Dangerous By Design: 2022 Report Analyzes Rising Pedestrian Deaths

The Dangerous By Design 2022 report from Smart Growth America highlights the “preventable epidemic of people struck and killed by walking,” ranking the most dangerous U.S. states and metro areas for traffic deaths between 2016 and 2020. 

According to a press release announcing the report, “While the COVID-19 pandemic upended many aspects of daily life, including how people get around, one terrible, long-term trend was unchanged: states and metro areas are getting more dangerous for pedestrians almost across the board.”

In 2020, over 6,500 pedestrians were struck and killed by vehicles, a 4.5 percent increase from 2019, despite a decrease in driving. “With data on walking patterns from StreetLight, and special inserts from NACTO, Strong Towns, America Walks, and the Fines and Fees Justice Center, this year’s report examines where and why streets are dangerous—and what needs to be done to reverse the accelerating trend.”

Low-income communities are significantly less likely to have access to parks and other opportunities for safe recreational walking and are less likely to have sidewalks, marked crosswalks, and street design to support safer, slower speeds. Lower-income neighborhoods are also much more likely to contain major arterial roads built for high speeds and higher traffic volumes at intersections, exacerbating dangerous conditions for people walking.

The report notes that “Older adults and people walking in low-income neighborhoods were also struck and killed at much higher rates than other populations in 2020, as with past years.” While disparities in traffic deaths are nothing new, “the pandemic perpetuated existing disparities in who is being killed at the highest rates: Black and Native Americans.”

Read the full report here.