The Most Dangerous Cities For Pedestrians

In recent years, driving behavior on the roads has actually worsened, according to statistics. Speeding, reckless driving, and car accident rates spiked, even during the initial phase of the pandemic when fewer people were on the road. It is uncertain what is to blame for this increased risk for drivers on the road. However, what is certain is that an established law firm has knowledgeable and experienced legal professionals you can reach out to in case this unfortunate rising trend in driving behavior causes you to be the victim of a vehicular-pedestrian accident.

We have represented numerous clients in various regions of California, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Riverside, Sacramento, San Jose, Sherman Oaks, San Diego, and other areas. If you’ve suffered injuries as a pedestrian resulting from a vehicular accident, our law firm is ready to help you understand your legal options. We will advocate for you and help you seek compensation that may be available for your accident-related damages.

General Statistics On Pedestrian Safety

Pedestrians in California and across the nation have to be ever more careful these days, given the increased rate of pedestrian-vehicular accidents in recent years. According to the National Safety Council & the Governors Highway Safety Association, in the year 2020, the pedestrian fatality rate from motor vehicle accidents increased at a rate of 20 percent from the year prior. This increase is quite troubling since far less traffic was on the roads that year due to the pandemic. The study says that while vehicular traffic was substantially decreased, pedestrian traffic remained at pre-pandemic levels.

However, that does not provide much explanation for the dramatic increase in pedestrian fatalities stemming from car accidents. The increased pedestrian fatalities under such circumstances appear counterintuitive to the variables involved, as one would think less vehicular traffic leads to a decrease in fatal vehicular-pedestrian accidents. Given this clear pattern of an increased risk for pedestrians being more susceptible to fatal vehicular accidents, one wonders in which cities motor vehicles pose the greatest threat to pedestrian safety.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, pedestrians, in general, are one and a half times more likely to die in a car crash compared to passengers in vehicles. This statistic is logically coherent, given that passengers in motor vehicles have the protection of the car exterior to blunt the force of the impact created by a collision, whereas pedestrians are completely unprotected.

The concern over pedestrian fatalities caused by car accidents is further substantiated by a look at the statistics that show how frequently these unfortunate events occur. Of even greater concern is the increasing frequency with which these accidents occur year-to-year. For example, in 2017, 5,977 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the entire United States.

In 2019, the number of fatal pedestrian-vehicular accidents increased to 6,205 in the entire United States. To provide a reference to how these incidents seemingly increase in frequency each year at an astonishing rate, compare these 2019 statistics to those of a decade prior. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, fatal pedestrian motor vehicle accidents have increased by an alarming 51 percent since reaching a low point in 2009.

The 6,205 pedestrian fatalities in 2019 comprise 17 percent of all fatalities resulting from motor vehicle accidents in the entire country. This translates to approximately one pedestrian death every 85 minutes. As mentioned before, 2020 saw these disturbing numbers increase even more. According to the Government Highway Safety Association, the numbers project that 6,721 pedestrians will be killed in car accidents on U.S. roads in the year 2020.

Laws Intended To Protect Pedestrians & The Laws’ Actual Impact

It is even more alarming that this increasing trend is occurring, given how stringent the law is when it comes to protecting pedestrian safety against the threat of motor vehicles. Laws on the books strictly impose requirements that drivers operate vehicles with extreme care around pedestrians. Laws granting pedestrians a right-of-way at crosswalks or intersections, for example, are strictly enforced, and failure to yield constitutes a severe moving violation that law enforcement zealously enforces. The penalty for failing to yield to pedestrians at crosswalks or intersections imposes up to two points on a driver’s license and results in fines ranging from $150 to $250.

Despite such strictly enforced laws directed toward protecting pedestrians from vehicular risks, drivers don’t seem very dissuaded from engaging in driving behavior that endangers pedestrians. Pedestrian fatalities from vehicular accidents do not accurately reflect how frequently drivers operate their vehicles in a manner that endangers pedestrians. Rather, such statistics only represent how often the tragic outcome of dangerous driving behavior towards pedestrians actually occurs. To exemplify this point, on a national scale, Citation rates for drivers failing to yield right of way to pedestrians at crosswalks or intersections arise far more frequently than the tragic outcomes of such violations.

This presents insight into a more concerning overall issue, that being the existence of a common habit or culture out on the roads for drivers to disregard pedestrian safety in favor of their own interests while driving. Often, failure to yield to a pedestrian occurs with drivers who are in a rush or are impatient and do not wish to stop and wait for pedestrians at the crosswalk or intersection to meander across the road. This problem of impatient and reckless driving is seemingly on the rise in the U.S., a reasonable conclusion drawn from the statistics showing the annually increasing rate of fatal pedestrian-vehicular accidents nationwide.

