Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) released final data for 2022 traffic crashes revealing 7,522 people were struck and killed while walking that year. This crisis isn’t new—pedestrian fatalities are on a consistent upward trajectory and have increased by 68 percent since 2011. We need strong leadership and swift, wholesale action to make our streets safer for everyone who uses them.
You might have missed it (we almost did), but 15 months after the end of 2022, the 2022 traffic crash data is finally out. And while traffic fatalities decreased overall, there’s no cause for celebration—pedestrian fatalities increased once again to historic levels and our roads continue to grow more dangerous for people outside of cars.
In the week since the Key Bridge collapsed and tragically killed six construction workers, more than 165 people walking could have died, according to average rates from 2022. To save lives, we need a wholesale systems-level approach to combating the traffic safety crisis, accompanied by the kind of urgency we’ve all seen in the wake of last week’s awful tragedy in Baltimore.
Our current piecemeal efforts to tackle the crisis are failing to produce safer streets with fewer deaths and injuries. Here are five data points that explain why:
Defining the problem
1. Pedestrian fatalities are up again, the highest levels we’ve seen in 40 years—and a nearly 70 percent increase since 2011.
In 2022, 7,522 pedestrians were struck and killed by cars. This is roughly the equivalent of:
The population of a small town, say Buena Vista, Colorado.
The student population of Gonzaga University.
More than three Boeing 737s falling from the sky every month for a year.
It’s not just deaths that are going up. In 2022 the number of pedestrians injured by traffic violence increased 11 percent over 2021. And while the numbers alone should move us into action, they do not tell the whole story. Each number represents a life of vital members of our community. A mom, dad, sister, brother… a child.
2. Injuries and deaths are up for cyclists too
According to the data, Cyclist deaths increased by 13 percent to 1,105 people killed by cars in 2022, and reported injuries increased by 11 percent to more than 46,000 (thousand!). And despite proven methods to reduce death and injury to bicyclists (risk of injury when riding in a protected bike lane drops by 50% and has safety benefits for all modes), many cities either choose not to install these measures or consider removing them outright. It’s bad enough when action isn’t taken, but to have the hard work of advocates and local champions reversed at the cost of the lives of community members speaks to the continued challenge we face in confronting our pervasive roadway crisis.
3. Fatalities outside vehicles are a growing share of all traffic fatalities
2022 represents the largest proportion of deaths for those outside of vehicles in 40 years. What is frustrating and disappointing is that we both know our streets are dangerous by design, and we know the steps that need to be taken to prevent death and injury. Want proof? Look at the drop in deaths for people within vehicles that have grown increasingly safer, thanks to new safety mandates and improved vehicle technology.
Groundhog Day: Why does this data take so long to produce?
While I could write something new, my colleague Steve Davis said it best in a blog post from when the 2021 crash data was released last April:
“Up until a few years ago, it took about 9-10 months to provide the full highway safety data set in searchable form, meaning it would be available by October of the following year. Over these months, the data was collected, reviewed, corrected, and put into a searchable database for the public to access. That lag has grown to about 15 months over the past few years…it is hard for safety and transportation agencies at almost any level to tackle the root causes of this epidemic when our picture of the crisis is always 15 months out of date.”
Covid often gets blamed for this slowdown, but even the 2019 data was released in mid-December 2020, 3.5 months faster than this data. If NHTSA can’t get this data together earlier, they need to clearly explain what the obstacles are and press USDOT and Congress to step in and mandate whatever changes are required to do better.
What can be done?
We know the problem, we know the cause, and we know how to fix it. Our streets are dangerous by design, designed primarily to move cars quickly at the expense of keeping everyone safe. Transportation officials have the tools—from safer speed limits to safer street designs—that are proven to save lives and can quickly stem America’s traffic safety crisis. Read this guest post from the National Association of City Transportation Officials from our last Dangerous by Design report for a few examples to make dangerous streets safer. But until there is the political will to say that pedestrian fatalities are unacceptable and to actually implement these changes, the crisis will continue to grow worse.