Pedestrian Fatalities Hit 29-Year High in U.S.

Traffic deaths in the U.S. declined 2% to 36,600 last year, but pedestrian fatalities surged to their highest level since 1990, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Nearly 36,600 people died in vehicle crashes last year, down 2% from 2017 levels. Last year’s total was about 200 fewer than NHTSA’s preliminary estimate in June.

The country’s traffic fatality rate declined 3% to a five-year low of 1.13 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, according to NHTSA. The downward trend continued through the first six months of 2019 with fatalities falling another 3.4%, NHTSA says. This equates to 1.06 deaths per million miles driven, which the agency notes is the lowest first-half rate since 2015.

But deaths involving pedestrians and bicyclists rose 3% to nearly 6,300 in 2018, the largest total in the past 29 years. Pedestrian fatalities have jumped 42% over the past 10 years, the agency says.

Over the same period, traffic deaths dropped 8%. NHTSA notes that about 75% of pedestrian deaths occur at night and away from street intersections.

Safety experts theorize that the soaring fatality rate is due in part to a market shift from cars to bulkier SUVs and the likelihood that many drivers are being distracted by their mobile phones, Reuters reports.