Stroads, High Poverty Are Commonalities Between US Counties with High Pedestrian Death Rates

Pedestrian deaths have dropped nationally after three years of increases but are still 14 percent higher than before the pandemic, reports Tim Henderson of Stateline. Analysis by Stateline of how those rates are playing out across the country has revealed that pedestrians are dying at the highest rates, not in big cities with crowded sidewalks, “but in Western and Southern rural areas and small cities where poverty forces more people to walk on dark highways with inadequate sidewalks or shoulders.” Henderson reports.

“[A]cross the country, the 33 counties with the highest rates — each with more than twice the national rate of 2.5 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 — are mostly in the South and West,” according to the Stateline article. While big cities like Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Houston had the highest numbers of pedestrian dates, the rates per resident were lower. Of the counties with the highest rates, more than three-fourths have poverty rates above 20 percent, and pedestrian deaths tend to occur in high-poverty areas within those counties.

Another commonality? The deadly stroad — a mix between a street and road — which tries to balance the incompatible roles of facilitating foot traffic while also trying to move cars quickly. The combination of stroads and concentrations of low-income people who are less likely to own cars means people with lower incomes, including unhoused people, are more likely to be walking alongside and crossing roads in the most dangerous areas, according to the article.