Increasing Pedestrian Deaths in the United States | Accidents and Injuries | Scoop.it

For the second straight year, U.S. pedestrian deaths are setting alarming new records. The number of pedestrians killed on U.S. roads rose a projected 11 percent between 2015 and 2016, the largest year-to-year increase on record, according to a new Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) report.

 

During the first six months of 2016, preliminary data show 2,660 pedestrian deaths nationwide, compared to 2,486 for the same period during 2015. The year-long projection is based on those numbers. The report also projects a 22 percent rise in pedestrian deaths from 2014. Both estimates are sharply higher than the 9 percent increase in pedestrian deaths between 2014 and 2015.

 

“This is the second year in a row that we have seen unprecedented increases in pedestrian fatalities, which is both sad and alarming,” said report author Richard Retting, who’s with Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants.

 

“It is critical that the highway safety community understand these disturbing statistics and work to aggressively implement effective countermeasures,” he added in a GHSA news release.