Traffic Safety Facts: Geographical Summary of Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities

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November 14th, 2019

From 2009 to 2018 fatalities in motor vehicle traffic crashes increased 8 percent overall. The trend of the increase over the last decade is seen in Figure 1. Pedestrian fatalities increased 53 percent during this time. In 2009 pedestrians accounted for 12 percent of all crash fatalities. This increased at varying rates, averaging 4 percent annually from 2009 to 2018, to 17 percent by 2018.

From the upcoming NHTSA report, Geospatial Summary of Crash Fatalities (Webb, in press), we know that fatal crashes involving pedestrians occur primarily in and around areas categorized as urban. Specifically, 80 percent occurred in areas classified as urban in 2017 and 96 percent of all pedestrian-involved fatalities are captured by adding only a 7.5-mile buffer around these areas.