The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) has released their latest annual spotlight report, "Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State: 2021 Preliminary Data" that provides an indepth overview of state and national trends in pedestrian traffic fatalities for 2021. Based on preliminary data provided by State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs), the GHSA projects that "drivers struck and killed 7,485 people walking in 2021 - the most in a single year in four decades."
Report Highlights
The report provides an analysis of the troubling rise in pedestrian deaths, the contributing factors, and a discussion of what can be done at the state and local
level to reduce pedestrian fatalities and injuries. It also considers the application of the Safe System approach to preventing traffic related injuries and fatalities, and highlights countermeasures that can be used to help prevent pedestrian involved crashes.
Key findings included:
- Based on SHSO data, GHSA projects 7,485 pedestrians were killed in 2021, compared to 6,711 in 2020. This is a projected increase of 11.5%, representing 774 additional lives lost, and would be the largest number in 40 years.
- In 2020, the percentage of pedestrian fatalities with speeding cited as a factor increased approximately 20%, from 7.2% in 2016 to 8.6% in 2020.
- For most age groups the percentage of pedestrian crashes with speeding as a factor crept up slightly between 2018 and 2020. However, there was a sharp increase in speeding as a factor in fatalities for pedestrians younger than 15 (from 5.8% in 2018 to 11.9% in 2020).