and communities are demanding physical improvements to streets and sidewalks to improve safety.

Those demands have lined up nicely with the Biden administration’s $1.8 trillion infrastructure program designed to improve safety, generate economic development and put people back to work, she said. Across the country, municipalities are installing safer crosswalks and more streetlights, replacing sidewalks and creating bump-outs at intersections to reduce the distance someone has to walk to cross the street in dangerous areas.

Those changes “make a huge difference,” Fischer said.

“Infrastructure improvements can take a long time,” she said. “We’re seeing the benefits of that money and the community activism that is leading to safety improvements.”

Pittsburgh has been a leader in this area, with the city installing speed humps, better-marked crosswalks and new sidewalks in neighborhoods where speeding has been identified as a problem. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation made major changes on East Carson Street on the city’s South Side – a busy nightlife area identified as the most dangerous pedestrian corridor in the region – by installing new traffic signals and brighter shorter crosswalks.

Unfortunately, pedestrian deaths across the state increased from 184 in 2022 to 192 last year.

Through a deeper analysis of traffic deaths nationally in 2022, the association determined that more deaths continue to occur in low-income or minority communities. Additionally, the use of alcohol – by motorists and pedestrians – and speeding remain key factors in pedestrian deaths, with 18.5% of motorists and 30% of pedestrians legally drunk when pedestrians were killed.

That’s unacceptable, Fischer said.

“Nobody should have to fear for their lives when they go out to go grocery shopping, to visit a park or just go for a walk. Twenty people shouldn’t die every day just because they are walking.”