Statistics like the aforementioned rate of citations given for drivers failing to yield to pedestrians represent a widespread behavioral pattern, exemplifying the type of driving behavior one should expect and be prepared for while walking the streets as a pedestrian. Driving behavior towards pedestrians appears to vary dramatically on a city-to-city basis. Some cities will exhibit very alarming rates of pedestrian injuries or fatalities due to vehicular accidents, whereas other cities will experience these incidents at rates that should make you very apprehensive about walking the streets there.

The following are some statistics that may shock you regarding pedestrian safety data collected from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA):

• As mentioned previously, in the ten-year period from 2009 to 2019, the number of pedestrian fatalities increased by 53 percent. However, during this same period, the increase in pedestrian fatalities far outpaced the growth rate for other types of traffic-related deaths.
• According to GHSA projections, 2020 was expected to see 6,721 pedestrian deaths, which would represent the highest number in more than four decades.
• The total pedestrian deaths, as a percentage of total motor vehicle crash deaths, increased from 12 percent for the year 2009 to 17 percent in 2018, making pedestrians account for the largest proportion of traffic fatalities in 36 years.
• The number of pedestrian deaths at a rate measured as per 100,000 people increased substantially from 1.3 in 2009 to a rate of 2.0 in 2019, representing a 54 percent increase.
• Nighttime is one of the most dangerous times for pedestrians. From 2009 to 2019, the number of nighttime pedestrian fatalities increased by 67 percent. Compared to the relatively minor 16 percent increase found in daytime pedestrian fatalities for the same time period, this is a significant variable.
• According to available traffic safety data, children aged 14 or younger represent a small but significant portion of pedestrian fatalities in traffic accidents.

Executive Director of The Governor’s Highway Safety Administration, Jonathan Adkins, even commented that “in the past ten years, the number of pedestrian fatalities on our nation’s roadways has increased by more than 50 percent,” exemplifying the growing issue on our nation’s roadways. He elaborated on this statement by saying, “This alarming trend signifies that we need to consider all the factors involved in this rise, identify the high-risk areas, allocate resources where they’re needed, and continue to work with local law enforcement partners to address the chronic driver violations that contribute to pedestrian crashes.”

Dangerous By Design’s 2021 Report

“Dangerous By Design” is an organization that has been dedicated to improving pedestrian safety for years and conducts very informative studies on the causes and solutions related to the issue of pedestrian fatalities in vehicle accidents. The total statistics for the number of people struck and killed by drivers nationwide while walking increased by an alarming 45 percent over the ten-year span from 2009 to 2019. During this same ten-year period, 53,435 total people were struck and killed by drivers on the nation’s roads. The 2019 total of 6,237 people killed is roughly equal to more than seventeen people dying each day.

The following is a graphic created to exemplify the significance of these statistics visually.

Having been more than ten years since the first edition of “Dangerous by Design,” the problem of pedestrian safety on American roads has only been exacerbated. The 2021 edition of “Dangerous by Design” takes a more in-depth look at this concerning phenomenon and helps provide our readers with a better understanding of the dangers posed to pedestrians on America’s roads currently.

Risks Are Not Evenly Distributed

Not all pedestrians seem to experience the same threats to their safety from drivers. Statistics show that older adults, people of color, and people walking through low-income communities are substantially at greater risk in proportion to other demographics, according to data on fatal pedestrian crashes. This statistic stands even after controlling for population sizes and walking rates, but it does not take away from the fact that people of all demographics suffer from the risks created by dangerously designed streets.

However, some neighborhoods and demographic groups substantially bear a greater risk of becoming pedestrian victims in a fatal car accident, which seems to go unnoticed by indifferent policymakers. For example, during the period 2010 to 2019, African-Americans were struck and killed by drivers at a rate 82 percent higher than white people. Inexplicably, for American Indians and Alaskan Native people, the disparity in fatal pedestrian-car accident rates rises to an astonishing 221 percent.

Furthermore, people aged 50 and up, and especially those 75 and older, are far more likely to become the victim of a vehicle accident while walking as a pedestrian. Sensory deficiencies and unique challenges in these age groups may contribute to these concerning statistics. Such considerations should be taken into account when designing our roads, as the current designs do not adequately address the impediments the elderly face in maintaining their own safety as pedestrians.

Lower-income neighborhoods are also a concerning issue when it comes to pedestrian safety. People walking as pedestrians in such neighborhoods are killed in vehicular accidents at a far higher rate than those walking in other neighborhoods. The statistics seem to indicate that the lower the mean household income of a neighborhood, the higher the risk of danger to those pedestrians traversing its streets.

