After nearly 20 years of progress in pedestrian safety, fatalities started climbing again in 2010. In 2018, pedestrian deaths jumped to levels not seen in decades.
According to the National Highway Association, 6,227 people were killed on the road last year, more than any year since 1990. The upward trend in pedestrian deaths started at the beginning of this decade and shows no signs of slowing down. Bigger cars and distractions from cellphones are two leading causes of this growing problem.
Road design and development patterns are another part of the problem. "Georgia is one of five states that made up nearly half of all the nation's pedestrian fatalities in 2018. The others were Texas, Arizona, Florida and California," Sea Stachura reports for NPR. Most people will not walk more than 300 feet to use a crosswalk, in Macon, Georgia a city that has struggled with pedestrian safety, crosswalks are often two miles apart. "In Macon, many thoroughfares are also state highways, one of the types of roads where pedestrian fatalities are common," Stachura writes.
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