The lowest-income neighborhood’s fatality rate is nearly twice that of the rate found in middle-income neighborhoods and triple that of higher-income neighborhoods. This problem can be directly attributed to street design. Lower-income neighborhoods generally lack the resources of higher-income neighborhoods to dedicate sufficient public spending toward preserving safe streets for pedestrians. Sidewalks, marked crosswalks, and a street design created to support safer driving and slower rates of speed by motor vehicles are common features of high-income neighborhoods, yet are scarcely present in lower-income neighborhoods.

This issue is one that public policymakers need to address soon, as protecting the safety of people who use the street must become a higher priority for policymakers. Such priority should be represented in choosing how we fund, design, operate, maintain, repair, and measure successful road design.

To counteract these troubling trends relating to pedestrian safety, we need to pursue policies and street designs that prioritize the safety of pedestrians, particularly those from the demographics that face the greatest risk.

Causes Of This Issue

Due to the prioritization of speedy travel for motor vehicles, public policymakers do not place as high a value on pedestrian safety when designing streets and enacting policies as they ought to. When faced with opportunities to redress this improper prioritization, policymakers’ true priorities become apparent. Numerous states and municipalities have spent the past decade focusing on enforcing laws meant to protect pedestrians, funding ineffective public education and ad campaigns on pedestrian safety, or even resorting to blaming the pedestrian victims for these fatal accidents.

Not nearly enough attention has been given by these entities to the crucial role street design plays in these ongoing problems. States and municipalities need to reconsider how they approach designing their streets, as that is likely the solution to address this epidemic of pedestrian deaths at the hands of motor vehicle accidents.

Dangerous Places For Pedestrians

Dangerous by Design has issued rankings for both states and metropolitan areas through the use of their “Pedestrian Danger Index” (PDI), as well as the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). This measures the risk associated with pedestrians walking in certain areas based on the number of people struck and killed by drivers while traversing the street as pedestrians. The results are controlled for the number of people and the share of people who walk to work as a proxy for overall walking in the area.

The following report includes fatalities occurring between 2010 and 2019 from FARS, which is a nationwide database for all fatal traffic accidents in the country. The rankings by state and by metropolitan area are discussed below.

Although the figure above, “Dangerous By Design,” ranks cities as dangerous for pedestrians based on total fatalities, we have determined to rank cities’ risk levels to pedestrians using a different approach.

As previously mentioned, pedestrian fatalities from traffic accidents are not the proper reflection of the true dangers to pedestrians, as they only occur when the extreme and tragic outcome results and fail to reflect the frequency with which the potential for such tragic outcomes arises. We believe the proper metric to use in determining the dangerous cities in America for pedestrians is measuring cities by their respective rates of drivers cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian violation.

Further Insights

• National Average — Traffic enforcement data suggests that failure to yield to pedestrians at crosswalks and intersections remains a common violation across U.S. cities.
• California’s Concerns — Despite the twenty dangerous cities for pedestrians being located across eight different states, nearly half of the cities are located in California. California dominates the list. California cities are frequently cited in pedestrian safety studies as having higher rates of pedestrian fatalities, along with cities in New York and New Jersey. Our California injury firm has dedicated a significant amount of time to the issue of pedestrian safety.
• Safest Cities for Pedestrians — Some cities have implemented effective pedestrian safety measures and enforcement practices, resulting in lower rates of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts.

Dangerous U.S. Cities For Pedestrians

Based on our metric assessing which cities are hostile to pedestrians due to vehicular traffic, here are twenty highly dangerous cities:

As you can see, California seems to be facing a significant problem with the behavior of its drivers toward pedestrians. Although not the city one expects to be dangerous when thinking of California, the fact remains that California is clearly a highly dangerous state for pedestrians in relation to the risks associated with sharing the road with vehicles. That is why our personal injury attorneys at Arash Law strive to represent injured pedestrians involved in vehicular accidents and help them pursue compensation that may be available under California law.

Reasons Pedestrian Fatalities Are On The Rise

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), a number of variables can lead to changes in the frequency of pedestrian fatalities due to car accidents. These can include economic conditions, fuel prices, street design, the number of cars or pedestrians traveling through a specific area, weather conditions, driver behavior, and visibility. The significant factors contributing to the higher death rate of walking pedestrians are:

• Poor street design and inadequate community development planning or zoning.
• Distracted driving and even distracted walking occur in cases of pedestrians using a cell phone and paying no heed to the cars around them.
• Intoxication occurs whether it occurs with drivers or pedestrians.
• Increased rates of light trucks and SUVs on the nation’s roads.

The GHSA is dedicated to reducing pedestrian fatalities on our country’s roads and has examples of programs currently underway in some states to improve pedestrian safety.

Frequently Asked Questions About Pedestrian Accidents

How Do Pedestrian Accidents Affect Car Insurance?

Just like accidents with other vehicles, accidents involving pedestrians can also have an impact on your insurance premium and lead to increased rates.

What Should I Do If I Get Hit By A Car?

If you find yourself the victim of being hit by a car while walking as a pedestrian, you may have a personal injury claim against that driver. In many cases, a claim is filed against the at-fault driver’s auto insurance policy. However, policies often contain exclusions, such as for intentional acts, which can affect how a claim proceeds. The driver’s insurance policy’s bodily injury liability program will pay for your medical expenses, but only up to the policy limit. After that, the driver will have to pay out-of-pocket if their liability to you for your injuries exceeds the coverage limits on their insurance policy.

What If You Are Hit & Injured By A Car But Have No-Fault Auto Insurance?

If you are hit by a driver while a pedestrian and have no-fault auto insurance coverage, you can submit the claim to your own car insurance company. Under your personal injury protection (PIP) portion of your coverage, your medical expenses will be covered.

What If You Are Injured As A Pedestrian By A Hit-And-Run Driver?

If this unfortunate circumstance happens to you, you can file your claim with your own car insurance company unless you can ascertain the license plate number of the fleeing vehicle. The uninsured motorist bodily injury portion of your car insurance policy is what will be used to cover your medical expenses up to the policy’s limitations. In addition, if you have PIP, it too will pay for your injuries, again up to the policy’s limits.

If The Driver’s Auto Insurance Isn’t Enough To Cover Your Remaining Damages

As an injured pedestrian, your underinsured motorist bodily injury coverage will typically cover your injuries. If you lack such coverage, the next step will be to have your health insurance policy cover your medical expenses, a viable alternative so long as your health insurance policy doesn’t specifically exclude injuries resulting from automobile accidents (as some policies do). A second alternative is to hire a traffic accident lawyer and litigate the matter by bringing a personal injury claim against the responsible driver.

The objective of the law surrounding personal injury claims is to compensate injured victims financially so as to “make them whole” again following an accident. In other words, the law seeks to use financial resources to restore the victim to the position they would have been in had the accident never occurred. Such compensation you may pursue from a personal injury lawsuit can include more than just covering medical expenses.

It may also include compensation for pain and suffering, lost wages, lost earning potential from the inability to return to work caused by your injuries, pain and suffering, emotional distress, and property damage or loss. Our firm can provide experienced legal representation for your personal injury case if you choose to pursue this path.

If You Were Injured Or A Family Member Is Hit By A Car While Walking And Died

If this unfortunate scenario happens, it can give rise to a wrongful death claim for the deceased’s family. Our car accident lawyers can help you pursue a claim against the negligent driver who caused the death, and compensation may be available for you or the family members you leave behind in the event you or someone in your family is struck and killed by a motorist while walking as a pedestrian.

A wrongful death lawyer can assist the surviving family members in pursuing compensation for losses, including burial and funeral expenses, lost financial support, and other damages resulting from the death.

If You Injure A Pedestrian While Driving

As for insurance, the bodily injury liability portion of your auto insurance policy will cover the medical expenses of the injured pedestrian up to the policy limits. The rest, if medical expenses exceed the cap placed on the bodily injury liability policy, will have to come out of your pocket. The injured pedestrian’s claims for lost wages and pain and suffering, or other additional claims that can arise from this event, will also come out of your liability coverage. If this coverage’s limits are not sufficient to cover these claims, you may be held personally liable if the injured pedestrian pursues a personal injury claim against you for other losses or injuries that may arise.

If You Kill A Pedestrian While Driving

The bodily injury liability portion of your auto insurance will cover any medical expenses associated with the death of a pedestrian struck by you while driving. It will also cover liability imposed by a wrongful death action brought against you by the victim’s family members, up to the policy’s limits.

A bodily injury lawyer can help you understand your insurance coverage and represent your interests if a claim or lawsuit arises from the accident.

Speak With Our California Auto Accident Lawyers

The experienced team of pedestrian accident attorneys at Arash Law is ready to serve you in the event you are struck and injured by a car, truck, bicycle, or motorcycle in California. We are familiar with California law governing the rights of those injured or killed as pedestrians due to the negligence of motor vehicle operators. Pedestrians face severely high risks in California compared to other states and are particularly vulnerable to being injured by motor vehicles. That is why we advocate for your rights in pursuing fair compensation for your losses.

Our team of personal injury attorneys has years of experience representing California pedestrians who were injured or killed in a vehicular accident. We take the time to investigate the case of our clients thoroughly and become familiar with their claims. This approach allows us to advocate for your rights and represent your interests, whether through settlement negotiations or, if necessary, a trial.

If you are an injured pedestrian and are looking for a “California personal injury attorney near me”, our team at Arash Law can assist you in pursuing a personal injury claim against the driver responsible for your injuries. Contact us at (888) 488-139 or complete our “Do I Have A Case?” form here to schedule a free initial consultation to discuss the details of your case.